May looked around her, checking her surroundings for anyone possibly following or shadowing her or the location. However, she didn't see any signs, which either meant she was in the clear or those watching were too good to be spotted easily.
With a deep breath and a nervous heart, may entered the bar where she had agreed to meet Romanoff. The location was picked by her, and she hoped she would be able to use it to her advantage if things went south, but she also didn't have any illusions about who was the better agent between them.
She would never beat Romanoff in a straight-up fight, nor would she be able to outsmart her, which meant that the only way she could win was by taking her by surprise. Something he didn't doubt she would; after all, Romanoff would hardly expect someone like Eden.
She had arrived early, and expected Romanoff to be doing the same, so she quickly got everything ready in case a fight or escape became unavoidable.
It didn't take long before Romanoff came, a full hour early at that, as it to be expected for an agent of her skill.
"Natasha! Over here." May waved at her.
Natasha smiled and made her way over. While she did that, she looked around, scanning the place, noticing the details.
She wasn't entirely sure why May had called her out to meet like this. They weren't particularly close. Sure, they had a friendly enough relationship due to both being among the best female agents Shield had, but other than that, they weren't that close.
Furthermore, she could see the spot May had chosen for them was a very strategic one. It could just be a result of her training, or she could be expecting something. Though what Natasha couldn't figure out given the limited information she had.
"It's good to see you again, May." She greeted her casually.
"Yeah, it's rare we get to meet like this, both being busy and all, though mostly you these days, I guess." May said, also acting all casual.
"I heard about that mission. Are you doing alright?" Natasha asked, knowing that May was currently on medical leave due to her wound.
"I'm fine, almost ready to begin working again, though I have asked if it was possible for me to get a desk job…" May explained.
"A desk job? That doesn't sound like you at all."
May just smiled, not explaining her reason. "What do you know about the mission?" she asked instead.
Natasha knew a lot about the mission, likely far more than even May did. After all, there was a report about it deep in the endless sea of Foundation files—one she had stumbled on by coincidence.
She knew that an inhuman had been involved in the mission, one likely possessing some kind of mind control or ability to control the actions of others.
"I know a few things; I knew you got hit, that the mission wasn't entirely successful yet still completed as the enemy was eliminated." She just stuck to what she should have known as a Shield agent.
"There was a girl, an enhanced. Back then, it was a big thing; now, it seems enhanced kids are running around everywhere." May explained.
Natasha could only nod even if she personally knew that what most of Shield considered enhanced murderous kids she knew to be SCP-204, totally normal kids with an SCP object manipulating them.
May, unaware of what Natasha was thinking, continued. "She has been haunting me ever since; I couldn't stop thinking about what I could have done differently. It didn't help that so many other kids starting to appear."
She paused for a moment, looking at Natasha before continuing. "I just couldn't help myself; I sought an answer; I think I might have found it… but I found so much more as well." She said cryptically.
Now Natasha was starting to get curious. Just what was May doing here, and why had she called her out to meet here?
May took a deep breath. "I've been talking to someone, an enhanced who knows about something called the Foundation. It seems that Bulwark and the Foundation are the same organization."
Natasha's expression didn't change, but her eyes hardened slightly. "What makes you say that?"
May crossed her arms. "I've learned that the Foundation is controlled by a council of Overseers, and there's an Ethics Committee. It matches exactly what we know about Bulwark's leadership structure. And that got me thinking about you; you knew all along, didn't you?"
Natasha maintained her calm demeanor, but May could sense the tension in her body. The subtle shift in posture, the tightening of her jaw—it was clear that Natasha was weighing her options carefully.
That was enough to tell May that she was right in assuming Natasha was working for the Foundation. However, she also knew that she had to act fast if this was going to be a chance of not turning into a fight.
"She said a lot of good things about the Foundation and told me about something called the GOC. I wanted to report to Fury, but I was worried, worried that SHIELD would take the kid and use her against her will, force her into being an agent or something."
She said, trying to reassure Natasha that she wasn't an enemy, at least not yet. "I learned about her needs, her ability, and I was left thinking, what would be best for her? And the few options I know of, SHIELD, the Foundation, GOC, and Chaos Insurgency. Well, I came to realize that for some like her, the Foundation might be a safe place."
Natasha's eyes softened slightly, the tension easing just a bit. "So you figured that I might be a double agent? And I might be able to help this enhanced get back to the Foundation?"
May nodded, her eyes determined. "That's right, as soon as I realized that SHIELD might not be the best for Eden, and then realized that you might have betrayed SHIELD, I wanted to know more about the Foundation."
Natasha sighed, glancing around the bar to ensure no one was eavesdropping. "it's complicated, if you want to know more, then let's talk, but not here."
May paused at the request, knowing the dangers of going along with her. Letting a double agent know that you knew was always something to avoid, as they would do anything they could to silence you.
Yet she had still done with before she didn't believe Natasha was bad or evil; she had heard much about her, knew her as a person, to some extent at least, and trusted her own judgment about her person.
So if she had turned her back to SHIELD, there must have been a good reason for it, much like why she didn't inform Fury about Eden. There was a reason behind it, and she was curious to find out what Natasha's reason was.
"Alright, lead on." She said as she began tumbling down the rabbit hole.
-----------------------------
FluffyFox123:
Hey everyone! I just learned about this place, and its amazing to finally have somewhere I can talk about this in safety.
PawPrintsForever:
Welcome @FluffyFox123! It's always good to see new people come on here, though I gotta have to ask how you found us.
FluffyFox123:
My friend FireDragon told me about this place. He also helped me find the amazing app and my new best friend, Mal0.
PawPrintsForever:
Ah yeah, we know FireDragon, also again, sorry about the question, but we can't be too careful. After all someone is after us out there.
WolfieWanderer:
That's too true! And they're good, too. Anyone even mentioning Mal0 on the great big internet gets flagged up at once.
BunnyBounces:
Its scary! knew a guy, he found Mal0, talked about it online, a few days after he didn't remember it at all. All the chatlogs and stuff were wiped clean as well.
FluffyFox123:
FireDragon said the same when he showed me the app! It's scary it is, though who do you think is behind it?
TigerStripes:
It's got to be the deep state for sure. You know how they talk about furies, like we're crazy. They hate us, so it's not strange they hate Mal0 as well.
PawPrintsForever:
While I don't fully agree with @TigerStripes, I do agree that nothing but a massive world-spanning apparatus could do something like this. I mean, I know someone who tested out a lot of VPNs to see if he could avoid getting found, but no, he doesn't even remember why he subscribed to them now.
SneakySquirrel:
How do you think they do it? Make people forget? Are the like the men in black? Flashing people?
BunnyBounces:
It got to be something like that, the guy I knew just forgot from one day to the next, so there was no way they could have used much time. Though he did seem to have forgotten must of those days.
SneakySquirrel:
So they just erase entire days? Maybe even weeks from us if they found us?
BunnyBounces:
I mean I'm no expert, but maybe? So people who have known about Mal0 for a while will be hit pretty hard, losing months of their life.
SneakySquirrel:
Damn, I hope we never get found out, would sucks to lose so much time, not to mention I have worked so far to learn to communicate better with Mal0, would suck to have that hard work go to waste.
FluffyFox123:
@SneakySquirrel, Same! Been trying to learn sign language to I can speak with her, I wish we could just normally hear her, would be so epic.
DragonWings:
I've been working on that too! Mal0 seems to understand us just fine, but it'd be awesome to have more direct communication. Has anyone had any luck with other methods?
PawPrintsForever:
I've heard of some people trying Morse code or even trying to develop their own codes to communicate with Mal0. It's a bit hit or miss, but some have had success.
TigerStripes:
I've been trying to use cutout letters to have her write things, but it's not very successful. She really struggles with touching things, at least most of the time. Sometimes, I will come back and she has written something, but it often takes her hours.
WolfieWanderer:
@TigerStripes, How does that work? I can't seem to get her to touch anything at all.
FluffyFox123:
Same!
TigerStripes:
She will only do that if left alone, which isn't easy since she likes to follow us around that much, and its not really worth the trouble.
PawPrintsForever:
It's still good to hear about it, might give someone else some ideas and before we know it, we can easily communicate with her.
DragonWings:
Agreed! More ideas is the way to go, I can't wait until someone figures out how we can touch her!
BunnyBounces:
@DragonWings, go to horny jail!
FluffyFox123:
Still, how did people even make this place? Not to mention learn about the people hunting down Mal0?
PawPrintsForever:
Another of the mods works in cyber anti terror, and he learned about the sweeps being down on the internet when some hit some secure systems he was working on. He started to check it and learned the truth.
FluffyFox123:
Damn that's intense, but happy it happened, if not for my friend warning I would for sure have talked about Mal online, I mean she is the best. I was a bit freaked out a first, but soon I grew to love her.
SneakySquirrel:
True! Was about to go to the police at first, until she suddenly started to appear for real, not just the texts, and then I realized that she wasn't some crazy stalker, but a real furry!
DragonWings:
@BunnyBounces Haha, maybe! But seriously, it would be amazing to interact with her in the physical world. We should all keep experimenting and sharing what works.
WolfieWanderer:
Absolutely! Any small progress is still progress. We should document everything and see if there's a pattern or something we can all use.
PawPrintsForever:
Agreed. Let's keep a shared doc or something where we can note down all our experiences and experiments. Maybe we'll hit on something big.
FluffyFox123:
Sounds good! I'll start noting down everything I try and what results I get. Even if it doesn't work, it might help someone else.
SneakySquirrel:
Great idea! I'll do the same. Together we might just figure out the best way to communicate with Mal0.
BunnyBounces:
This community is the best! So supportive and creative. Can't wait to see what we all come up with.
TigerStripes:
Same here. It feels good to be part of something where everyone is genuinely trying to help each other and Mal0.