AIM of the Game - Marvel: Earth-USB Saga (Part 30)
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2026 5:20 am
Another chapter in the continuing Marvel saga. Should probably make a story map at some point.
Character references, when applicable, can be found in the second post.
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Wilson Fisk was not in a good mood.
This was not an unusual occurrence. The man known across the underworld as Kingpin – and to the rest of the world as a supposedly legitimate businessman who was always in the midst of a few defamation lawsuits – was known for his short temper.
But today he was in an especially bad mood, particularly after glancing at the evening news.
“And leading the news tonight, a daring theft that has taken New York by storm…The theft, of course, of the famed Chaos Cube. The Cube, which was stolen from SHIELD--”
Fisk brought his fist down on his desk in exasperation, splintering the wood. “That Cube was stolen from ME!” he growled.
He spoke to an empty room, a scenario that was growing more frequent since his humiliating defeat at the hands of a few “superheroes” who had infiltrated the villains’ gathering he had orchestrated the prior year. The gathering had been Fisk’s attempt to unveil the Cube, one of the most powerful weapons in the hemisphere. Yet it had been stolen from right under his nose, and he had yet to live down the humiliation.
Since then, Fisk had spent abundant expenses on his legal team, battling investigations from the authorities trying to figure out where he had obtained the Cube. Thus far, he had avoided divulging any secrets.
For the moment, Fisk knew, his job was to lay low and trust no one.
No one, that is, apart from the best private investigator his money could buy.
His intercom buzzed, and his secretary’s voice crackled through. “Sir, a Ms. Punch here to see you.”
“Send them in, Laura.” Fisk rubbed his bald head in exhaustion.
The door opened, and a woman walked in. She was tall and slender, with light skin, green eyes, and long, straight blonde hair. She wore a red trenchcoat over a black blazer, grey pants, and brown boots.
“Mr. Fisk,” the woman said “I’m Susanna Punch. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Charmed,” Fisk said in a voice that was all but charming. “Now, down to business. I assume you know why I’ve called for you? You’re supposed to be the best private investigator in the city.”
“By reputation,” the woman replied. “Yes, Mr. Fisk, and I am happy to assist you – for the right price.”
“You will be well-compensated,” Fisk replied. “Provided you track down the Chaos Cube.”
“Of course,” the woman nodded. “I’ve never lost a case yet, and this one will be no exception.”
“Very good,” Fisk nodded. “Just tell me what you need to get started.”
“In essence, I’ll need to know everything you know about the Cube,” the woman replied. “Its origins, how it was obtained, any way of tracking it.”
“If I knew that,” Fisk grumbled, “I would have it back in my possession already.”
“You may know it without knowing it,” the investigator replied. “Do you know of the technology used to create the Cube? There may be some way of tracing it if I can learn of the materials used to develop it.”
Fisk thought for a moment. “The Chaos Cube was an independently financed project, with several of my businesses working on one component each. None of the departments knew what the others were doing – all the better to prevent any of them from leaking info. But…”
“But?”
“But the schematics used to create the Cube’s deadly effects were copied from an outside source. It came from Advanced Idea Mechanics.”
The woman nodded. “I’m familiar.”
“That’s all I can say for sure without risking my own reputation,” Fisk concluded. “I assume that gives you a lead?”
“It certainly gives me something to work with,” the woman replied. “You lay low and let your lawyers deal with any legal fallout relating to the Cube. I’ll track down the woman who stole it and return it to you.”
Fisk nodded. “Succeed, Ms. Punch, and you’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams. Fail, and you’ll be sorry.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Fisk.” The blonde stood and headed for the door. “I’ll take care of everything.”
*********************
It wasn’t until she was down in the parking garage of Fisk Industries that the woman calling herself Susanna Punch reached up and pressed a small bulge just behind her left earlobe.
Immediately, her face blurred. Carefully, she removed the mask, as well as the long blonde wig.
Natasha Romanoff now spoke into her communicator. “Hawkeye, do you copy?”
Kate Bishop’s voice responded immediately. “Sure do. How did it go?”
Natasha strode over to a parked car at the edge of the lot. “Very well. Kingpin is a smart man, but he’s in a vulnerable position and knows it. Getting the information we needed about the Cube was easy.”
“So what now?” Kate asked.
Natasha opened the trunk of the car. Lying inside was a slender blonde woman, sleeping off the effects of the Widow’s Bite that Natasha had injected her with about an hour before. Susanna Punch was dressed in nothing more than a white balconette bra with little green hearts dotted across it and a pair of lavender bikini briefs. As Natasha was pressed for time, she had not bothered to bind or gag the woman – after all, she had calculated that, based on the woman’s height and build, a dose of Widow’s Bite would leave her unconscious for approximately eighty minutes, more than enough time for Natasha to don her clothing and impersonate her for her meeting with the Kingpin.
“First,” Natasha explained into her earpiece as she began removing her trenchcoat, “I shed the clothing I liberated from Ms. Susanna Punch. And then… we are going to pay a visit to AIM.”
******************
Advanced Idea Mechanics, colloquially known far and wide as AIM, had spent the better part of the last few decades in HYDRA’s shadow.
To the Avengers, SHIELD, and most national intelligence, AIM never presented quite the same threat level as HYDRA did. HYDRA, after all, was a global organization with a single-minded goal: to wreak havoc and sow chaos across the world order. AIM, on the other hand, was a more conventional threat – it was staffed not by young militants but by scientific types, who hoped to develop new and dangerous technologies to commit all manner of crimes across the globe.
AIM never had quite the infrastructure or the mad ambitions that HYDRA did. Still, they were a threat, certainly with their accumulation of advanced and dangerous scientific equipment. Any attempt to infiltrate their facility would require extreme caution.
That was the thought on the minds of the occupants of the Quinjet plane currently flying low over the Atlantic Ocean.
“You sure about this?” Kate Bishop asked, donning a set of scuba gear.
“Positive,” Natasha replied, affixing the flippers to her feet. “Avengers intel has pinpointed AIM’s latest hideaway to an island laboratory about a hundred miles east of the shoreline. That’s where we need to be.”
“I hope you ladies know what you’re doing,” Clint Barton called from the pilot’s seat. “What if this is all a trap?”
“We’ll deal with that possibility if it arises,” Natasha replied. “Make sure you don’t take the plane too high, Clint. We don’t want to risk being spotted by radar.”
“You got it,” Clint replied. “How much further do we go?”
Natasha glanced at the coordinates. “I think here would be a safe place to stop. Kate and I will go the rest of the way underwater.”
“All right, then.” Clint shifted the Quinjet into a hovering position, keeping it in place.
“Meet us back at this spot in three hours,” Natasha instructed him. “By then, we should have obtained what we came for.”
“You got it, ‘Tasha. And if anything goes wrong… remember, the team’s just a phone signal away.”
Natasha nodded. Then, wordlessly, she approached the hatch and dove out, into the water below.
“She’s not much for goodbyes,” Kate remarked.
“You get used to it,” Clint replied. “Good luck, Hawkeye.”
Kate grinned. “Thanks, Hawkeye.”
With that, she dove into the water as well.
*********************
Natasha and Kate’s jet-propelled scuba suits moved both women swiftly through the underwater currents.
After about ten minutes, Natasha checked the signals on her watch. She motioned to Kate and pointed to an underwater rocky outcropping.
The women swam along the perimeter of the rock until they came across a metal grate. Natasha used an acetylene torch from her belt to cut through the metal, creating a hole large enough for them to swim through.
Another few minutes of swimming through a long stone corridor, and the women finally surfaced to air. They were in a large room surrounded by pipes and pumps. The whirring of machinery could be heard.
“This must be the energy room,” Natasha explained. “AIM has taken advantage of their underwater location, and harnesses the water to power the rest of their plant. It’s automated, so no guards in the immediate vicinity.”
Kate climbed up onto dry land. “That’s good so far – but there’s bound to be security in the rest of the facility.”
Natasha nodded as she joined her. “Correct. We’ll need disguises to move further.”
Kate wrinkled her nose. “I was afraid you’d say that… Those AIM hazmat suits look incredibly goofy. Do we really need to steal those beekeeper outfits?”
“Not necessarily,” Natasha replied. “AIM has several potential disguises beyond those ‘beekeeper’ suits their underlings wear. There are scientists in this facility, and a few minor supervillains who’ve pledged their loyalty to the organization. Finding proper disguises should not be difficult, provided you conceal your face. I only have one photostatic veil for this mission, and I’ll need to use it myself.”
Kate nodded. “Understood. So what’s the plan?”
“The schematics we’re looking for are quite valuable,” Natasha mused. “The only person who likely has complete access to search this facility is AIM’s Scientist Supreme – aka Monica Rappaccini.”
She thought for a moment. “I will locate Monica, then neutralize and impersonate her. That should give me free access to search this building. Meanwhile, you need to access the security room and get the overlay of the building, so that you can let me know where to search. The quicker we find the schematics for the Chaos Cube, the better.”
Kate nodded. “We’ll stay in contact over radio. Good luck.”
Natasha returned the nod. Then she disappeared through the doorway and down the corridor.
*******************
Clinging to the shadows was never a problem for Natasha, and luckily the dim lighting of this lower level meant there were a lot of shadows to cling to.
She avoided being spotted by the security cameras as she approached the main corridor. There, she concealed herself and waited with bated breath.
Her patience did not take long to be rewarded. The clicking of high heels echoed along the corridor.
A tall, slim woman strode into view. She had light skin, green eyes, and shoulder-length red hair. She wore a white lab coat over a lavender button-down shirt, a grey mid-thigh-length skirt, and grey high-heeled ankle boots.
Having memorized SHIELD’s records on AIM, Natasha recognized the woman from her photo. She was Dr. Evelyn Necker, one of the organization’s research scientists.
Evelyn was monitoring some pressure gauges on the wall, marking their readings down on a clipboard. She wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings.
Natasha watched her from the shadows. Red hair… Green eyes… Approximately my height and build. She’ll do perfectly.
She determined that Evelyn would be a quick and easy takedown, and not require her to waste a Widow’s Bite. To that end, she reserved her ammo, waiting for the scientist to get within striking distance, and away from any security cameras.
At last, Evelyn reached the last of the pressure gauges, right next to Natasha’s hiding place. She looked up and, in an instant, saw the woman hiding around the corner.
Evelyn opened her mouth to scream, but a neck chop from Natasha ended the sound before it began. There was only a soft groan as Evelyn slumped forward into Natasha’s arms, as well as the clatter of her clipboard to the floor.
Natasha quickly dragged her out of sight. Then she moved quickly, divesting the woman of her lab coat, followed by the rest of her outer clothes.
As Natasha had been mugging women for their clothes for nearly twenty years, the work only took a matter of minutes. Before long, Evelyn was down to a pink-and-white striped sports bra and leopard-print bikini shorts.
Natasha put on Evelyn’s shirt, skirt, and shoes, followed by the lab coat. She rearranged her own red hair into a style identical to Evelyn’s.
Then she took her photostatic veil and pressed it to Evelyn’s face. Once it had formed into an identical mask, she placed it over her own face. In a matter of minutes, Natasha had transformed herself into Dr. Necker’s twin.
Natasha found a disused cable box, which housed some blue electrical flex and black tape. She used the flex to bind Evelyn’s hands and feet, and the tape to gag her. She left the scientist inside a nearby metal crate, chin pressed to her knees, leaving just enough space for air to enter.
Natasha returned to the hallway and picked up the fallen clipboard. She returned the way Evelyn had arrived, careful even to imitate the woman’s gait. The security cameras would not notice a difference between the woman who had first walked down the hall and the woman who now returned in the other direction.
Natasha reached the elevator and pressed the button. It was time to find the Scientist Supreme.
****************
Kate Bishop crept quietly along the corridor leading to the security room. The floors were lined with metal grates, but she avoided those, ensuring her footsteps would echo as little as possible.
Gotta find some new clothes… and fast.
The echo of other footsteps from down the hall – women’s footsteps, in boots – told her that an opportunity was fast approaching. Kate quickly and agilely climbed up to the ceiling, positioning herself between the rafters as she observed the newcomers below.
Two AIM underlings, in the tacky yellow “beekeeper” outfits. Kate wrinkled her nose.
Consider yourselves lucky, ladies. No chance I’m stealing an outfit as dumb as yours…
Still, she needed another option, and quickly. Natasha was counting on her.
“Ahem!”
The two AIM agents turned to the sound of a new arrival from a side passage.
The woman was tall and fit, dressed from head to toe in form-fitting black body armor, with dark blue decals around the arms, legs, and torso. Her forearms were reinforced with thick black gauntlets, as were her black boots. Her face was not visible – instead, she wore a reflective visor, atop which was affixed a blue fin.
“Why aren’t you two at your post?” the woman inquired.
One of the “beekeeper” women gulped. “S-sorry, Seeker. We just wanted to stretch our legs…”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. Seeker… she remembered that name from perusing the Avengers’ files.
Seeker, aka Amber Silverstein. A scientific prodigy employed by AIM. Despite being young – early twenties or so – she had already made a name for herself as one of AIM’s top recruits, designing the “Seeker suit” she currently wore, which had the ability to fly and shoot miniature rockets.
“There was no break authorized. Get back to your stations,” Amber ordered.
The AIM underlings nodded and quickly hurried off.
Amber remained, watching them go. She checked some readings on her wrist gauntlet.
Kate eyed her intriguingly. That suit… Well, it was definitely cooler than the beekeeper outfits. And it would serve the same purpose of disguising her, with a jet pack as a nice bonus.
Kate did not have her archer’s bow with her – it had been too cumbersome to carry with her scuba gear. But she had brought along a few arrows for just such an occasion. One of them, the electro-arrow, would come in handy now.
Kate removed the arrow from her belt and hurled it at the metal grate, just a few inches from where Amber was standing. The head of the arrow struck the metal with a sharp clang.
Amber looked down. “What the…?”
The next moment, an electric charge zapped through the grate, right up to Amber’s metal suit.
“Ergghh!” Amber froze for a moment as the electricity coursed through her.
Kate held her breath, hoping the Seeker suit wasn’t insulated enough to protect her from the charge.
It wasn’t. The next moment, Amber fell backwards.
Kate quickly swung to the floor, catching Amber right before she hit the metal grating. The last thing she needed was for a loud “CLANG” of the suit against the floor to alert anyone in earshot.
She checked Amber’s pulse. The girl was unconscious, but otherwise fine.
“Hope you didn’t see my face before you passed out,” Kate mused. “I’ve already got enough enemies who want revenge on me for stealing their outfits.”
She glanced around, her eyes falling on a nearby technical room. “Speaking of which… let’s get to the costume change.”
She dragged Amber into the room and shut the door.
The Seeker suit was surprisingly easy to remove, and also not particularly heavy. Kate guessed that Amber had used lighter metals to allow for easier flight and navigation. That’s just fine with me, sister.
Beneath her armor, Amber had a surprising “punk girl” look for a science genius. She had light skin, blue eyes, and blue lipstick. Her hair was also dyed blue, fashioned into a modern topknot, with the sides shaved. Her arms were covered with tattoos in mostly blue ink, and she wore a blue sports bra with blue cotton panties.
“I think I can guess your favorite color,” Kate chuckled.
She found some black duct tape on one of the shelves and used it to bind and gag the unconscious scientist. Then she dragged Amber behind some crates at the corner of the room.
Kate wasted no time in donning the armor, and was relieved to see it fit fairly well. She took care donning the gauntlets, not wanting to accidentally fire off any missiles. She slid the helmet with mirrored visor over her head.
“Next stop, the security room,” she said aloud, in what she hoped was a reasonable approximation of Amber’s voice.
******************
Monica Rappaccini was not in a good mood.
This was not an unusual occurrence. The woman known across AIM as the Scientist Supreme was known for her short temper.
But today she was in an especially bad mood, particularly after glancing at the late-night news.
“The idea for that Chaos Cube was mine! First Kingpin stole it, then SHIELD stole it… now some Russian spy has it! Everyone gets a turn except the woman who came up with the idea in the first place!”
Monica had tried to steal the Cube back from the Kingpin at one point – during the underworld exhibition last year when Fisk had presented “his” invention to the criminal elites of the city. Monica had not attended the event herself, but she had sent a pair of AIM underlings there, under the pretense that they were security. Their job had been to steal the Cube back for Monica – but it did not go as planned.
While meeting with Iron Maiden in the file room, the AIM women had been ambushed by a pair of women disguised as technicians. The AIM agents had been left webbed up and gagged in some closets, and one of them had even had her uniform stolen.
“Blasted Spider-People…” Monica grumbled.
Still, she willed herself to calm down. She was still, after all, Scientist Supreme of AIM. She had gotten out of serious jams before.
A tall, svelte woman in her mid-thirties, Monica Rappaccini had an olive skin tone, blue eyes, and dark hair that reached mid-back. Her uniform as Scientist Supreme consisted of a dark green bodysuit, elbow-length yellow gloves and knee-high yellow boots, as well as a yellow collar and weapons belt. A violet cape was affixed at her waist.
As she sat in her office, contemplating her next move, a buzzing sound came from the door.
“I am not to be disturbed,” she called out.
The buzzing came again. A voice from behind the door. “Ma’am, I must speak to you at once. It’s about the Chaos Cube.”
Monica recognized the voice, and was intrigued. “Just a moment, Dr. Necker.”
She pressed a button on her desk, and the door slid open.
In walked a red-haired woman in a lab coat who was easily recognizable as Dr. Evelyn Necker – and not recognizable at all as Natasha Romanoff. The door slid shut behind her.
Monica crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. “Well? Spill it. What did you find?”
“I know how to locate the Chaos Cube,” Natasha replied. “We have the means to do so right in this facility.”
“We do?” Monica raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
“Yes. Or rather, you do. The only person able to access the info on the restricted AIM servers is you – or someone who looks just like you.”
Monica frowned. “What do you mean, looks just like –?”
She never finished her sentence. From beneath her sleeve, Natasha let loose a Widow’s Bite. The small projectile whizzed through the air and struck Monica at the side of her neck.
Monica froze as 20,000 volts of electricity did their work – but, surprisingly, she shook it off.
She glared at Natasha. “You’re not Evelyn.”
Natasha quickly realized that Monica’s costume and boots were insulated, designed to protect her from electric shocks. It took her only a moment to piece this together before Monica reached for the gun strapped to her belt.
“Who are – hey!” Monica scowled as the gun was kicked out of her hands. She had no time to react before Natasha twisted behind her and struck the back of her neck with a judo chop.
With a groan, the Scientist Supreme slid to the floor.
“Sometimes the old-fashioned methods work best,” Natasha noted.
With AIM’s highest-ranking scientist incapacitated, Natasha knew she was now working on borrowed time. She dragged Monica behind the desk and began unlacing her boots.
The boots came off quickly, followed by the gloves, cape, collar, and belt. Natasha then unzipped and removed Monica’s green bodysuit, leaving the Scientist Supreme in a lime-green exercise bra and lemon-colored boyshorts.
Natasha used some Widow’s Line to bind Monica’s wrists and ankles. She then peeled the photostatic veil from her face and stuck it over Monica’s face. Within moments, the mask had morphed from the face of Evelyn Necker to that of Monica Rappaccini.
Once the mask had been retrieved, Natasha gagged Monica with some black duct tape and concealed her beneath the desk, her knees pressed up to her chin.
Then it was time for Natasha to get another “promotion,” transforming herself into AIM’s Scientist Supreme. The suit was made of a stretchable fabric, which compensated for the slight size difference between the two women. The gloves and boots were of comfortable material. Natasha adjusted the collar and snapped the belt around her waist, then tied the cape around her waist as well.
Once that was done, she carefully placed the mask over her own face, then applied black dye to her red hair.
In a matter of minutes, “Monica Rappaccini” stood again.
Natasha spoke into her comms. “Kate, status report?”
“Got my disguise,” Kate responded. “Heading to the security room now.”
******************
The security room had one guard on duty, dressed in the standard “beekeeper” outfit. Based on the figure, it was a woman. She looked up as Kate entered the room.
“Seeker? Is something wrong?”
Kate did her best impression of Amber’s voice. “You’re relieved of duty, miss. I’ll be handling security detail tonight. Boss’ orders.”
“What?” the woman sounded confused. “But… I was told…”
“Plans change,” Kate replied.
“I should probably confirm this.” The woman reached for her radio.
Kate quickly hit her over the head with one of her gauntlets. The woman groaned and collapsed back into Kate’s arms.
“Of course I get stuck with the one henchwoman who has to follow the rules,” she muttered.
Lowering the woman to the floor, Kate gazed up at the sea of monitors. “Okay, Natasha… I’ve got a full view of the facility now.”
“Where is the server room?”
Kate squinted. “Looks like… Level 3A. There’s a door in the back hallway. Looks heavily protected.”
“On my way.”
Kate could see a woman who looked just like Monica Rappaccini walking towards the elevators.
“Good disguise, ‘Tash. Fooled me for a moment. You gotta show me how you pull off these impersonations so well.”
“A lifetime of practice…”
*******************
Natasha had studied video footage of Monica Rappaccini, provided courtesy of SHIELD, and had memorized the woman’s signature walk and mannerisms. Walking with the swagger that defined the Scientist Supreme was a key detail for ensuring a proper impersonation.
Reaching level 3A, she approached the server room. Two men in beekeeper uniforms were on duty.
One of them looked up in surprise. “Boss? What are you doing h--?”
“Stand aside,” Natasha said brusquely, in a perfect replica of Monica’s voice. “I need to retrieve some files. Make sure no one disturbs me.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Natasha made note of how easily the AIM lackeys fell in line when faced with the prospect of an unruly employer. Were she not on a mission of utmost importance, stretching far beyond the issue of AIM, she would perhaps take the opportunity of usurping Monica’s identity to more constructive ends, engaging in sabotage of the facility.
Still, all that could wait. Besides, as Natasha had learned from a long career of mugging and replacing a variety of powerful female criminals, a simple change of identity wasn’t enough to dismantle decades of intricately developed evil.
Once in the server room, Natasha wasted no time hacking into the computer, then searching for the schematics of the Chaos Cube. Once found, she copied over the materials used to make the Cube, and sent them to a contact in the SHIELD laboratories to perform a reverse-trace.
With luck, they would know the location of the Cube by the time Natasha was peeling off her photostatic veil.
As Natasha stood to go, a pounding came at the server room door.
She opened it to find one of the AIM lackeys standing there.
“I gave specific orders not to be disturbed,” Natasha said.
“Sorry, boss… but something’s come up. The janitor found that Seeker lady tied up in a closet… Her costume was missing. I radioed security and—”
Natasha nodded quickly. “Understood. Find the imposter. Do it now.”
As the AIM henchman hurried off, Natasha spoke into her comms.
“Kate, you need to do a better job of concealing the women you impersonate.”
Kate’s voice sounded sheepish. “Sorry, ‘Tasha… I heard over the radio that they found Amber. Not a lot of space to hide bound-and-gagged women in an underwater villain’s lair.”
“I’ve hidden two such women without issue since we arrived here,” Natasha replied. “But there’s no time to argue. Are you able to quickly shed your Seeker disguise and obtain another uniform?”
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then Kate sighed.
“I suppose…”
******************
Kate was grumbling to herself as she slipped on the beekeeper uniform.
“I swear, if Clint were here, he’d never let me live it down…”
Nearby, in the corner of the security room, the AIM agent Kate had incapacitated earlier lay on the floor, still unconscious. With her uniform off, Kate could see the agent was a young woman of average height and build, with light skin and chin-length straw-blonde hair. She wore a white camisole along with blue-and-white striped cheeky panties. Kate had used some coaxial cables from the security room to tie her up, and some spare tape from the janitor’s closet to gag her.
Kate sighed as she slid the beekeeper helmet over her head. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss Fifi’s uniform.”
Before leaving, she made sure to conceal the agent well beneath the desk.
*******************
Kate met Natasha at the rendezvous point. From there, it was easy for the woman wearing the face of the Scientist Supreme to bluff her way out of the building, with a supposed lackey alongside her – especially as the rest of AIM was preoccupied looking for a woman in the Seeker suit.
It was only once they had successfully stolen Monica’s submersible and steered it out of the hideaway that Natasha peeled the photostatic veil from her face.
“Overall, a successful mission,” she declared. “I obtained the necessary information about the Chaos Cube. Now we just need to contact SHIELD and see if they’ve managed to trace the real thing.”
It took only a few moments for her to place a call to SHIELD director Maria Hill.
“Romanoff. How’d the AIM infiltration go?”
“Quite well – as your scientists probably know already. I sent one of them the materials to perform a trace.”
“You did?” Maria sounded puzzled. “Our labs didn’t get any messages recently.”
“I’m quite certain of it,” Natasha replied. “I received confirmation from the server. Someone in your labs received my info.”
“Well, I would have hard about it if they did. Finding that Cube is priority one for SHIELD.”
“But then why didn’t…”
Natasha paused and closed her eyes. “Damn it.”
“What happened?” Kate asked.
Natasha opened her eyes again. “Director Hill,” she said into her radio. “Check the closets in and around the SHIELD laboratories. Unless I miss my guess, you will find one of the SHIELD scientists, bound and gagged and stripped to her underwear.”
“What?!” Maria sounded indignant. “That’s impossible… We’ve improved our security measures, we…”
“And our enemies have improved their infiltration methods,” Natasha responded. “The message I sent went directly to SHIELD labs – but the person who intercepted it, and probably deleted it from the SHIELD servers, did not belong there. We need to assume the worst.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“It means that the Chaos Cube is about to be stolen… again.”
*******************
It was nearly midnight as Silver Sable’s van reached the warehouse at the edge of the city.
Sable concealed the van amidst some trees as she peered out at the dilapidated building. “All right… My intel indicates that Black Spectre’s hideout is in there.”
Yelena eyed the location contemptuously. “An abandoned warehouse? How original.”
“If we find Black Spectre, we find the Chaos Cube,” Sable replied, ignoring Yelena’s supervillain lair critique. “Come on.”
Quietly, keeping to the shadows, the two women made their way towards the warehouse.
“Don’t get spotted,” Sable whispered. “We can’t risk blowing our cover.”
Yelena rolled her eyes. “I’m not the one wearing a shiny silver bodysuit, honey. Worry about being spotted yourself.”
They peeked out from behind some crates, watching the front entrance.
A lone guard strode back and forth along the walk. She was dressed in the uniform Yelena instantly recognized as belonging to those of the women who had kidnapped and nearly killed her earlier that evening – blue jumpsuit, yellow helmet with gas mask, along with bright yellow gloves and boots.
The guard was carrying a rifle, but didn’t seem too cautious about using it. She was swinging it back and forth cavalierly, striking what she must have assumed were threatening poses all the while.
“She should be easy enough to take down,” Sable whispered. “I can use some stun-pellets from my belt, and…”
Yelena shook her head. “Stay here, silver girl. I can handle this.”
Before Sable could stop her, Yelena had stepped into the clearing.
The guard had her back turned at the moment, so Yelena decided to make an entrance. “HA!”
The guard whirled in surprise, gun pointed at Yelena.
Yelena grinned. “It’s me! Your archenemy. The scourge of your nightmares. The, er…”
“Who are you?” the Black Spectre guard interrupted, in a tone that sounded less threatening than bored.
Yelena raised an eyebrow. “Er… Black Widow?”
The guard chuckled. “Sure. Never heard that one before.”
Yelena looked surprised. “I’m the Black Widow. You’re not going to try to capture me?”
“The Black Widow’s a redhead, not a blonde,” the guard replied. “And there’s no way she would wear pants like that.”
Yelena blinked. “What’s wrong with my pants?”
“You look like a biker chick on a bad date.”
The guard chuckled again at her own joke, but this time her laugh was cut short as Silver Sable struck her from behind, slamming her elbow into the back of the woman’s neck. With a groan, the guard collapsed to the ground.
Yelena scowled and kicked the guard’s unconscious body. “I am the Black Widow!”
“No, you’re not,” Sable replied, irritated. “Now pipe down and help me take off her uniform. She’s pretty close to you in size.”
Yelena grumbled slightly to herself, but she helped Sable drag the unconscious guard behind some barrels.
Beneath her helmet, the guard had light skin, green eyes, and a bob of orange hair. Beneath the rest of her uniform, she wore a grey triangle bra and turquoise bikini panties.
Yelena changed into the guard’s uniform, donning the jumpsuit, gloves, and boots. Meanwhile, Sable used some silver ropes from her belt to bind the real guard, and some silver duct tape to gag her.
“You really love that color,” Yelena smirked. “I’ll bet you even wear silver underwear.”
Sable scowled as she lifted the slumbering guard and placed her inside a barrel. “Not anymore.”
Yelena fixed the helmet over her head. “What do you mean?”
“A few months ago, while working at Oscorp, I was ambushed… mugged for my uniform. My attacker even stole my silver underwear – the only such pair I owned. I was left naked in a closet for hours.”
Yelena was glad she was wearing the helmet, as she couldn’t help but grin at the ridiculous visual of Silver Sable left nude and tied up in a closet. “Gosh, that sounds… awful.”
“I’ll find that woman someday,” Sable murmured. “I don’t know who she is, but our paths will cross eventually. And when they do, she’ll be sorry…”
She stopped, then turned to Yelena. “Enough of this chatter. I shouldn’t be sharing this with you.”
“Don’t stop on my account,” Yelena couldn’t help replying.
Sable’s eyes narrowed. “Just go find a Black Spectre henchwoman my size, will you?”
Yelena’s first impulse was to reply with “I don’t think Black Spectre has any plus-size henchwomen,” but given that she needed Silver Sable as an ally for the time being, she opted instead to hold her tongue.
She walked along the perimeter of the warehouse. At the side entrance, another woman in garb identical to the outfit she now wore was on patrol.
This woman looked up as Yelena approached. “Alison? Why have you left your post?”
Yelena recognized this woman’s voice. It was one of the thugs who had tossed her out of the back of the van a few hours ago.
This is going to be fun.
“Just stretching my legs,” Yelena replied idly as she strode up to the woman. Then, suddenly, she pointed over the woman’s shoulder. “Hey, is that Doctor Doom?!”
The woman turned. “Where?”
THWAK!
Yelena slammed the butt of her rifle hard against the back of the woman’s neck. With a moan, the Black Spectre guard slumped to the ground.
“You ladies aren’t the brightest Infinity Stones in the gauntlet, are you,” Yelena mused as she grabbed the guard by the armpits and hauled her off. “Can’t believe you got the best of me earlier…”
Silver Sable was tapping her foot impatiently when Yelena returned with her unconscious cargo.
“One uniform, at your service,” Yelena declared.
“Enough with the smart remarks. Just help me strip her.”
Before long, a second Black Spectre agent – this one a tan-skinned woman with black hair in a shoulder-length ponytail, clad in a vanilla-white push-up bra and bubblegum-pink briefs – was bound and gagged with silver cords and duct tape and occupying a barrel alongside her sister-in-arms.
Once Silver Sable had donned the second uniform and helmet, she turned to Yelena. “All right. Let’s find that Cube.”
Moving in lockstep, the two women approached the warehouse. The door was locked, but a ring of keys that Yelena had lifted from the unfortunate Alison quickly solved that problem. They entered the building and glanced around.
“Bigger on the inside,” Yelena whispered.
Indeed, the interior of the warehouse was furbished with metal walls and doorways, including an elevator with several floors on the display but no “up” button. Clearly, Black Spectre had put much of their facility underground.
Sable pressed the “down” button. The doors hissed open.
“After you,” Yelena offered.
Sable sighed, but entered the elevator, followed by Yelena.
A minute later, the elevator deposited them on a lower floor. Another woman in Black Spectre outfits walked down the corridor. She nodded at the two newcomers and continued past.
“So where do we start searching?” Yelena asked. “It’s a big place, and a small Cube.”
“It must be around here somewhere,” Sable replied. “We just need to—”
Her words were interrupted by a distant sound. The faint but unmistakable sound of helicopter blades.
The next moment, an alarm sounded in the hallway.
Yelena groaned. “Now what?”
Sable grabbed her arm. “No idea, but I think it’s best we make ourselves scarce.”
The two women quickly dove into a supply closet. Sable shut the door, just as they could hear gunshots from the floor above. Something that sounded like a muffled explosion.
“What is…?” Yelena started to say, before her words were cut off by a far less-muffled explosion.
The doors at the end of the corridor blew open, and footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Sable ignored the sounds of the alarm and peeked through a crack in the doorway. At least a dozen men and women trooped down the hall. None of them looked like they belonged to Black Spectre. In fact, their uniforms were unmistakable…
“HYDRA,” Sable hissed.
The green-clad HYDRA agents roamed the corridors, fanning out into several rooms marked as laboratories. Sable and Yelena could hear sounds of more explosions as the HYDRA agents made their way into the labs.
Finally, one agent emerged, crying out in triumph. “I’ve found it! Package secure!”
He was holding the Chaos Cube.
Quickly, another pair of agents carefully placed the Cube into a protective sealed metal case. Then another called out down the hallway. “We have what we need! HYDRA, move out!”
Immediately, the HYDRA agents hurried to comply, returning down the hallway the way they came.
Yelena was fuming. “That’s not fair! We were so close… I oughta show those HYDRA agents a thing or two…”
Sable put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid, Belova. There are at least fifteen of those HYDRA agents, all armed and dangerous. We’re outmatched by far.”
“But we can’t just let them steal the Cube!” Yelena protested.
“No, we can’t.” Sable glanced out through the crack in the closet door again.
Most of the HYDRA agents had left the way they came, but there were two stragglers at the end of the hallway. They were hurrying now to catch up with the rest of their team.
Both these HYDRA agents were women, dressed in dark green jumpsuits with yellow gloves, boots, and utility belts. Their faces were covered with cowl-like green masks and tinted goggles.
Sable turned to Yelena. “I have a plan. But we need to move fast.”
Yelena nodded. “Copy that.”
As the two female HYDRA agents jogged past the storage closet, two pairs of hands reached out and grabbed their shoulders, yanking them inside. The sound of the still-blaring alarm muffled the punches and kicks which followed.
*****************
The lead HYDRA officer watched as multiple agents boarded the large HYDRA QuadCopter.
“Hurry up!” he yelled. “Viper is waiting for us!”
As the agents settled into their seats, the lead agent turned to close the doors.
Two women in HYDRA uniforms hurried out of the warehouse, towards the large QuadCopter.
“Get a move on, ladies!” he called.
The two women made it aboard, and took their seats on the bench in the rear of the copter. The leader gave the signal, and the pilot lifted the aircraft up and into the clouds.
As the ground faded into the distance, the HYDRA agents began congratulating one another on the successful raid.
All except two of them, impassive and sitting in the corner.
“So what’s the next part of your plan?” Yelena whispered from beneath her mask.
Sable stared straight ahead. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Yelena sighed. “You don’t have a next part of the plan, do you?”
“I’ll think of one,” Sable replied. “For now, don’t do anything stupid. One wrong move and we’re dead.”
Yelena sat back on the bench, her mind racing. Things were growing more complicated by the minute.
But she would not fail. She couldn’t.
She needed that Cube.
It was the only thing occupying her mind as the QuadCopter whirled its way through the dark night sky, en route to the main HYDRA base.
Character references, when applicable, can be found in the second post.
-----------------------
Wilson Fisk was not in a good mood.
This was not an unusual occurrence. The man known across the underworld as Kingpin – and to the rest of the world as a supposedly legitimate businessman who was always in the midst of a few defamation lawsuits – was known for his short temper.
But today he was in an especially bad mood, particularly after glancing at the evening news.
“And leading the news tonight, a daring theft that has taken New York by storm…The theft, of course, of the famed Chaos Cube. The Cube, which was stolen from SHIELD--”
Fisk brought his fist down on his desk in exasperation, splintering the wood. “That Cube was stolen from ME!” he growled.
He spoke to an empty room, a scenario that was growing more frequent since his humiliating defeat at the hands of a few “superheroes” who had infiltrated the villains’ gathering he had orchestrated the prior year. The gathering had been Fisk’s attempt to unveil the Cube, one of the most powerful weapons in the hemisphere. Yet it had been stolen from right under his nose, and he had yet to live down the humiliation.
Since then, Fisk had spent abundant expenses on his legal team, battling investigations from the authorities trying to figure out where he had obtained the Cube. Thus far, he had avoided divulging any secrets.
For the moment, Fisk knew, his job was to lay low and trust no one.
No one, that is, apart from the best private investigator his money could buy.
His intercom buzzed, and his secretary’s voice crackled through. “Sir, a Ms. Punch here to see you.”
“Send them in, Laura.” Fisk rubbed his bald head in exhaustion.
The door opened, and a woman walked in. She was tall and slender, with light skin, green eyes, and long, straight blonde hair. She wore a red trenchcoat over a black blazer, grey pants, and brown boots.
“Mr. Fisk,” the woman said “I’m Susanna Punch. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Charmed,” Fisk said in a voice that was all but charming. “Now, down to business. I assume you know why I’ve called for you? You’re supposed to be the best private investigator in the city.”
“By reputation,” the woman replied. “Yes, Mr. Fisk, and I am happy to assist you – for the right price.”
“You will be well-compensated,” Fisk replied. “Provided you track down the Chaos Cube.”
“Of course,” the woman nodded. “I’ve never lost a case yet, and this one will be no exception.”
“Very good,” Fisk nodded. “Just tell me what you need to get started.”
“In essence, I’ll need to know everything you know about the Cube,” the woman replied. “Its origins, how it was obtained, any way of tracking it.”
“If I knew that,” Fisk grumbled, “I would have it back in my possession already.”
“You may know it without knowing it,” the investigator replied. “Do you know of the technology used to create the Cube? There may be some way of tracing it if I can learn of the materials used to develop it.”
Fisk thought for a moment. “The Chaos Cube was an independently financed project, with several of my businesses working on one component each. None of the departments knew what the others were doing – all the better to prevent any of them from leaking info. But…”
“But?”
“But the schematics used to create the Cube’s deadly effects were copied from an outside source. It came from Advanced Idea Mechanics.”
The woman nodded. “I’m familiar.”
“That’s all I can say for sure without risking my own reputation,” Fisk concluded. “I assume that gives you a lead?”
“It certainly gives me something to work with,” the woman replied. “You lay low and let your lawyers deal with any legal fallout relating to the Cube. I’ll track down the woman who stole it and return it to you.”
Fisk nodded. “Succeed, Ms. Punch, and you’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams. Fail, and you’ll be sorry.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Fisk.” The blonde stood and headed for the door. “I’ll take care of everything.”
*********************
It wasn’t until she was down in the parking garage of Fisk Industries that the woman calling herself Susanna Punch reached up and pressed a small bulge just behind her left earlobe.
Immediately, her face blurred. Carefully, she removed the mask, as well as the long blonde wig.
Natasha Romanoff now spoke into her communicator. “Hawkeye, do you copy?”
Kate Bishop’s voice responded immediately. “Sure do. How did it go?”
Natasha strode over to a parked car at the edge of the lot. “Very well. Kingpin is a smart man, but he’s in a vulnerable position and knows it. Getting the information we needed about the Cube was easy.”
“So what now?” Kate asked.
Natasha opened the trunk of the car. Lying inside was a slender blonde woman, sleeping off the effects of the Widow’s Bite that Natasha had injected her with about an hour before. Susanna Punch was dressed in nothing more than a white balconette bra with little green hearts dotted across it and a pair of lavender bikini briefs. As Natasha was pressed for time, she had not bothered to bind or gag the woman – after all, she had calculated that, based on the woman’s height and build, a dose of Widow’s Bite would leave her unconscious for approximately eighty minutes, more than enough time for Natasha to don her clothing and impersonate her for her meeting with the Kingpin.
“First,” Natasha explained into her earpiece as she began removing her trenchcoat, “I shed the clothing I liberated from Ms. Susanna Punch. And then… we are going to pay a visit to AIM.”
******************
Advanced Idea Mechanics, colloquially known far and wide as AIM, had spent the better part of the last few decades in HYDRA’s shadow.
To the Avengers, SHIELD, and most national intelligence, AIM never presented quite the same threat level as HYDRA did. HYDRA, after all, was a global organization with a single-minded goal: to wreak havoc and sow chaos across the world order. AIM, on the other hand, was a more conventional threat – it was staffed not by young militants but by scientific types, who hoped to develop new and dangerous technologies to commit all manner of crimes across the globe.
AIM never had quite the infrastructure or the mad ambitions that HYDRA did. Still, they were a threat, certainly with their accumulation of advanced and dangerous scientific equipment. Any attempt to infiltrate their facility would require extreme caution.
That was the thought on the minds of the occupants of the Quinjet plane currently flying low over the Atlantic Ocean.
“You sure about this?” Kate Bishop asked, donning a set of scuba gear.
“Positive,” Natasha replied, affixing the flippers to her feet. “Avengers intel has pinpointed AIM’s latest hideaway to an island laboratory about a hundred miles east of the shoreline. That’s where we need to be.”
“I hope you ladies know what you’re doing,” Clint Barton called from the pilot’s seat. “What if this is all a trap?”
“We’ll deal with that possibility if it arises,” Natasha replied. “Make sure you don’t take the plane too high, Clint. We don’t want to risk being spotted by radar.”
“You got it,” Clint replied. “How much further do we go?”
Natasha glanced at the coordinates. “I think here would be a safe place to stop. Kate and I will go the rest of the way underwater.”
“All right, then.” Clint shifted the Quinjet into a hovering position, keeping it in place.
“Meet us back at this spot in three hours,” Natasha instructed him. “By then, we should have obtained what we came for.”
“You got it, ‘Tasha. And if anything goes wrong… remember, the team’s just a phone signal away.”
Natasha nodded. Then, wordlessly, she approached the hatch and dove out, into the water below.
“She’s not much for goodbyes,” Kate remarked.
“You get used to it,” Clint replied. “Good luck, Hawkeye.”
Kate grinned. “Thanks, Hawkeye.”
With that, she dove into the water as well.
*********************
Natasha and Kate’s jet-propelled scuba suits moved both women swiftly through the underwater currents.
After about ten minutes, Natasha checked the signals on her watch. She motioned to Kate and pointed to an underwater rocky outcropping.
The women swam along the perimeter of the rock until they came across a metal grate. Natasha used an acetylene torch from her belt to cut through the metal, creating a hole large enough for them to swim through.
Another few minutes of swimming through a long stone corridor, and the women finally surfaced to air. They were in a large room surrounded by pipes and pumps. The whirring of machinery could be heard.
“This must be the energy room,” Natasha explained. “AIM has taken advantage of their underwater location, and harnesses the water to power the rest of their plant. It’s automated, so no guards in the immediate vicinity.”
Kate climbed up onto dry land. “That’s good so far – but there’s bound to be security in the rest of the facility.”
Natasha nodded as she joined her. “Correct. We’ll need disguises to move further.”
Kate wrinkled her nose. “I was afraid you’d say that… Those AIM hazmat suits look incredibly goofy. Do we really need to steal those beekeeper outfits?”
“Not necessarily,” Natasha replied. “AIM has several potential disguises beyond those ‘beekeeper’ suits their underlings wear. There are scientists in this facility, and a few minor supervillains who’ve pledged their loyalty to the organization. Finding proper disguises should not be difficult, provided you conceal your face. I only have one photostatic veil for this mission, and I’ll need to use it myself.”
Kate nodded. “Understood. So what’s the plan?”
“The schematics we’re looking for are quite valuable,” Natasha mused. “The only person who likely has complete access to search this facility is AIM’s Scientist Supreme – aka Monica Rappaccini.”
She thought for a moment. “I will locate Monica, then neutralize and impersonate her. That should give me free access to search this building. Meanwhile, you need to access the security room and get the overlay of the building, so that you can let me know where to search. The quicker we find the schematics for the Chaos Cube, the better.”
Kate nodded. “We’ll stay in contact over radio. Good luck.”
Natasha returned the nod. Then she disappeared through the doorway and down the corridor.
*******************
Clinging to the shadows was never a problem for Natasha, and luckily the dim lighting of this lower level meant there were a lot of shadows to cling to.
She avoided being spotted by the security cameras as she approached the main corridor. There, she concealed herself and waited with bated breath.
Her patience did not take long to be rewarded. The clicking of high heels echoed along the corridor.
A tall, slim woman strode into view. She had light skin, green eyes, and shoulder-length red hair. She wore a white lab coat over a lavender button-down shirt, a grey mid-thigh-length skirt, and grey high-heeled ankle boots.
Having memorized SHIELD’s records on AIM, Natasha recognized the woman from her photo. She was Dr. Evelyn Necker, one of the organization’s research scientists.
Evelyn was monitoring some pressure gauges on the wall, marking their readings down on a clipboard. She wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings.
Natasha watched her from the shadows. Red hair… Green eyes… Approximately my height and build. She’ll do perfectly.
She determined that Evelyn would be a quick and easy takedown, and not require her to waste a Widow’s Bite. To that end, she reserved her ammo, waiting for the scientist to get within striking distance, and away from any security cameras.
At last, Evelyn reached the last of the pressure gauges, right next to Natasha’s hiding place. She looked up and, in an instant, saw the woman hiding around the corner.
Evelyn opened her mouth to scream, but a neck chop from Natasha ended the sound before it began. There was only a soft groan as Evelyn slumped forward into Natasha’s arms, as well as the clatter of her clipboard to the floor.
Natasha quickly dragged her out of sight. Then she moved quickly, divesting the woman of her lab coat, followed by the rest of her outer clothes.
As Natasha had been mugging women for their clothes for nearly twenty years, the work only took a matter of minutes. Before long, Evelyn was down to a pink-and-white striped sports bra and leopard-print bikini shorts.
Natasha put on Evelyn’s shirt, skirt, and shoes, followed by the lab coat. She rearranged her own red hair into a style identical to Evelyn’s.
Then she took her photostatic veil and pressed it to Evelyn’s face. Once it had formed into an identical mask, she placed it over her own face. In a matter of minutes, Natasha had transformed herself into Dr. Necker’s twin.
Natasha found a disused cable box, which housed some blue electrical flex and black tape. She used the flex to bind Evelyn’s hands and feet, and the tape to gag her. She left the scientist inside a nearby metal crate, chin pressed to her knees, leaving just enough space for air to enter.
Natasha returned to the hallway and picked up the fallen clipboard. She returned the way Evelyn had arrived, careful even to imitate the woman’s gait. The security cameras would not notice a difference between the woman who had first walked down the hall and the woman who now returned in the other direction.
Natasha reached the elevator and pressed the button. It was time to find the Scientist Supreme.
****************
Kate Bishop crept quietly along the corridor leading to the security room. The floors were lined with metal grates, but she avoided those, ensuring her footsteps would echo as little as possible.
Gotta find some new clothes… and fast.
The echo of other footsteps from down the hall – women’s footsteps, in boots – told her that an opportunity was fast approaching. Kate quickly and agilely climbed up to the ceiling, positioning herself between the rafters as she observed the newcomers below.
Two AIM underlings, in the tacky yellow “beekeeper” outfits. Kate wrinkled her nose.
Consider yourselves lucky, ladies. No chance I’m stealing an outfit as dumb as yours…
Still, she needed another option, and quickly. Natasha was counting on her.
“Ahem!”
The two AIM agents turned to the sound of a new arrival from a side passage.
The woman was tall and fit, dressed from head to toe in form-fitting black body armor, with dark blue decals around the arms, legs, and torso. Her forearms were reinforced with thick black gauntlets, as were her black boots. Her face was not visible – instead, she wore a reflective visor, atop which was affixed a blue fin.
“Why aren’t you two at your post?” the woman inquired.
One of the “beekeeper” women gulped. “S-sorry, Seeker. We just wanted to stretch our legs…”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. Seeker… she remembered that name from perusing the Avengers’ files.
Seeker, aka Amber Silverstein. A scientific prodigy employed by AIM. Despite being young – early twenties or so – she had already made a name for herself as one of AIM’s top recruits, designing the “Seeker suit” she currently wore, which had the ability to fly and shoot miniature rockets.
“There was no break authorized. Get back to your stations,” Amber ordered.
The AIM underlings nodded and quickly hurried off.
Amber remained, watching them go. She checked some readings on her wrist gauntlet.
Kate eyed her intriguingly. That suit… Well, it was definitely cooler than the beekeeper outfits. And it would serve the same purpose of disguising her, with a jet pack as a nice bonus.
Kate did not have her archer’s bow with her – it had been too cumbersome to carry with her scuba gear. But she had brought along a few arrows for just such an occasion. One of them, the electro-arrow, would come in handy now.
Kate removed the arrow from her belt and hurled it at the metal grate, just a few inches from where Amber was standing. The head of the arrow struck the metal with a sharp clang.
Amber looked down. “What the…?”
The next moment, an electric charge zapped through the grate, right up to Amber’s metal suit.
“Ergghh!” Amber froze for a moment as the electricity coursed through her.
Kate held her breath, hoping the Seeker suit wasn’t insulated enough to protect her from the charge.
It wasn’t. The next moment, Amber fell backwards.
Kate quickly swung to the floor, catching Amber right before she hit the metal grating. The last thing she needed was for a loud “CLANG” of the suit against the floor to alert anyone in earshot.
She checked Amber’s pulse. The girl was unconscious, but otherwise fine.
“Hope you didn’t see my face before you passed out,” Kate mused. “I’ve already got enough enemies who want revenge on me for stealing their outfits.”
She glanced around, her eyes falling on a nearby technical room. “Speaking of which… let’s get to the costume change.”
She dragged Amber into the room and shut the door.
The Seeker suit was surprisingly easy to remove, and also not particularly heavy. Kate guessed that Amber had used lighter metals to allow for easier flight and navigation. That’s just fine with me, sister.
Beneath her armor, Amber had a surprising “punk girl” look for a science genius. She had light skin, blue eyes, and blue lipstick. Her hair was also dyed blue, fashioned into a modern topknot, with the sides shaved. Her arms were covered with tattoos in mostly blue ink, and she wore a blue sports bra with blue cotton panties.
“I think I can guess your favorite color,” Kate chuckled.
She found some black duct tape on one of the shelves and used it to bind and gag the unconscious scientist. Then she dragged Amber behind some crates at the corner of the room.
Kate wasted no time in donning the armor, and was relieved to see it fit fairly well. She took care donning the gauntlets, not wanting to accidentally fire off any missiles. She slid the helmet with mirrored visor over her head.
“Next stop, the security room,” she said aloud, in what she hoped was a reasonable approximation of Amber’s voice.
******************
Monica Rappaccini was not in a good mood.
This was not an unusual occurrence. The woman known across AIM as the Scientist Supreme was known for her short temper.
But today she was in an especially bad mood, particularly after glancing at the late-night news.
“The idea for that Chaos Cube was mine! First Kingpin stole it, then SHIELD stole it… now some Russian spy has it! Everyone gets a turn except the woman who came up with the idea in the first place!”
Monica had tried to steal the Cube back from the Kingpin at one point – during the underworld exhibition last year when Fisk had presented “his” invention to the criminal elites of the city. Monica had not attended the event herself, but she had sent a pair of AIM underlings there, under the pretense that they were security. Their job had been to steal the Cube back for Monica – but it did not go as planned.
While meeting with Iron Maiden in the file room, the AIM women had been ambushed by a pair of women disguised as technicians. The AIM agents had been left webbed up and gagged in some closets, and one of them had even had her uniform stolen.
“Blasted Spider-People…” Monica grumbled.
Still, she willed herself to calm down. She was still, after all, Scientist Supreme of AIM. She had gotten out of serious jams before.
A tall, svelte woman in her mid-thirties, Monica Rappaccini had an olive skin tone, blue eyes, and dark hair that reached mid-back. Her uniform as Scientist Supreme consisted of a dark green bodysuit, elbow-length yellow gloves and knee-high yellow boots, as well as a yellow collar and weapons belt. A violet cape was affixed at her waist.
As she sat in her office, contemplating her next move, a buzzing sound came from the door.
“I am not to be disturbed,” she called out.
The buzzing came again. A voice from behind the door. “Ma’am, I must speak to you at once. It’s about the Chaos Cube.”
Monica recognized the voice, and was intrigued. “Just a moment, Dr. Necker.”
She pressed a button on her desk, and the door slid open.
In walked a red-haired woman in a lab coat who was easily recognizable as Dr. Evelyn Necker – and not recognizable at all as Natasha Romanoff. The door slid shut behind her.
Monica crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. “Well? Spill it. What did you find?”
“I know how to locate the Chaos Cube,” Natasha replied. “We have the means to do so right in this facility.”
“We do?” Monica raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
“Yes. Or rather, you do. The only person able to access the info on the restricted AIM servers is you – or someone who looks just like you.”
Monica frowned. “What do you mean, looks just like –?”
She never finished her sentence. From beneath her sleeve, Natasha let loose a Widow’s Bite. The small projectile whizzed through the air and struck Monica at the side of her neck.
Monica froze as 20,000 volts of electricity did their work – but, surprisingly, she shook it off.
She glared at Natasha. “You’re not Evelyn.”
Natasha quickly realized that Monica’s costume and boots were insulated, designed to protect her from electric shocks. It took her only a moment to piece this together before Monica reached for the gun strapped to her belt.
“Who are – hey!” Monica scowled as the gun was kicked out of her hands. She had no time to react before Natasha twisted behind her and struck the back of her neck with a judo chop.
With a groan, the Scientist Supreme slid to the floor.
“Sometimes the old-fashioned methods work best,” Natasha noted.
With AIM’s highest-ranking scientist incapacitated, Natasha knew she was now working on borrowed time. She dragged Monica behind the desk and began unlacing her boots.
The boots came off quickly, followed by the gloves, cape, collar, and belt. Natasha then unzipped and removed Monica’s green bodysuit, leaving the Scientist Supreme in a lime-green exercise bra and lemon-colored boyshorts.
Natasha used some Widow’s Line to bind Monica’s wrists and ankles. She then peeled the photostatic veil from her face and stuck it over Monica’s face. Within moments, the mask had morphed from the face of Evelyn Necker to that of Monica Rappaccini.
Once the mask had been retrieved, Natasha gagged Monica with some black duct tape and concealed her beneath the desk, her knees pressed up to her chin.
Then it was time for Natasha to get another “promotion,” transforming herself into AIM’s Scientist Supreme. The suit was made of a stretchable fabric, which compensated for the slight size difference between the two women. The gloves and boots were of comfortable material. Natasha adjusted the collar and snapped the belt around her waist, then tied the cape around her waist as well.
Once that was done, she carefully placed the mask over her own face, then applied black dye to her red hair.
In a matter of minutes, “Monica Rappaccini” stood again.
Natasha spoke into her comms. “Kate, status report?”
“Got my disguise,” Kate responded. “Heading to the security room now.”
******************
The security room had one guard on duty, dressed in the standard “beekeeper” outfit. Based on the figure, it was a woman. She looked up as Kate entered the room.
“Seeker? Is something wrong?”
Kate did her best impression of Amber’s voice. “You’re relieved of duty, miss. I’ll be handling security detail tonight. Boss’ orders.”
“What?” the woman sounded confused. “But… I was told…”
“Plans change,” Kate replied.
“I should probably confirm this.” The woman reached for her radio.
Kate quickly hit her over the head with one of her gauntlets. The woman groaned and collapsed back into Kate’s arms.
“Of course I get stuck with the one henchwoman who has to follow the rules,” she muttered.
Lowering the woman to the floor, Kate gazed up at the sea of monitors. “Okay, Natasha… I’ve got a full view of the facility now.”
“Where is the server room?”
Kate squinted. “Looks like… Level 3A. There’s a door in the back hallway. Looks heavily protected.”
“On my way.”
Kate could see a woman who looked just like Monica Rappaccini walking towards the elevators.
“Good disguise, ‘Tash. Fooled me for a moment. You gotta show me how you pull off these impersonations so well.”
“A lifetime of practice…”
*******************
Natasha had studied video footage of Monica Rappaccini, provided courtesy of SHIELD, and had memorized the woman’s signature walk and mannerisms. Walking with the swagger that defined the Scientist Supreme was a key detail for ensuring a proper impersonation.
Reaching level 3A, she approached the server room. Two men in beekeeper uniforms were on duty.
One of them looked up in surprise. “Boss? What are you doing h--?”
“Stand aside,” Natasha said brusquely, in a perfect replica of Monica’s voice. “I need to retrieve some files. Make sure no one disturbs me.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Natasha made note of how easily the AIM lackeys fell in line when faced with the prospect of an unruly employer. Were she not on a mission of utmost importance, stretching far beyond the issue of AIM, she would perhaps take the opportunity of usurping Monica’s identity to more constructive ends, engaging in sabotage of the facility.
Still, all that could wait. Besides, as Natasha had learned from a long career of mugging and replacing a variety of powerful female criminals, a simple change of identity wasn’t enough to dismantle decades of intricately developed evil.
Once in the server room, Natasha wasted no time hacking into the computer, then searching for the schematics of the Chaos Cube. Once found, she copied over the materials used to make the Cube, and sent them to a contact in the SHIELD laboratories to perform a reverse-trace.
With luck, they would know the location of the Cube by the time Natasha was peeling off her photostatic veil.
As Natasha stood to go, a pounding came at the server room door.
She opened it to find one of the AIM lackeys standing there.
“I gave specific orders not to be disturbed,” Natasha said.
“Sorry, boss… but something’s come up. The janitor found that Seeker lady tied up in a closet… Her costume was missing. I radioed security and—”
Natasha nodded quickly. “Understood. Find the imposter. Do it now.”
As the AIM henchman hurried off, Natasha spoke into her comms.
“Kate, you need to do a better job of concealing the women you impersonate.”
Kate’s voice sounded sheepish. “Sorry, ‘Tasha… I heard over the radio that they found Amber. Not a lot of space to hide bound-and-gagged women in an underwater villain’s lair.”
“I’ve hidden two such women without issue since we arrived here,” Natasha replied. “But there’s no time to argue. Are you able to quickly shed your Seeker disguise and obtain another uniform?”
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then Kate sighed.
“I suppose…”
******************
Kate was grumbling to herself as she slipped on the beekeeper uniform.
“I swear, if Clint were here, he’d never let me live it down…”
Nearby, in the corner of the security room, the AIM agent Kate had incapacitated earlier lay on the floor, still unconscious. With her uniform off, Kate could see the agent was a young woman of average height and build, with light skin and chin-length straw-blonde hair. She wore a white camisole along with blue-and-white striped cheeky panties. Kate had used some coaxial cables from the security room to tie her up, and some spare tape from the janitor’s closet to gag her.
Kate sighed as she slid the beekeeper helmet over her head. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss Fifi’s uniform.”
Before leaving, she made sure to conceal the agent well beneath the desk.
*******************
Kate met Natasha at the rendezvous point. From there, it was easy for the woman wearing the face of the Scientist Supreme to bluff her way out of the building, with a supposed lackey alongside her – especially as the rest of AIM was preoccupied looking for a woman in the Seeker suit.
It was only once they had successfully stolen Monica’s submersible and steered it out of the hideaway that Natasha peeled the photostatic veil from her face.
“Overall, a successful mission,” she declared. “I obtained the necessary information about the Chaos Cube. Now we just need to contact SHIELD and see if they’ve managed to trace the real thing.”
It took only a few moments for her to place a call to SHIELD director Maria Hill.
“Romanoff. How’d the AIM infiltration go?”
“Quite well – as your scientists probably know already. I sent one of them the materials to perform a trace.”
“You did?” Maria sounded puzzled. “Our labs didn’t get any messages recently.”
“I’m quite certain of it,” Natasha replied. “I received confirmation from the server. Someone in your labs received my info.”
“Well, I would have hard about it if they did. Finding that Cube is priority one for SHIELD.”
“But then why didn’t…”
Natasha paused and closed her eyes. “Damn it.”
“What happened?” Kate asked.
Natasha opened her eyes again. “Director Hill,” she said into her radio. “Check the closets in and around the SHIELD laboratories. Unless I miss my guess, you will find one of the SHIELD scientists, bound and gagged and stripped to her underwear.”
“What?!” Maria sounded indignant. “That’s impossible… We’ve improved our security measures, we…”
“And our enemies have improved their infiltration methods,” Natasha responded. “The message I sent went directly to SHIELD labs – but the person who intercepted it, and probably deleted it from the SHIELD servers, did not belong there. We need to assume the worst.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“It means that the Chaos Cube is about to be stolen… again.”
*******************
It was nearly midnight as Silver Sable’s van reached the warehouse at the edge of the city.
Sable concealed the van amidst some trees as she peered out at the dilapidated building. “All right… My intel indicates that Black Spectre’s hideout is in there.”
Yelena eyed the location contemptuously. “An abandoned warehouse? How original.”
“If we find Black Spectre, we find the Chaos Cube,” Sable replied, ignoring Yelena’s supervillain lair critique. “Come on.”
Quietly, keeping to the shadows, the two women made their way towards the warehouse.
“Don’t get spotted,” Sable whispered. “We can’t risk blowing our cover.”
Yelena rolled her eyes. “I’m not the one wearing a shiny silver bodysuit, honey. Worry about being spotted yourself.”
They peeked out from behind some crates, watching the front entrance.
A lone guard strode back and forth along the walk. She was dressed in the uniform Yelena instantly recognized as belonging to those of the women who had kidnapped and nearly killed her earlier that evening – blue jumpsuit, yellow helmet with gas mask, along with bright yellow gloves and boots.
The guard was carrying a rifle, but didn’t seem too cautious about using it. She was swinging it back and forth cavalierly, striking what she must have assumed were threatening poses all the while.
“She should be easy enough to take down,” Sable whispered. “I can use some stun-pellets from my belt, and…”
Yelena shook her head. “Stay here, silver girl. I can handle this.”
Before Sable could stop her, Yelena had stepped into the clearing.
The guard had her back turned at the moment, so Yelena decided to make an entrance. “HA!”
The guard whirled in surprise, gun pointed at Yelena.
Yelena grinned. “It’s me! Your archenemy. The scourge of your nightmares. The, er…”
“Who are you?” the Black Spectre guard interrupted, in a tone that sounded less threatening than bored.
Yelena raised an eyebrow. “Er… Black Widow?”
The guard chuckled. “Sure. Never heard that one before.”
Yelena looked surprised. “I’m the Black Widow. You’re not going to try to capture me?”
“The Black Widow’s a redhead, not a blonde,” the guard replied. “And there’s no way she would wear pants like that.”
Yelena blinked. “What’s wrong with my pants?”
“You look like a biker chick on a bad date.”
The guard chuckled again at her own joke, but this time her laugh was cut short as Silver Sable struck her from behind, slamming her elbow into the back of the woman’s neck. With a groan, the guard collapsed to the ground.
Yelena scowled and kicked the guard’s unconscious body. “I am the Black Widow!”
“No, you’re not,” Sable replied, irritated. “Now pipe down and help me take off her uniform. She’s pretty close to you in size.”
Yelena grumbled slightly to herself, but she helped Sable drag the unconscious guard behind some barrels.
Beneath her helmet, the guard had light skin, green eyes, and a bob of orange hair. Beneath the rest of her uniform, she wore a grey triangle bra and turquoise bikini panties.
Yelena changed into the guard’s uniform, donning the jumpsuit, gloves, and boots. Meanwhile, Sable used some silver ropes from her belt to bind the real guard, and some silver duct tape to gag her.
“You really love that color,” Yelena smirked. “I’ll bet you even wear silver underwear.”
Sable scowled as she lifted the slumbering guard and placed her inside a barrel. “Not anymore.”
Yelena fixed the helmet over her head. “What do you mean?”
“A few months ago, while working at Oscorp, I was ambushed… mugged for my uniform. My attacker even stole my silver underwear – the only such pair I owned. I was left naked in a closet for hours.”
Yelena was glad she was wearing the helmet, as she couldn’t help but grin at the ridiculous visual of Silver Sable left nude and tied up in a closet. “Gosh, that sounds… awful.”
“I’ll find that woman someday,” Sable murmured. “I don’t know who she is, but our paths will cross eventually. And when they do, she’ll be sorry…”
She stopped, then turned to Yelena. “Enough of this chatter. I shouldn’t be sharing this with you.”
“Don’t stop on my account,” Yelena couldn’t help replying.
Sable’s eyes narrowed. “Just go find a Black Spectre henchwoman my size, will you?”
Yelena’s first impulse was to reply with “I don’t think Black Spectre has any plus-size henchwomen,” but given that she needed Silver Sable as an ally for the time being, she opted instead to hold her tongue.
She walked along the perimeter of the warehouse. At the side entrance, another woman in garb identical to the outfit she now wore was on patrol.
This woman looked up as Yelena approached. “Alison? Why have you left your post?”
Yelena recognized this woman’s voice. It was one of the thugs who had tossed her out of the back of the van a few hours ago.
This is going to be fun.
“Just stretching my legs,” Yelena replied idly as she strode up to the woman. Then, suddenly, she pointed over the woman’s shoulder. “Hey, is that Doctor Doom?!”
The woman turned. “Where?”
THWAK!
Yelena slammed the butt of her rifle hard against the back of the woman’s neck. With a moan, the Black Spectre guard slumped to the ground.
“You ladies aren’t the brightest Infinity Stones in the gauntlet, are you,” Yelena mused as she grabbed the guard by the armpits and hauled her off. “Can’t believe you got the best of me earlier…”
Silver Sable was tapping her foot impatiently when Yelena returned with her unconscious cargo.
“One uniform, at your service,” Yelena declared.
“Enough with the smart remarks. Just help me strip her.”
Before long, a second Black Spectre agent – this one a tan-skinned woman with black hair in a shoulder-length ponytail, clad in a vanilla-white push-up bra and bubblegum-pink briefs – was bound and gagged with silver cords and duct tape and occupying a barrel alongside her sister-in-arms.
Once Silver Sable had donned the second uniform and helmet, she turned to Yelena. “All right. Let’s find that Cube.”
Moving in lockstep, the two women approached the warehouse. The door was locked, but a ring of keys that Yelena had lifted from the unfortunate Alison quickly solved that problem. They entered the building and glanced around.
“Bigger on the inside,” Yelena whispered.
Indeed, the interior of the warehouse was furbished with metal walls and doorways, including an elevator with several floors on the display but no “up” button. Clearly, Black Spectre had put much of their facility underground.
Sable pressed the “down” button. The doors hissed open.
“After you,” Yelena offered.
Sable sighed, but entered the elevator, followed by Yelena.
A minute later, the elevator deposited them on a lower floor. Another woman in Black Spectre outfits walked down the corridor. She nodded at the two newcomers and continued past.
“So where do we start searching?” Yelena asked. “It’s a big place, and a small Cube.”
“It must be around here somewhere,” Sable replied. “We just need to—”
Her words were interrupted by a distant sound. The faint but unmistakable sound of helicopter blades.
The next moment, an alarm sounded in the hallway.
Yelena groaned. “Now what?”
Sable grabbed her arm. “No idea, but I think it’s best we make ourselves scarce.”
The two women quickly dove into a supply closet. Sable shut the door, just as they could hear gunshots from the floor above. Something that sounded like a muffled explosion.
“What is…?” Yelena started to say, before her words were cut off by a far less-muffled explosion.
The doors at the end of the corridor blew open, and footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Sable ignored the sounds of the alarm and peeked through a crack in the doorway. At least a dozen men and women trooped down the hall. None of them looked like they belonged to Black Spectre. In fact, their uniforms were unmistakable…
“HYDRA,” Sable hissed.
The green-clad HYDRA agents roamed the corridors, fanning out into several rooms marked as laboratories. Sable and Yelena could hear sounds of more explosions as the HYDRA agents made their way into the labs.
Finally, one agent emerged, crying out in triumph. “I’ve found it! Package secure!”
He was holding the Chaos Cube.
Quickly, another pair of agents carefully placed the Cube into a protective sealed metal case. Then another called out down the hallway. “We have what we need! HYDRA, move out!”
Immediately, the HYDRA agents hurried to comply, returning down the hallway the way they came.
Yelena was fuming. “That’s not fair! We were so close… I oughta show those HYDRA agents a thing or two…”
Sable put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid, Belova. There are at least fifteen of those HYDRA agents, all armed and dangerous. We’re outmatched by far.”
“But we can’t just let them steal the Cube!” Yelena protested.
“No, we can’t.” Sable glanced out through the crack in the closet door again.
Most of the HYDRA agents had left the way they came, but there were two stragglers at the end of the hallway. They were hurrying now to catch up with the rest of their team.
Both these HYDRA agents were women, dressed in dark green jumpsuits with yellow gloves, boots, and utility belts. Their faces were covered with cowl-like green masks and tinted goggles.
Sable turned to Yelena. “I have a plan. But we need to move fast.”
Yelena nodded. “Copy that.”
As the two female HYDRA agents jogged past the storage closet, two pairs of hands reached out and grabbed their shoulders, yanking them inside. The sound of the still-blaring alarm muffled the punches and kicks which followed.
*****************
The lead HYDRA officer watched as multiple agents boarded the large HYDRA QuadCopter.
“Hurry up!” he yelled. “Viper is waiting for us!”
As the agents settled into their seats, the lead agent turned to close the doors.
Two women in HYDRA uniforms hurried out of the warehouse, towards the large QuadCopter.
“Get a move on, ladies!” he called.
The two women made it aboard, and took their seats on the bench in the rear of the copter. The leader gave the signal, and the pilot lifted the aircraft up and into the clouds.
As the ground faded into the distance, the HYDRA agents began congratulating one another on the successful raid.
All except two of them, impassive and sitting in the corner.
“So what’s the next part of your plan?” Yelena whispered from beneath her mask.
Sable stared straight ahead. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Yelena sighed. “You don’t have a next part of the plan, do you?”
“I’ll think of one,” Sable replied. “For now, don’t do anything stupid. One wrong move and we’re dead.”
Yelena sat back on the bench, her mind racing. Things were growing more complicated by the minute.
But she would not fail. She couldn’t.
She needed that Cube.
It was the only thing occupying her mind as the QuadCopter whirled its way through the dark night sky, en route to the main HYDRA base.
I believe they rank last in every category 
