The Sokovian Affair

Natasha set the tablet down. An automated, hollow voice spoke around the materializing hologram image:

“Target: Ex- SHIELD Agent Veronica Lisk.”

Natasha studied the projection. A spinning image of the target’s profile emerged. She saw a scarred beauty. Black, feral eyes stared back at her. They were narrowed, confident. Intense. Around the eyes was a delicate, angular face. She wore her hair short, as black and wild as her eyes, swept to the side. Her lips were pursed, deadly serious.

“Mission: Subdue and Extract”

“Your target is an agent gone rogue. She eluded her SHIELD handlers while on reconnaissance in Sokovia. She is now taking refuge in the Sokovian embassy. She has on her person data that will compromise SHIELD activities and personnel. Our analysis suggest that she intends to utilize her knowledge and said data to profit on the threat of global destabilization.”

“Traitor,” Natasha hissed. She clenched a fist.

“You are to infiltrate the embassy and secure the data as well as the target. Be advised that security has been heightened since her arrival. Extraction must occur quickly and cleanly. There can be no casualties or collateral damage.”

A layout of the embassy blossomed out of the tablet in a 3-D hologram. A labyrinth of hallways, air ducts and security passageways spiraled before her. Natasha ran her fingers through the image and it returned to the profile of the rogue agent.

The voice from the tablet continued:

“Be advised, your target is skilled in hand-to-hand and small arms combat. Subject was recruited from a Sokovian ghetto as a youth. She displays incredible poise under pressure. Her psychological profile describes her as cerebral. All other information is classified.”

The black, piecing eyes of the target looked back at her, contemptuously.

“’Cerebral’”. Natasha said, her voice choleric.

She looked at herself in the mirror, now seeing herself from the front. She squeezed her fist tighter and raised it. She was slick, naked and powerful. Her breathes became deeper. She watched the muscles tense in her arm. She had her mission on her target. She had her prey.