Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 16 - A Misson Gone Sideways

2013

Keira was resting her head in her hand, listening to Maria's briefing. Or rather, she was trying to listen. The sounds of last night's fireworks still echoed in her head, but luckily enough, she wasn't harboring a hangover. That was one of the upsides, or downsides, depending on how you chose to look at it, with having increased metabolism.

She couldn't get drunk unless she chugged a whole bottle of tequila, or something of similar strength, in one sweep, and that wasn't exactly a fun experience for most of the time. But it was lucky that she had Natasha, who was surprisingly good at holding her alcohol. Keira guessed it had something to do with her Russian roots.

"We need you to fly to the Republic of Honduras. Our sources tell us that an old undercover HYDRA base is still active there. We need you to get in, access the mainframe, and get as much information as possible. So, just be the Shadow of old and you'll be alright." Maria finished off and looked up from her file.

Keira blinked a couple of times and furrowed her eyebrows together. "The Shadow?" She questioned, amused. The mission in itself wasn't a problem, she had done those types of missions before.

Maria's mouth fell slightly open in surprise, but she shut it quickly as she put down her file. Before speaking however, she swiped up a hologram of an old ruin, covered in vines. "Didn't you know that you were called the Shadow before HYDRA went official with you as an assassin?"

Keira's eyebrows rose even more, threatening to disappear under the mop of blonde hair. "No, I had no idea. They always called me Topaz, nothing else. So having another name never crossed my mind."

Maria nodded slowly. "Well, makes sense. They wouldn't want their subjects to be confused by multiple names. And besides, I think it was only SHIELD that called you the Shadow." She shrugged, swiping at the hologram so it switched to a picture of a dense jungle.

"Interesting..." Keira mumbled absentmindedly, looking up at the hologram. "Why Shadow though?"

Maria just gave an amused smile, shaking her head slightly. "Well, the Shadow was a casual name, and after all, that's what you were most fa-" She shut her mouth quickly, catching herself as she saw Keira's face fall. "I'm sorry."

Keira pressed her lips together while chewing on the inside of her cheek. While she could appreciate the nickname, it was still a time in her life that she'd rather not think about. "Huh, such great imagination they had." She said, her voice slightly higher than normal, but then added in a more collected tone, "Going back to the mission, I'm getting to test my hacking skills again? That's always fun." She smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Might need a refresher course though. I haven't hacked anything from before the Chitauri attack."

Maria gave her a crooked smile but was glad to see that Keira didn't seem too upset with the mention of her old days, so she was grateful for the change of subject. "And what exactly were you hacking back then?" She questioned, one eyebrow raised.

Keira pressed her lips together and tried to compose her face into one of innocence. "Nothing of importance." She said airily, not meeting Maria's stern gaze.

"Okay, so SHIELD, got it. Never mind that, it's in the past."

"Am I going alone?"

"You think you can handle it?" Something was glinting in Maria's clear blue eyes. A challenge perhaps?

Keira rose from her seat and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I think so. But it's always nice with backup." She stretched out her arms in front of her, and her right elbow cracked unpleasantly. Yup, her joints were in tiptop condition, no question about that.