Elemental {Avengers}

14."Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead"

I stumbled into the conference room, surprised that they were all there, looking as tired as I had ever seen them. 

" Wow, you look worse than me." I said, slowly sitting on a chair, careful of my injuries.

" Glad to see you back, Maeve" Steve grinned, nodding his head.

The others smiled in agreement, and Clint handed me a glass of water. I drank eagerly, surprised that I was so dehydrated.

" How's it going?"

" It's hurting like a bitch, but healing faster than I thought, actually"

Natasha held in a smile " Steve doesn't like that language"

Clint snickered, and Tony rolled his eyes. Bruce filled me in on what I'd missed for the past few days.

" We've been looking at the dark web, black market, anything that could possibly lead us to the spectre. So far, we've found one lead. A vibranium dealer who might be able to tell us about the missing artefact. He's from Russia as well, and we weren't able to access his files easily. He seems like a sketchy guy, but the sketchier the better, right? By any chance, do you know Dimochka Volkov?"

I raised my eyebrows. " Did I hear you right?"

" Dimochka Volkov. We weren't able to find his picture, but we've done some searching, and he seems like a pretty solid lead."

They had actually been able to find the files of Dimochka? I couldn't believe it. He was elusive and solitary, refusing to give his appearance or true name to anyone, I'd even doubt that Dimochka was his real name. I also didn't know that he was a vibranium dealer. He was well known to the Russian black market community, although he was hard to find in person, even harder to track down. Dimochka met me after every mission, sending me to the Red Room blindfolded so that I didn't know where the location was. He also took some payment in illegal goods, in exchange for information about other black market dealers and customers. I had occasionally traded with him for information about people that I had to track down and kill. He never failed me with his information, but asked for a high price.

" Yes, I know him, and he seems like the type of guy that would know about the spectre. He will give you solid information, but will ask a hefty price. Be prepared to give him something that you don't want to give up"

" What like?" Natasha inquired.

" Usually, I didn't have much to give him. But... he asked me to pick up illegal goods, and another time, he asked for some of my hair... he asked for information on Madam B..."

" Why would he want those things?"

" He thrives off of knowing that he got something that a person doesn't want to give up. It doesn't have to be valuable to anyone else, per se"

" Sounds creepy" Tony said, obviously disturbed.

" He's got all the money, connections and protection that he wants, he doesn't need anything that we would call valuable"

" Do you know his location?" Steve questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

" Even if I did, he would change it in the wake of the Red Room attack. When I met him in Kazen, I kind of threatened to kill him. And after that, the Red Room has gone up in flames, so he probably doesn't want anything to do with me. I know a few places where he might be, but he's so quick at changing his identity, that he probably lives on the other side of the world now"

" And, we're back to square one" Tony grumbled. " Do you know anyone who knows him well enough to know his location?"

I thought. I knew various weapons dealers and illegal substance dealers, but no-one knew him well enough to be that close to him. Dimochkov would definitely know about the spectre, and seemed dependable, but I knew that he would ask me for information about the Avengers in return, or worse, wanted to kill one of them. If we found him, I would definitely ask about the spectre, but wouldn't be lured into a trap.