[With Natasha]
Things hadn't exactly been going smoothly since they were sent out to investigate the nuclear explosion.
For something everyone wanted fully investigated, the amount of red tape to overcome was staggering. Everyone wanted in, and everyone wanted to keep others out.
Even Shield was unable to access the area at ground zero of the explosion. Everything was closed off, and not even the Canadian military was able to go in due to all kinds of strange orders.
At first, everyone was careful about getting close since no one had any idea how bad the radiation might be, and they didn't know what kind of explosive had gone off.
Natasha knew it likely wouldn't be bad since it was the Foundation they were talking about. They cared mostly about having the maximum level of explosion rather than pollution.
Still, the bomb had been designed to give a very high level of radiation, which would quickly decay until it was harmless, which should keep others away while the Foundation pulled the strings in the background and got control of the situation.
While the Foundation had been a little slow in the beginning due to the leadership being blocked off from all communication, the radiation had done its thing and kept people away long enough for the Foundation to start muddying the waters.
By the time people were ready to start investigating the site of the explosion, the Foundation had already called up their assets or bribed others and made the once simple situation a mess of different interests.
Since everyone wanted to get in there for this or that reason, they were able to keep everyone out, and rather than focusing on getting in there and starting to dig around for clues, they all ended up focusing on keeping everyone out.
Everyone except the Foundation, which was able to bypass everything and everyone, clean up the mess, and hide anything about their involvement while planting false clues about what story they wanted the truth to become.
Now, Shield naturally wasn't happy about being left out in the cold like this. And with the support of the UN behind them, they could indeed be heavy-handed. Thankfully, they had one of their best agents on the case, Natasha Romanoff, the famous Black Widow.
It's too bad for them that the only person able to sneak inside and investigate just so happened to be a secret undercover Foundation agent.
Natasha made her way through the chaos surrounding the explosion site. Her cover was intact, and Shield had no idea she was working for the Foundation. Her mission was clear: infiltrate the site, gather intel, and ensure that nothing pointed back to the Foundation.
She slipped past the outer security perimeter, using her agility and stealth to avoid detection. The Foundation had set up their own subtle signs to guide her, and she followed them to the heart of the site. The ground zero was a smoldering crater, surrounded by debris and twisted metal. She quickly began her search, using a handheld scanner to detect any remaining radiation hotspots.
She was supposed to be utterly alone in here. Still, she could see Foundation personnel moving around and digging through the ruins of SITE-160 to recover anything that had survived the blast while erasing every other clue they couldn't remove.
Natasha approached the secured perimeter, flashing her credentials at the gate. She was greeted by a stern-faced man in a suit, clearly an official from the Foundation. "Agent Romanoff, welcome. I'm Director Harris. We've been expecting you."
"Director Harris," Natasha replied with a nod. "I'm here to gather intel and assess the situation."
"Of course," Harris said, his expression softening slightly. "I'll personally show you around. We've prepared a few areas for you to document."
Natasha followed Harris through the security checkpoint and into the heart of the site. The devastation was evident, but it was clear that the Foundation had already been at work. They passed through several checkpoints, each manned by Foundation personnel, before arriving at the first stop.
"This is one of the primary blast zones," Harris explained. "As you can see, the explosion was significant, but we've managed to contain most of the residual effects."
Natasha took out her camera, snapping pictures of the area. Harris pointed out various pieces of debris, highlighting items that looked important but were actually inconsequential. She dutifully documented everything, aware that the Foundation was controlling the narrative.
"Over here, you'll see what we believe to be the epicenter," Harris continued, leading her to a charred, twisted structure. "This was ground zero. We've found traces of exotic particles, but nothing that poses an immediate threat."
Natasha captured more images, making sure to get close-ups of the debris. Harris provided her with a few scattered, half-burned papers and some half-melted equipment that seemed to hint at something important but was actually meaningless.
After the tour, Harris escorted her back to the perimeter. "I hope you found everything you needed, Agent Romanoff."
"Yes, thank you, Director Harris," Natasha replied. "I'll compile my report and send it to Shield."
"Excellent. Safe travels," Harris said with a nod.
Natasha left the site, her mind racing with the implications of what she had seen. The Foundation had gone to great lengths to ensure their involvement remained hidden while providing just enough information to satisfy Shield. As she drove away, she felt a sense of satisfaction. The mission was a success, and she had maintained her cover.
--------------------
After that, Natasha made her way back to Clint, who had failed in his own attempt at getting inside the blocked-off area, which was something that was in no small part due to Natasha leaking their plan to the Foundation.
"From the look of your case, I guess it didn't go too well, Clint." Natasha said as she greeted him, pretending to know nothing.
Clint shook his head, frustration evident. "Nope. They had every entrance covered. I couldn't even get close without raising alarms. How about you? Any luck?"
Natasha nodded, holding up her camera. "Managed to get inside and took some pictures. Not much left, but at least we have something to show Fury."
Clint sighed in relief. "That's better than nothing. Let's get back and debrief."
The flight back was uneventful, both agents silent as they reviewed their thoughts. Natasha couldn't help but feel a mix of satisfaction and trepidation. The Foundation had done an excellent job of covering their tracks, but she had to ensure Fury didn't catch onto her true allegiance.
------------
Once they arrived at Shield headquarters, they headed straight to Fury's office. The director was waiting for them, his expression stern and expectant.
"Romanoff, Barton," Fury greeted curtly. "What've you got for me?"
Natasha handed him the folder with the photographs and her report. "Getting in wasn't easy, they have it locked down tightly, but I managed to get in and take pictures of what I thought was important, should give the analysts something to work with."
Fury flipped through the photographs, his face giving away nothing. "Anything concrete on who might be behind this?"
"No definitive proof," Natasha replied. "But given the level of coordination and the attempt to cover tracks, I'd suspect either the Bulwark or the Chaos Insurgency. They're the only ones with the resources and motivation to pull something like this off."
Fury nodded, his mind clearly working through the implications. "Alright. We'll need to keep a close watch on both groups. Good work, Romanoff."
Natasha felt a pang of guilt for misleading Fury, but it was necessary. The Foundation's involvement had to remain a secret, even from Shield. "Thanks. I'll keep digging and see if I can find any more leads."
After dismissing those two, Fury sent the pictures and the memory flash down to the lap to have others look over it. There wasn't much to see, but it did look like some kind of secret lap, so likely one of those two secret organizations behind it.
The questions, however, remained which and why. Was it an accident or something more nefarious at play? He could only hope that they would be able to do a more in-depth search of the area soon.
Already, they had been stuck by stupid red tape for weeks, making progress agonizingly slow, and no matter how much he tried to explain that to his superiors, they still blamed him for not having the answers.
All the while, they also kept reminding him not to cause any problems and to respect the proper channels. They were asking for the impossible, but at least Romanoff had gotten something that should get them off his back for a while.
-------------------
Natasha had only barely gotten back home to her apartment before she found the next mission already lined up for her.
This one was another one that involved her role as a spy inside Shield. Thankfully, nothing went against her morals, so she could breathe easily on that.
Apparently, Shield was in possession of a rather dangerous SCP object, something that was within Shield and referred to as the tesseract. A blue cube with a limitless amount of energy. Her missed seemed to be to locate it.
She reviewed the mission details on her secure phone, a frown forming on her face. The Tesseract was not just any SCP; it was a powerful object with untapped potential. The Foundation had been keeping tabs on it, but now it seemed like Shield was getting closer to unlocking its secrets.
"Locate and report the Tesseract's current status within Shield," Natasha read aloud to herself. Simple enough in theory, but she knew better. Shield wasn't going to make it easy, especially with Fury being extra vigilant after the recent incidents.
It also seemed that she was unlikely to find anything inside the digital files since the Foundation's own efforts there had already yielded nothing. This meant it had to be done the old-fashioned way.
She didn't have many clues either, only that it had once been used for something called Project Pegasus and that it might be used to make energy weapons. So yeah, she had few places to start looking.
Still, as she thought about how to start looking around f
or such a thing without being noticed, she saw she had yet another mission pending.
"Now what?" she muttered, opening the new mission briefing. Her eyes widened as she read the contents. It was a high-priority directive from the Foundation itself, detailing the sudden emergence of a new threat: Skrulls. According to the briefing, Skrulls were shape-shifting aliens capable of imitating anyone, down to their DNA.
The fact that there were aliens on Earth was in of itself shocking. Though she guessed it shouldn't be given, the amount of crazy stuff the Foundation knew about. She had long since known about aliens being a thing but hadn't expected them to be on Earth.
And given that the Foundation was suddenly looking for these Skrulls, it was likely that they, too, hadn't expected them to be around either.
The briefing continued with a summary of events that had recently come to light. In the 1990s, a Kree warrior named Vers crash-landed on Earth and, with the help of a young Nick Fury, discovered her true identity as Carol Danvers, a former Air Force pilot.
Danvers learned that the Kree had manipulated her memories and that the Skrulls were not the enemies she believed them to be. Instead, they were refugees seeking to escape the Kree's tyranny.
The Tesseract had been a key part of this saga. It had been used by Dr. Wendy Lawson, a Kree scientist, to develop faster-than-light travel to help the Skrulls find a new home.
The Tesseract was hidden on Earth after Lawson's death, and Carol Danvers, now Captain Marvel, had helped the Skrulls escape with it. However, it had eventually found its way into Shield's possession, and its true potential remained largely untapped.
Natasha's mission was twofold: locate the Tesseract within Shield and gather any information on potential Skrull infiltrators. The Foundation had not believed the Skulls to have left Earth that year until recently, but it had recently found one and wanted to know if there were more.
There was also the chance that they were once again after the tesseract, and as such, it was important to know where it currently was, hence the two missions she had been given. "This isn't going to be easy at all… not at all." She whispered as she tried to figure out where even to start.
A/N
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