vexation
(n.)
the stat of being annoyed, frustrated, or worried

•••

"i'll survive. somehow, i always do."

•••

Natalia raised her finger over her lip back toward the men she was leading. It was dark and the sewers were wet and humid. They were so hot in the summer also. And it didn't help that it was raining, so the water was rising rapidly.

But Natalia knew this. She was trained to plan operations perfectly, for just as it started raining, they were in under the spillway. Even though the water was flowing at full force, they should be able to force themselves through.

Any guard at this moment, wouldn't think to watch the spillway because of the rain and flowing water. Perfect for Natalia and her men.

:Kahananui,: she spoke up in the German language. The more skilled and leadership infused employed Soldier stepped forward.

"Please, Widow," Kahananui said in his deep, masculine voice. He was flirting... again. "Call me Zac."

:Captain Kahananui, use German in from of the men.:

He flashed a smile. ⚬What if we just use Hawaiian?⚬ he asked gruffly, taking a step towards Natalia to where he was looking over her.

A slight smile tugged at the corner of her lip. ⚬And why is that?⚬

He let his head fall back in excitement and wrung his hands together like a little girl. "Oh my god. You are so special and amazing!" But then he calmed down instantly and put his "sexy" mask back on. ⚬Because I'm really tempted to get you, by the end of the day, to talk dirty to me,⚬ he revealed.

Natalia scoffed as she handed him a harness. ⚬Something you'll learn quickly is that, around here, I will always be in the lead. And if I want you to talk dirty to me tonight, then you will. But I assure you, it will not be the other way around.⚬

He gave a throaty, goofy cackle. "Hot."

She rolled her eyes and smirked at him.

Natalia couldn't help but let him be the way he was. She certainly wouldn't fall for the guy, but he was nearly six and a half feet tall. 'Hot,' to use an expression that he constantly utilized.

He was American, technically, but that was because he was from the Hawaii Islands. His hair was bleached a light brown where the sun beat it. His eyes were a pale grey and he had a nasty scar running over his left eye. He was absolutely huge. If she had know them at the time, she would have love to introduce Captain America and Thor to this guy. He was much bigger than the two large men.

He wore fingerless gloves and combat boots for the climb and compartmentalized pants that held as much gear as Natalia had herself. Maybe more. He didn't wear a shirt because of the water. His muscles looked nearly inhuman and he had navy tattoos all over his shoulders and pecs.

He was, honestly, scary as hell on the surface, but he was actually really fun and hilarous. A very badass guy. He had a wild smile that showed his contagious confidence. He was extraordinarily hot and if he wanted to flirt then so be it.

It's not like she'd ever run away with him, but a little action with a guy like this never hurt.

:All of you have them.: she said, referring to the harness she had given Kahananui. :Give yours to the man that comes up after you. The spiral of rope should stay on your belt so the next man can be pulled through.:

No one responded, but she didn't need them to. She walked to the end of the concrete ledge where, about 30 feet up the levee spilled into the sewer system. It was like a waterfall... and somehow, Natalia had to climb it. She put on her swimming goggles and turned back to her team.

:Don't drown,: was all she said before plunging into the deep, flowing water before her. It wasn't cold, much to her appreciation. By the water was beating her head, pushing her underwater. She could barely stay where she was.

Nevertheless, she pulled out her grapple shooter off her belt and aimed her best at one of the bars. When it flashed green and made a beep, she knew it was locked and ready. She latched the gun to the front of her belt and activated the retracting mode. It wouldn't pull her up, but it would keep the slack out of the way.

Through the beating water, she heaved her way up. Natalia became thankful for the grooved teeth on her boots and her thick leather gloves that would normally bother her.

She felt her arms grow numb, but she powered through it all until she had her hands on the door. She thought for sure she was going to pass out from lack of air, but she swam through the water and used the thick, rusty, steel bare to climb her way to the surface.

She felt automatic relief when her skin kissed the air. She gasped for breath and felt her body recover almost instantaneously.  But she had to stick to the mission. She placed a foot on opposite grates and readied herself to pull the soldiers up.

She knew that there would be no way for them to climb up themselves like she did. But she was also sure she could get most of them up before they would drown. That's why the next man going was one of the best Navy Seals of the time. He only was working as a mercenary because he had been discharged for something Natalia didn't care about.

But when he was up here, he would help her tug the rest of them up. She wrapped the cord around her hands for good grip and tugged, giving him a signal. She did he best to ignore the gushing water around her ankles. She was sure she could hold herself in place long enough to get her man up.

She felt the cable tug again.

Here we go.

She strained, feeling her hidden muscles appear in her arms, legs, shoulders, back, abs—well... everywhere. She felt her whole body working to pull this man up. She could feel her arteries pumping in her neck and heart thumping in her chest. She couldn't stop or her man would drown.

She heaved, putting one fist in front of the other until there was no weight on the other end. That either meant that the harness came of, or that her at reach the bottom of the runoff grate.

He came up, gasping for air. "Next one," Natalia commented. His goofy, throaty cackle came again.

"Awesome," he said, swimming over to place himself just as Natalia had done. He took his own rope from his harness and yanked it, still panting from his own endeavor.

There was another pull from the other end of the rope. Kahananui winked at Natalia and they began to pull the guy up. With his help, it didn't take long at all. When the man was up, Kahananui just shook his head, smiling.

"I promise I'm a godly man and I hardly ever curse, but I just have to say it, lady. You are fucking amazing," he said, staring his employer up and down.

Natalia smiled as she took the rope from the next man. "What can I say?" she said with a shrug.

"You can say that you'll marry me!" he said eagerly, nodding his head and smiling wide.

Natalia scoffed. "You don't want me as a wife."

He held up his palms in mock defense. "Hey, I'm used to white-blondes, but I I'm beginning to think redheads are where it's at."

They began to pull up the next man. "I wonder what you mother would say to you if she heard you talking like this."

He sighed and rolled his eyes jokingly. "You would really bring my mother into this?"

They helped the guy through. "I just did."

"For your information, Miss Belova, my mommy loves me for who I am. If I went home and told her I had committed treason and is now working as mercenary overseas for a smoking hot redheaded, Russian assassin, she'd called me her little man and make me a hot meal. My mom is awesome," he insisted, pulling the next guy up.

"But I'm 'fucking amazing'," Natalia argued jokingly.

"Not as much as makuahine," he commented.

They continued to banter as they pulled up the last few guys, then swam as silently as possible across the reservoir. It was a very treed area, so it wasn't too hard to hide from the patrolling guards who were hiding from the rain under any roof they could find.

"Are you going to tell me any of the plan?" asked Kahananui as they crawled out of the water onto the bank. Natalia scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

"Only the parts you need to know."

He rolled his eyes and smiled. "C'mon, Red. What are we doing here? Why'd we come in here through the reservoir drainoff? What is this place?"

Natalia huffed in annoyance as she turned to the rest of the men.

:You two,: she pointed at a couple of them. :Take the hounds. I want everyone dead. Find me me it's done.: She turned to another. :Go in the West door.: Turned to another :East.:

And she assigned everyone a place to begin raining down. Except for Kahananui, who she assigned to plant bombs.

"So what is it? Just a terrorist attack?" asked Kahananui. "On a simple research facility?"

Natalia shook her head, but he continued. "Red, I know you don't know me very well, but I'm certainly not one for terrorism. I might have to step away from this."

She turned to the ex-Seal and grabbed his hand threateningly. "It is not terrorism. It's liberation."

He bend down over her face, his eyes dark and his voice threatening. "That's what they all say."

"I promise you, Captain Kahananui, this organization has done absolutely nothing but harm to too many people. It needs to come down. Its not terror. It. Is. Liberation."

His sigh sounded more like growl. "Fine." He cocked his gun and flipped his wet hair out of his face. "Let's go kill some bitches."

"I thought you never curse," Natalia pointed out.

He shrugged. "I lied."

She found herself rolling her eyes again. :Let's go!:

And into action they went. Screaming. Fire. Blaring alarms. Nothing Natalia wasn't used to. She was upstairs copying the computers files onto her flash drives, surrounded by dead people, when Kahananui bursted into the room, holding up an empty file.

"You didn't tell me that we were targeting S. H. I. E. L. D!" he growled, waving the file with the S. H. I. E. L. D. symbol in her face. "Now we're all on their kill list! You really are the Black Widow. You—"

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Well.. yeah," he said. "But you're not getting the detonator."

Before he could realize, she took out her pistol and shot him between his eyes. He fell to the floor with a thud. She searched his pockets and found the detonator and pocketed it herself. She left the facility and the men she hired.

She took a car from the parking lot and once she was far enough away, she triggered the bombs and listened to the S. H. I. E. L. D. base explode like music to her ears.

On to the next.

"Barton," a dark skinned, bald man with an eye patch said into a cellphone. He was overlooking a history of attacks of his computers. Attacks from the Black Widow.

"Director," he answered, his voice smooth and professional.

"You are the best I've got," he said. "I've got a job for you. After seven years, this is the last vexation from the Black Widow."

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