Broken Glass | Natasha Romanoff

change of plans.

Having the man she was supposed to work for be dead before she even showed up to her job was a huge pain in the ass.

Lin was sitting on a bench outside the Triskelion, watching the people as they came and went. She was faced with a conundrum, one that was completely unexpected and in no way avoidable.

Her job was gone, which meant that she'd lost her way into Shield. She did, of course, have a plan b. And a plan c, d, e, and f. They just wasn't as efficient as her first plan and they were all major pains in the ass to pull off.

Plan b involved finding another position as a secretary or receptionist in the building, while plan c creating yet another identity and becoming a janitor. And plan d involved a helicopter and a pilot. She didn't know which was more preferable at the moment, but she'd have to make up her mind fast.

Unlike Nicholas Fury, Alexander Pierce wasn't just going to die on his own. Or at least, that's what she hoped, because otherwise she wouldn't get paid.

Flying a helicopter up to someone's office was too suspicious, she decided in a flash. There were too many things that could go wrong; getting shot out of the air was almost definitive, getting tracked was more likely than unlikely... it just wouldn't work. If she could get a job as a janitor, disable the security cameras throughout the whole building, and get into Pierce's office, then she could be in and out without anyone seeing her face. Well, except Pierce. But he'd be too dead by the time she left to tell anyone.

But there was the whole in-and-out process to deal with.

So plan she-didn't-fucking-know it was, then. At least she still had the whole alphabet to move through.

Despite her many talents, Lin wasn't a very good hacker. She knew how to encrypt and decrypt files, code her computer, and break her phone. But that was the limit of her abilities. That meant that to pull  off the kill successfully, she'd need help. And that in turn meant less money because if you wanted help that didn't get you caught or killed, you payed the person working with you very well.

Lin was so lost in her plans that she didn't hear the ringing of her phone until a lady feeding pigeons in front of her snapped, "Can you please turn that thing off? You're scaring the birds away." She rolled her eyes as Lin startled, putting the phone to her ear before she was even aware of what she was doing.

"Miss Malfait?"

The whole world stopped.

She could hear her heart pounding in her chest and the blood rushing in her ears. Nobody had called her that in so long; she'd almost forgotten how irritating it was to hear people pronounce her last name with their obnoxious English accents.

"Miss Malfait, are you there?" Lin couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. This wasn't supposed to happen, this was supposed to be something that stayed exactly where she'd left it; in the past.

"Miss Malfait, assuming you're still there, we're calling to let you know that Nicolas Malfait is in the George Washington University Hospital. You seem to be the only contact he is willing to share and he keeps asking for you." Lin blinked slowly, still unable to breathe. This. Couldn't. Be. Happening.

"What... what happened to him?" She managed to choke out while stumbling to her feet.

"I'm afraid we are unable to disclose this over the phone, but if you come in, we'd be more than happy to share the limited knowledge we're currently privy to." Lin listened intently as she tripped over her feet, making her way to the street so that she could wave down a taxi.

Her thoughts were moving like an ant trapped in honey; everything around her seemed to be blurry, like she was looking through a steamed-over window.