finifugal
(adj.)
hating endings; of someone trying to avoid or prolong the final moments of the story, relationship, journey, or other

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"my idea of help from above is a sniper on the roof."

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They exited the forest in complete silence and slid on their side down the steep rock and onto the fresh, spring grass, then sprinting quickly to cover.

"So how do you want to get in?" asked James, his back against the gray, brick wall and peering around the corner. Natalia did the same on the corner opposite of him where she saw two guards, dressed in full body armor.

Natalia looked over her shoulder to speak to James. "I've got an idea," she told him, nodding toward the men.

"A good one," he agreed as he motioned for her to follow after him as he sneaked up behind the guards. In the blink of an eye, the two men were silent made unconscious.

The uniforms were pretty baggy, so they didn't have to remove their gear. But as Natalia put hers on, she realized how badly it fit and how short she truly was without her heeled combat boots. She looked smugly to James, showing him her outfit. All her could do was laugh.

"Do you want me to stuff your shoes, Solnishko?" he teased.

"Sunshine?" she asked, acknowledging the name he had just referred to her as.

"You are the light on the dark horizon," he said with a smile and moving his hand dramatically across the sky. He was doing a great job covering up the sad moment they had experienced only hours ago.

"You know I'm not typically one for pet names," Natalia said, crossing her arms. He gave her a goofy look with raised eyebrows. If she had to guess, she would say James was a very charming ladies' man before tragedy struck. She couldn't help but buckle. He knew she was lying. "I suppose I could let this one slide. But now I don't have on for you."

He ran his hand over her thick, red curls, "You gave me my name Natalia Alianovna. What could be better than that?"

James.

She sighed, smiling at his pureness. He was no killer. Not inside. She did not deserve him. "I'll scope the basements and ceilings. The innings of the structure. See if that will cause any setbacks," Natalia told him as she pulled off the uniform. "No one will see me there."

"You know that's why they wanted Belova to win," James revealed. "She was skilled, beautiful and tall enough to work undercover like this."

"Yes, but I make up for that," Natalia said as she hopped onto the ledge of one off the windows and so quickly and smoothly, silently, and quickly, she crawled into the ventilation system exit on the exterior of the third floor wall.

James just smiled as he put on the uniform helmet and dragged the men into a hiding place.

"Your communicator is on?" asked James in a low voice without moving his lips as he entered the establishment.

"Yes," Natalia responded, as she crawled silently through the metal chute. "I've crawled down to the basement. About to exit and see what type of security system there is."

She found the next vent and carefully unscrewed it, so it wouldn't drop. Even though it was a tight squeeze, she dropped through the opening and onto the floor, quickly absconding to a hiding place behind a large water heater. She looked around at the room and decided it would be best if she stayed in the rafters so she would not be seen. And with a strong leap, she now was in the ceiling with a perfect hawk's eye view.

She climbed above the room, searching for the security headquarters, knowing that it was probably down there. As she was finding her way around, she placed bombs in places of structural strength. Soon enough, her searching eyes landed on a place with multiple screens, some set up in sync with computer systems—which was a technology no one had besides Hydra. How did they have it? The other ones were connect to security cameras which were also limited technologies. But Germany was the one to get it first. It didn't surprise Natalia. Along with that, The was a large control panel with keyboard, switches, levers, timers and buttons.

And connected to that were seven men who were working that big machines.

"James, what are you doing?" Natalia asked quietly.

Posed as a maintenance worker, he quietly worked on disabling all the security cameras. "I'm taking out the cams. They won't know anything is wrongs Just got the intel as to where they keep spies. You got eyes on anything."

"Yeah. Come to the basement. East-western quadrant. The security headquarters is here. I'm right over it. I need you to come over here and check it out up close."

"Sounds good," he said. "On my way."

When James entered, she knew it was him, however he did have on a new uniform. One of high authority.

He began to order the men around. She hoped to god he wouldn't slip up in his German. It was his worst language. He was bad at the accent.

But apparently it was good enough for the skittish men working the machine. They began to show him numbers on the screen, panicked and intimidated. Genius, Natalia thought, he had them reporting to him.

Looking down at him from the rafter, she caught him glance up discreetly. They made eye contact for a split second, both of them delivered a playful wink.

James stiffly bowed to the men and Germans do. The men returned the act. He ordered them to return to work and spun on his heel, leaving the room. Natalia hurried after him from above and when he was alone, she dropped down next to him.

"You go finish mapping the building out. I'm going go figure out why they have a Russian computer."

His brows furrowed. "That isn't our mission here, Natalia."

"Are you saying I shouldn't do it?" she asked , her eyebrow raised in suspicion.

He shook his head. "No, I'm saying you should be cautious. There is no telling what could uncover.

"Alright, Offizier," she said, acknowledging that fact he was wearing the clothes of a German officer.

She knew that leaving the basement meant no easy ceiling travel. She now was in full stealth mode and was hoping to God she's see a nurse or a secretary somewhere. Her search had came up dry until she stumbled upon the medical ward. Nurses galore!

Using the blind spots in the women's eyes and using the furniture in the room, she flashed across the room and behind the records counter silently. With no sound, she crouched behind her, waiting for her to stand.

As soon as she did, Natalia bounced to her feet, her curly, crimson hair flouncing with her, placing her hand forcefully over the woman's mouth, grabbing the nurse's nose with her thumb and pulling her to the ground. She let the woman pass out and dragged her to an examination room where she slipped on the dress and lab coat over her stealth suit, then pinned her hair into a tight bun with a nurses cap, hoping to contain her bonfire of a head.

She then put her on a gurney where she promptly placed a silenced bullet in the nurse's head, and covered the body with a sheet, so no one would get suspicious and she would be mistaken as a lost patient who would be taken to the morgue.

And just before she left the room, Natalia realized a nurse needed a reason to be roaming the halls. Sure she could sneak anyway she please, but she's got the outfit. She might as use it as far as she could. Looking bad at the freshly killed body, she realized she had a perfect reason. She transferred the nurse body to a body bag and placed her on a portable gurney and a pushed her out.

An older nurse looked at Natalia in suspicion and began to approach her. Natalia remained in character, calm as ever.

"Wohin nimmst du es?" she asked. She wanted to know where the body was being taken.

"Das Leichenschauhaus, Ma'am," she answered that she was taking it to the morgue. The older nurse's lips formed thin line as she looked her up and down.

"Wer bist du?" Who was she? Natalia didn't know. She had to think quickly. She reached in her pocket where she put the nurse's name tag and glanced at it. Adelheida

"Zelma Shulz. Ich bin ein Ersatz für Adelheida," she informed that she was a replacement for the nurse she had killed.

"Sehr gut, dann," she said, buying Natalia's lie. Natalia tipped her head to her and continued along her search to find.

She traveled along the halls, looking for an information headquarters. There had to be one with this being an experimental prison. "James, come in," she said under her breath.

"Go," he affirmed.

"Where is the information headquarters?" she asked.

"I haven't found it yet. Should be in the West Wing though. I haven't mapped it out," James told her, as her walked down the hall, perfectly playing the part of a German officer.

"Alright," Natalia said, turning the gurney around, and started the other way to the west side of the building.

She looked discretely into each room of the West Wing, coming up empty. How could it not be here? There had to be a secret door of some sort. Or maybe they didn't even have one. That however is a ridiculous thought. There had to be a door she had seen. But since she was already at the end of a hallway and it was such a perfect place for a secret door, she had to check.

She gently pushed into the wall and much to her excitement, it pushed open. There was no one in the room, so she entered. And what she saw absolutely infuriated her. So much Russian  equipment was set up in this room. From computers to radios to sonars and radars. She left the body at the door and entered to poke around.

She put discs into all of the computer systems to download all their information. There was a German spy in the Soviet ranks.

And then from another door in the back, a man entered. Natalia ducked to cover, kicking the gurney into the hallway and shutting the door. She watched the man who had entered with a dropped jaw. She knew who was the German Spy.

"James get down here. Last room on the third hall way of the west wing. Secret door. We've got a problem."

She knew it was such a finifugal thought, but she actually didn't want this mission to end, even thought it was spiraling more and more downhill. If it ended, it meant they were only a bit closer to their own end.

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