BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ▹ Mama!Nat

TWO. in which the black dahlia is caught

[ BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ]
chapter two; in which the black dahlia is caught

❝ I know, you're angry. You have every right to be. But we're not letting you go back to him. ❞

TWO WEEKS PASS, and the streets are silent. No murderous rampages, no bombs implanted in car seats— nothing. Everyone knows it'll change when the mayor of Virginia praised the Avengers and ignored the backlash he recieved.

Now, SHIELD acts as security for him, escorting him everywhere he goes. This serves as a major problem.

She sits on the roof of a nearby building, eying the gala below her. It's a pretty sight; bright lights illuminate the prestigious-looking building, flocks of people entering in expensive gowns and suits. Too bad all of it will be stained with crimson in about an hour.

She can see the SHIELD agents that surround the building, no doubt swarming the areas inside. It was only a matter of time before they caught on. It took longer than she expected it to; a month and a half? With a Black Widow on their side? Seriously? She snickers at the thought.

She looks down at the tablet on her lap. She stole it a while ago and reprogrammed it completely. Within seconds, the deadly orange flower would bloom and take out the entire gala.

She has to wait until the gala's full, wait for the bouncers to secure the velvet ropes around the building. Every second matters. It takes an hour for the building to fill. She smirks before looking down at the screen. She presses the right buttons. The silence remains uninterrupted.

">>You can't be serious.<<" She mutters in Russian. Quiet expletives fill the gap as she tries to fix the damn tablet to no avail.

"You didn't wire one of the bombs right." She hears a voice behind her, along with boosters that hold the voice in the air. She knows who it is, and it dawns on her that she'll quickly be surrounded if she isn't already. "But everything else is pretty accurate. Someone's been training."

She sighs before turning to face the man in the iron suit. He taps away at the screen on his metal arm, no doubt defacing her genius work. "I expected you to be older."

"I expected you to be prettier," She retaliates in accented English. "Obviously, the tabloids favor you enough to remove the wrinkles."

"Hm, she's sassy." He's a sarcastic one, more-so than she thought. "Well, if you'd just drop the tablet and come with me, we can get you some ice cream and an American Girl doll."

He's trying to piss her off. She hates that it's working. He's also stalling. She can hear the thunder rolling in the air.

"Sounds enticing, but I prefer Barbie." She allows him to keep stalling. She needs all of them here for her backup plan to work. "Thanks for the offer, though."