Natasha Romanoff was sitting in her room located at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret base looking over the files of possible targets that may have been carried out by the assassin that they apprehended earlier this year. She was sifting through some pages when she came up on an interesting one.
She went to her laptop and logged in to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mainframe. Typing up the incident in question she raised a brow, "Impossible...then again..." she thought about the assassin.
She bit her lips, 'If this is true then that means that he was right under our noses at the time...' she thought to herself. "This should be interesting."
....
At The Raft, the assassin can be seen lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, bored out of his mind. He sighed, "Who knew prison could be this boring."
"Aw, don't say that," he heard the agent's voice prompting a smile on his face.
He swung himself off the bed and walked up to the glass as he saw her approaching with a guard carrying a chair for her.
The guard set it down and she thanked him. He gave her a smile and then scowled at the prisoner before disappearing down the hall.
"Oh, he's gonna regret that," the assassin said as he watched the guard disappear around the corner.
"How, exactly?" Natasha asked, amused.
"I'll find a way," the assassin shrugged and Natasha chuckled.
"Sure thing," she answered him and waited for him to ask the burning question.
He glanced down at the folder held in front of her, "So, what story will it be today?"
"I'm glad you asked," she took a seat and folded her legs, his eyes following her. "We... are going to be discussing this."
She held out a picture to him and he scratched his head, "Right...that..."
"How'd you do it?"she asked him, "I thought you operated alone, or at least, most of you."
"Oh, we do," he sat on the floor in front of her, making himself comfortable, "But, this... was a special case."
"Tell me about it, not only do I know you were with someone else, but he was killed in the scuffle that day," she held out another picture and the brown haired prisoner sighed.
"Yeah...he was a good assassin," he smiled sadly.
Natasha noticed, but didn't call him out on it as it may only close him up more from getting information across. She cleared her throat, "So, if you'd please?"
"Right...well, where do I start..." he looked up thoughtfully, "Hm, okay, let's take a walk, shall we?"
"Let's," Natasha leaned back in her to make herself comfortable.
(****)
June 25th, 2004
Canberra,
Australia
0900 hours
As people bustled in and out of Canberra Airport, one man in particular was a certain brown hair and blue eyed American. Pulling his carry on bag with him, he went and sat down in one of the rows of attached seats with other people.
Adjusting the suit jacket he had on, he took out a phone and was currently booking a hotel it seemed.
Paying no heed to the people around him, he continued to stare at his phone
Suddenly someone came and sat in the row directly behind him.
The person spoke, "What in the hell are you doin' here, Ghost?" came an old man's voice, his Texas accent, very prominent.
The man in question merely scrolled through his phone nonchalantly, "My job, Lenny."
The man, Lenny, merely looked up to the ceiling and rolled his eyes, "Are you serious, does The League, not trust me with somethin' this gosh darn easy?!"
"It's not that they don't trust you, Lenny," he put away his phone and folded his arms, "It's just that you aren't the most...subtle, of assassins."
"Subtle?!" the old man turned around to glare at the younger of the duo.
"Turn back around, Len. We don't want people getting suspicious. Plus, if anyone looks through these cameras, they won't be able to place us," Ghost was calm.
"Oh...alright," Lenny still gave him a glance or two as he reluctantly fixed himself in his seat, "I just think that I'm perfectly cut out for the mission on my own...that's all I'm sayin'."
"I know, Len," the brown haired man looked into the crowd and noticed the airport security making the rounds, " Listen, meet me at Capitol Bar and Restaurant, tomorrow, 0900 hours," he got up, adjusted his suit and grabbed his bag, "And Lenny..."
"Yeah?"the older rough neck of the two asked glancing at the young man whom finally gave him a look.
"Don't be late," Ghost left the airport and made his way to an awaiting taxi outside. He hopped into the backseat after loading his bag into the truck, "Take me to..." he looked down at his phone before looking back to the driver, "Burbury Hotel, please."
"You got it," the driver said as he took off and Ghost was finally able to lean back and close his eyes.
"This is gonna be a long assignment," he said to himself as the driver weaved through the streets.
The drive went on for a little while until they had finally arrived at their destination and Ghost paid the driver whilst also leaving him with the change.
He entered the hotel lobby and went up to the front desk, the woman behind the counter smiled at him, "Hi, how may I help you today?"
He took in her soft features for a moment before returning the gesture, "Hi, I booked one of the suites here earlier today."
"Of course," the woman looked down at the computer in front of her before looking back up at him, "Name, please?"
"Nick Walden," he answered her and flashed his pearly whites, bringing out a blush from the woman.
"R-Right," she handed him his key card, "There you are, Mr. Walden, enjoy your stay, sir," she shied away from his hot stare.
"Thank you," he glanced at her name tag, "Elana," he then said to her, "You know, if you're not too busy after your shift, why don't we meet up? I know this a bit forward, but...I could use a tour of the city."
She was a bit hesitant at first before, cracking up a bit, chuckling, "Sure, I'd love to, Mr. Walden."
"Please, Nick," he smiled at her before he could leave, they exchanged numbers and he was on his way.
As he got to the top floor of the hotel, he went to his room and scoped out its layout. After doing that, he took out his Dual AMT Handballers and placed them on a study table in the room whilst also firing up his laptop.
He took a small black case out of his pocket and opened it. Inside of it was an earpiece, he placed it in his ear and pressed the ENTER button of his laptop, being sure to hold it for a few seconds.
"Identification number, please," an all too familiar female's voice penetrated his ear.
He tapped the reciever in his ear, "I.D. number 180360070, codename..Ghost."
"Identity...confirmed, welcome back, Ghost," the female voice answered.
"Always a pleasure, Veronica," Ghost leaned back in his seat, "What is my briefing?"
"Targets: The Board of Directors for Golding Enterprises. They are a group of elite businessmen whom make their living off of buying and selling businesses...at least, by day that is, behind the scenes they help with the trafficking of endangered animals as well as the butchering of said animals," Veronica said to Ghost as images and videos of these events are shown.
"Hm," Ghost hummed as he sorted through everything, "It is to my attention that they have a club?"
"Yes, once every month these men all gather in one spot to commemorate their achievements by going to their club, The Oasis, it is called."
"I see," Ghost went on to The League's website where he typed in the name of the club and bought its blueprints as well as mainframe and security information. "How does the client want this done?"
"They trust your judgment, however...they want all men dead on the same day," Veronica informed.
"The same day?" the assassin asked her with a brow raised, although she couldn't see.
"Yes, should I terminate the contract?"
"No, I accept these terms."
"Very well."
"Veronica, do these men gather any other times of the month besides at the club? To conduct business of any kind? " Ghost found himself going through his bag for clothes.
"Yes, tomorrow morning, at approximately 1300 hours, they will all be meeting at Golding Enterprises located on the corner of Sydney Avenue. "
"Thank you, Veronica," Ghost opted for a white T-shirt and blue jeans along with his signature aviators and brown leather jacket.
He went back to his laptop and made a purchase, "I've set my terms with a contact for a purchase, were they accepted?"
There was a brief pause, "Yes, the package will be ready for you by tomorrow morning at approximately 1000 hours. The package will be waiting for you at the front desk of your hotel, Activation code--010304."
"Affirmative, transfer the funds to the contact's account," Ghost finished up what he needed.
"Transfer...complete," Veromica finished, "Happy Hunting, Ghost."
....
As night fall came over Canberra, Ghost found himself at a club with music thumping in the background as he made his way through the crowd of grinding people.
He was currently with Elana, the girl from the counter at the hotel. He'd asked her about The Oasis and she agreed to take him, since he was new to the capital.
"Can I get an apple martini, please?" Elana asked the bartender as she swayed her hips to the music.
She was dressed in a magenta dress that ended just above her knees and accented her perfect little body well. Her skin of caramel was enticing and her brown mixed with blonde hair really finished it off.
Ghost found himself admiring her, to which she allowed, "Let me get a glass of scotch, please," he told the bartender without taking his eyes off of her.
She took a sip of her martini and swayed to the beat, eventually bringing her back to his front. He held her hips with one hand as she shimmied her bum on his body.
He took a sip of his scotch and enjoyed her presence, but also kept an eye out for any of the executives from Golding Enterprises.
Eventually, he spotted several of them by a table on the far end of the room, he felt Elana grab his hand and lead him onto the dancefloor among the plethora of drunk couples whom were attached to their partners.
Ghost kept his wits about himself as he held her hips and almost unnoticeably brought her to a pillar nearest to the reserved V.I.P. area the exec's were in.
He danced along with her whilst listening to the men talk.
"It's time for some rum boys!"
Most of the men cheered whilst one in particular was still rather stoic.
"Come on, brother, celebrate with us, it'll make you feel better!"
The main man of the group, a curly haired serious type of fellow, picked up his glass and said, "To making money...and fucking bitches, boys."
"That's what I'm talking about!"
"Yeah!" the rest of the group all rejoiced and the main man smiled a mischievous smile with them.
They clinked their glasses together and all sunk them. Eventually they got back to talking business and Ghost paid attention.
"Don't forget tomorrow, you hearing me dipshits?" the curly haired man pointed to each of the men whom either had women on their laps, or drink in their hands.
"C'mon Carter, we've got it. Why don't you get yourself a broad, enjoy yourself a little bit!" one of the men at the table tried to cheer him up.
"Maybe later," he answered and was about to get up. "Remember, meeting at the company tomorrow, 1:00 p.m. "
As Ghost was about ready to put a transmitter on his clothes, he heard, "Carter you son of a bitch!"
He groaned...
God damnit, Lenny...
He looked back to see Lenny, half drunk, about ready to swing at a very confused Carter. Ghost saw Lenny's fist coming towards him so he ducked, taking Elana with him.
"Oof!" Carter was sent back, his lips busting on contact with Lenny's fist. The curly haired man then bumped into several people whom all then broke out into a fight too.
"Ah crap..." Ghost had Elana behind him as he dodged, punched and kicked anybody that got in his way.
He led Elana out of the club and hailed her a cab, "That's you." He gave the cabbie the directions to her apartment.
"Thanks for tonight, Nick," she smiled, as if tired, at him and he returned the gesture until he heard...
"I'm taking you down you sonuvabitch!" Lenny's voice was prominent.
"Yeah...I'll see you around," he opened the door for her and just as she was about to get in she gave him a peck on the corner of his lips.
She giggled, "Stay safe, Nickiee!!"
He closed the door and watched her cab disappear down the road, 'I was SO getting laid tonight...what happened?' He heard several things breaking in the club, 'Oh...right...'
Running to one corner of the outside of the club, Ghost got to a power box and pried it open. He flipped a switch and everything in the club went dark.
"Hey! What happened to the lights?" Lenny asked as now he couldn't see anything.
Suddenly he felt someone grab his arm and was about to retaliate until, "Lenny, it's me! Let's go!"
"Ghost!" Lenny followed the brown haired man out of the club and into the streets.
"Don't let that old fool get away!" Carter bellowed and about half a dozen security guards ran after Ghost and Lenny.
As Ghost and Lenny made a corner to go down an alleyway they suddenly stopped when they saw three men already approaching from the next end.
They turned around only to be met with three more, "The boss is gonna have a field day with you two." One guard said as he and his pals took out batons from their holsters.
Lenny snorted, "Ha! What are you boys gonna do?"he placed a hand into his brown coat. "Shove those pretty little things up your asses?" He began laughing by himself and was about to pull out his silver Ruger Super Redhawk.
Ghost stopped him, "Lenny, you can't fire that off here...you'll attract too much attention." The young assassin gave Lenny a glance, "We're gonna have to fight this one out."
"Fight?! Kid, have you seen my grays?!" Lenny gestured to his head of hair, "Plus I just insulted--"
"Get 'em!" another security guard shouted and the men charged.
Ghost and Lenny quickly broke off with Lenny firing a kick at one guard, "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking, boy?"
Ghost ended up ducking an incoming swing from a guard. The security man was so caught up in trying to hit the assassin he didn't notice Ghost come from behind him and kick the back of his knee, bringing him down.
The brown haired man then took the guards head and slammed it against a wall. Another two guards came at him with their batons at the ready.
He spotted the baton the first guard had and kicked it up into his hand just as the two other guards came at him.
One guard swung and he blocked it with his own baton before ducking against another swing. He lashed one guard with his baton in the face and kneed another.
The guard that was holding his face was hunched over so Ghost quickly launched a kicked at his face once more, knocking him out.
The other guard swung two more times only to be unsuccessful as Ghost leaned his body away from the weapon.
The assassin then grabbed the guard's arm as he was about to swing again and flipped him over, placing his knee on the guard's neck and keeping his arm in place.
The guard screamed in pain as Ghost violently jerked his arm, popping the joint out of place between his shoulder and arm.
The hired gun then punched the guard in his face, taking him into unconsciousness. He looked up to see Lenny being held down by a guard and hit by another, the third of those three knocked out.
He rushed over and hit the guard holding down Lenny with his baton whilst Lenny launched forward and punched the guard hitting him.
They two assassins then proceeded to fire off simultaneous kicks at the last guard, sending him into a wall where he would hit his head and immediately close his eyes as blood leaked from his head.
Exhausted, Lenny backed himself into a wall and slid down, gasping for breath, "Man, I remember that being a lot different back in the day."
"Back in the day you were in were in your twenties, Len," Ghost regulated his breathing quickly.
Lenny laughed, "Ya know, you're not so bad, kid." Ghost released a breath of amusement as he held a hand out to the old timer.
"Ready to get out of here?" Ghost heard more people coming this way.
"Yeah, I don't think I can make another round," he took the outstretched hand as they both fled the scene.
....
Eventually making it back to Ghost's hotel room, he gave Lenny an ice pack to put on his torso.
Ghost then went to his computer and began overlooking the layout of Golding Enterptises' building.
"So, why'd you help me?" Lenny asked Ghost to fill the room's silence.
The younger of the two sighed, "Because I didn't want you interfering with the mission."
"Bull shit, " Lenny got up, wincing a bit, "You just know that this is a two man job."
"It can be done otherwise," Ghost replied.
"Hm," Lenny hummed as he went over to the window of the hotel suite, looking over the capital city of Australia. "I'm not as young as I used to be..." he looked down at his bruised and battered body.
Ghost stopped typing and looked over his shoulder at Lenny, "You alright, Len?"
"No..." Lenny shook his head, "I'm not."
"Look, if this is about--" Ghost began, but was cut off.
"No, it's not about earlier, kid," Lenny went over and sat on the bed. Ghost spun on the swivel chair to get a better look at the elder assassin. "This life...it's not a good one, you know."
Ghost sighed, "That much I knew already...what's up, old timer?"
"No, you don't know, Ghost," Lenny eyes connected with his and Ghost found himself lost for words.
Lenny had such emotion in his eyes, that Ghost quite frankly found it difficult to decipher.
"This life...is cancerous. I've spent almost a half century doing this kid...almost fifty years...and I want out," Lenny rested the ice pack on a sore spot.
"Lenny, you know you can't do that...The League would have your head for it," Ghost leaned back in his seat.
"Doesn't matter, I don't have that much time anyway," Lenny looked down at his hands, "You're young, kid...you don't know what it's like watching people grow old with the ones they love...starting a family, leaving behind a legacy."
"It's not what we were trained to do," Ghost found himself saying.
"You're right, we were trained to leave behind our humanity...become emotionless, programmed...with their ideals in mind," Lenny heaved a heavy sigh. "But they don't train you for what you see out there...in the world..."
Ghost looked down, "I guess not..." the younger assassin took in Lenny's appearance and stature, he looked like a defeated man...a man at the end of his line. "Tell you what..."
...
It was a hot day today, and the people of Golding Enterprises were becoming very sweaty. A man whom had long abandoned his suit jacket and opted to rolling up his sleeves whilst unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt asked, "Hey Linda, what's the report on those A/C guys?"
A woman, in a similar state replied, "They've just arrived and are checking through the upper floors now."
"Finally," the man replied, sifting through some papers, "Of all the days..."
Currently a few floors above them, "This god damn thing is so uncomfortable."
"Shut up, Len," Ghost scolded, "You know, sometimes I even wonder how you're a spy."
"Real funny, slick," Lenny rolled his eyes as the men both carried units through one of the upper floors of the building.
Eventually stopping at one of the meeting rooms where there was a vent, Ghost began checking it out and concluded that they needed a ladder.
As this was going on, Carter, the man from before at the club, was downstairs and just on his way in.
He met up with his associates whom were all waiting for him. "What took you so long?"one asked.
"Traffic, now let's go, and why's it so hot in here?" he asked them whilst they were on their way to the elevator.
"Something went wrong with the A/C units last night. We've got an entire team checking out the building. They won't be a bother," another man replied as they were about to get in the elevator.
Just as Carter was about to get in, a red headed woman bumped into him, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't--" the woman looked up and her green eyes connected with his cold ones and he was immediately caught off by her beauty.
"No, it's fine," he went down with her to pick up the papers she had dropped, "Here, we wouldn't want anything to happen to these, sweetheart."
"Thanks," the woman flashed him a shy smile and he gave a smirk. The woman then scrambles to her feet and briskly walks down the hall after brushing her arm against his.
He watched her behind as she went and bit his lips, his associates doing the same, "Now that's a piece of ass."
"Nah, that's one's mine, " Carter looked back at his boys, as if challenging them. "Now let's go."
As they got to their floor, they saw two men by their conference room's entrance going over something and Carter stopped, "Is there a problem here?"
"Nah, no problem at all sir," the A/C man's blue eyes surveyed the group, "We're just finishing up here, ain't that right Chris?"
"It is," an old man's voice was heard from the vent as he had his upper body inside the vent, "Just gotta lock up here and we're good."
"That's good," Carter said and placed down his case that he was carrying before pulling out a few bills.
His associates were already piling into the room, "Why don't you finish up here now and leave the floor," Carter offered the A/C man money and smiled.
The A/C man merely gave an exasperated sigh, "I don't know sir, my boss could--"
"Don't you worry about your boss," Carter slaps the man's shoulder reassuringly. "Now you boys run along."
"Yes sir," the A/C man picked up his case for him, "Mr. Carter," he nodded to the business man.
Carter nodded, "Mr..." he looked down at the man's nametag, "Walden, it was nice meeting you."
"Likewise sir," the young man replied and Carter walked into the room with his case in hand.
As this was going on, outside of the building, the read headed woman from before, Natasha Romanoff, stepped into a van that had a team of people listening in.
"Are we good?" she asked a man whom had on head phones, "Yup, after he was finished talking to you, he stopped to talk to some guys then was on his way."
Natasha nodded and looked to Colson, whom seemed uninterested, "What's up?" she asked him.
"Something doesn't feel right," he said to her.
"What do you mean? If we record this conversation and take it to the prime minister he'll be indebted to us indefinitely. Apparently Fury is trusting us with this," she said as she looked at the screen before her. "We just have to wait and liste--"
An explosion was heard and people were scrambling out of the building as the top floor was now in flames. Natasha rushed into the building as people were filtering out.
She eventually stopped when she noticed two people were exiting in another direction, rather calmly, one of them having a case. "Stop!" she shouted and the men did.
"Oh...you've got to be shittin' me," one man, whose voice sounded familiar over the alarms, said.
Suddenly more officers were filing in and the two A/C men shared a glance and nodded.
They split up and Natasha ran after the man with the case. Gunshots rang through the building as the spy gave chase to the unknown assailant.
Eventually making a corner, Natasha was about to make the corner as well when another explosion sounded, sending her back.
Her head rang and she could now faintly see a silver gun pointed at her. The man with the case's face was hard to decipher.
He dropped the case next to her and muttered, "You were lucky today, agent."
He walked off and Natasha groaned.
As Ghost was walking through the burning building he heard more gunshots and eventually came up on a man, dead, he looked back up to find another man in standard issue fireman gear.
"Really, this is the best dead body you could have found?" he asked the fire officer whom took off his helmet only to be Lenny.
"Hey, that's the only guy at the morgue with no known family!" Lenny tried to defend himself.
Ghost sighed, "Fine, help me get him in this A/C uniform and we're out of here."
"Sure," they did what they had to and eventually, both Lenny and Ghost walked out of the building with a burnt body in an A/C uniform.
"Is this the terrorist?" an officer eventually came and asked.
"Yes, " Ghost answered as he wore a fireman's gear and watched the red headed agent from afar whom was answering question with another officer. "He was up on the higher floors where the bomb went off..."
"Hm," the officer hummed as he wrote it down. The officer then looked around cautiously, then back at Ghost with a deadpanned look, "And the targets?"
"Taken care of," Ghost answered, with his own serious look, "But Agent Lenny was lost in the explosion...stupid old timer didn't know there was a timer."
"I see," the officer then pulled out a phone and made a call, "Yes...the mission is complete." He hummed a few times before hanging up and looking back to the assassin, "All of the money was wired to your account, good work."
The officer left and Ghost released an amused breath as he looked up at the sky. "Yeah..."
(****)
"So...wait," Natasha stopped him, "The assassin, this....Lenny, he's not--"
"Dead?" the assassin asked her to which she nodded, "I don't know," he leaned back as he is now seen sitting against the far wall of his cell. "But he's out there...somewhere."
"Why'd you do it?" she suddenly broke him out of his thoughts.
"Hm?" he raised a brow at her.
"Why'd you help him fake his death?" Natasha was curious now, "You were trained to ignore basic human emotions. You were trained to seduce...to kill...why was he different?"
"Because of his eyes," the assassin simply responded, further confusing the agent, "they were filled with so much...emotions, yet he seemed defeated...I guess...I just wanted to help."
The assassin and agent both stared deeply into each other's eyes, Natasha trying to decipher if whether or not he was telling the truth.
"Hm," she hummed and got up from her seat, she cleared her throat, "It's been a ride today."
"It has," the assassin answered simply, "Goodbye, agent."
"Goodbye, assassin," she turned and left him to his lonesome. He suddenly smiled as he remembered something. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes...
"Thanks kid...you've made an old man happy...I can finally live by own accord...even if I only have a short time left..."