章 44: Infiltration
The drainage tunnel was narrow, dark, and rancid with the stench of stagnant water and decay. Natasha was used to moving through unpleasant conditions, but even she had to grit her teeth against the filth clinging to her skin-tight nano suit as she slithered forward. She activated her night vision, scanning ahead for any security measures hidden within the tunnels. This was Bakuto's main facility; she wasn't expecting a straightforward infiltration.
Ahead, she spotted the faint glint of a motion sensor tucked between rusted pipes. Natasha froze, letting the scanner on her wrist interface with the sensor's frequency. A few seconds later, she scrambled its signal, temporarily disabling it as she slipped by. Her heart pounded, not from fear, but from the pressure of the mission. Time was against them, and every step counted.
After a few more grueling minutes, she reached a maintenance hatch leading into the building's lower level. She pushed it open just enough to peer into the dim corridor beyond. The guard rotations were as tight as she'd anticipated—guards patrolled with military precision, making rounds every 30 seconds. She waited until they moved out of view before slipping through the hatch and flattening herself against the wall.
Every step felt like an intricate dance with danger. She sidestepped a laser tripwire barely visible under the corridor's faint emergency lights, moving in rhythm with the mechanical whirs and footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. Her destination was two floors above: a security room where the nullifier control panels were likely stationed.
The hallway ended at a ventilation shaft. Natasha pried the grate open silently and slid into the narrow, metal tunnel. She crawled upward, careful not to make any noise. Just as she neared the shaft's exit, she heard muffled voices below.
"…thinks there's a rat among us, huh? Bakuto's furious."
"He's not wrong. I heard they found something yesterday in storage. They're skinning him alive, I swear."
A shiver ran down Natasha's spine, and she clenched her fists, staying low. If they'd caught her contact…
Pushing the thought aside, she focused on the plan. The control room was just ahead. She edged out of the vent and into the shadows of the empty corridor, moving swiftly to the door. Once there, Natasha crouched beside the control panel, examining the access lock.
"Guess it's time to improvise," she murmured.
Using her multi-tool, she bypassed the keypad security. A small hiss announced the door unlocking. Natasha slipped in, shutting it behind her. The control room was deserted, but not for long; she estimated she had no more than two minutes before another guard rotation passed by. Her invisible mode has also reached its limits. It's in cooldown mode now.
She glanced at the panels, her fingers flying over buttons and switches as she examined the system. A diagram of the building flickered on one of the screens, and she spotted the nodes responsible for controlling the nullifiers. She quickly deactivated one zone at a time, watching as red zones on the diagram turned green.
But then, a soft thump behind her.
Natasha spun around. A guard stood in the doorway, his expression one of sheer surprise. They both moved at the same time, but Natasha was faster. She lunged, catching him off-guard and silencing him with a quick jab on his throat as she climbed up on his chest, and slamming down her elbow on his head with all her might. His eyes rolled back into his skull as he went limp in her arms.
She dragged his body behind the control desk and resumed deactivating the nullifiers. She knew the delay had cost her precious time, but the last nullifier node was almost down.
Finally, the building's dampening system was disabled, and the nullifiers went offline. She allowed herself a breath of relief, but it was short-lived as she remembered her contact. He would likely be in the holding cells below. She exited the control room, creeping silently through the dark hallways until she reached the stairwell leading to the lower levels.
"Aron," she called through the comms. "The power dampeners are down. Get Chat and run."
"Got it!" Aron's voice replied through her earpiece.
[Outside]
Aron used his super speed and phasing ability to run straight for the holding cell.
As he reached the room within seconds, he saw Chat sitting in the corner, looking at nothing in particular. Her eyes were cold and emotionless. He looked around and saw many children locked up in cells. He grabbed her and took her in his arms, then used his teleportation power to teleport inside the jet. Emma quickly ran toward them. Finally, after years of searching, she finally found her friend... Sister...
"Chat!" Emma hugged the girl tightly as tears streamed down her face. "You're okay... I'm so sorry! I thought I lost you!"
Chat blinked a couple of times but didn't react. Bakuto's brainwashing was too strong to be broken with a simple hug.
"No time to cry," Aron grabbed both Chat and Emma by their shoulders and teleported them back to Xavier's school's med bay. Professor X was waiting for them in the med bay, alongside Hank. "Take care of them. There are too many kids in there. I'll bring them here. Make sure to have Jean and the others ready. Some of them may be unstable."
"Alright, go," Professor said with a nod. "Leave them to us."
Aron teleported away, leaving Chat and Emma with them.
[Back to Natasha]
The holding cells were a grim place. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting a harsh glow over the rows of barred rooms where Bakuto kept his captives. Natasha's heart sank as she scanned each cell, hoping to find her contact alive. But when she reached the last cell, she stopped in horror.
There he was—her contact, but only barely recognizable. His face was partially intact, enough for Natasha to identify him, but his skin was mutilated, and his body lay twisted in a pool of blood. Fury boiled within her, her fists clenching as she fought to keep her composure.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling a fierce resolve harden in her chest. Bakuto would pay for this.
Steeling herself, she pressed forward. She had a mission to complete. If she let her anger dictate her moves, she risked compromising everything. She pushed the image of her fallen contact aside and continued, gathering any intel she could from the cell's rudimentary communication console.
Natasha worked quickly, accessing the rudimentary console in the holding cell. The data she needed was buried in encrypted files, but her fingers flew over the keys, bypassing firewalls and rerouting the feed to a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. server while copying another copy just in case. She didn't have long—the entire facility would soon be on high alert after her actions in the control room.
A faint noise prickled at her senses as she was transferring the data. She stilled, her fingers hovering over the console as her keen instincts picked up on subtle movements around her. The sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, accompanied by the metallic scrape of weaponry being drawn.
Her heart rate slowed, a battle-honed calm descending over her. She glanced at the console screen, watching the data bar inch toward completion—63%, 78%, 85%. It couldn't go faster. She clenched her jaw, her mind calculating escape routes as the noises grew louder.
Just then, the data transfer was completed with a soft beep. Natasha exhaled and ejected the flash drive, slipping it into a hidden compartment on her belt. She rose from her crouch, her hand reaching for her stun batons just as the door slid open, and a group of assassins poured in, clad in black tactical suits with Bakuto's insignia on their chests.
She had seen this kind before—elite fighters trained to execute without hesitation.
"Going somewhere?" the lead assassin sneered, his eyes glinting with a mix of arrogance and malice.
Natasha gave a slight smirk. "Nope. Waiting to kick your asses."
Without another word, she sprang into action, spinning low and sweeping her baton across the nearest assassin's knees, sending him crashing to the ground. The others reacted swiftly, lunging at her with a dagger, but Natasha was faster. She deflected an incoming blade with one baton, countering with a powerful strike to her assailant's temple. He dropped, unconscious before he hit the ground.
The others circled, closing in like wolves on a wounded prey, but Natasha was anything but defenseless. She feinted left, then launched herself into a backflip, her legs snapping out in midair to catch two of the assassins in the face. They staggered back, and she landed on her feet, immediately ducking beneath a sweeping kick from the lead assassin.
As he recovered, Natasha twisted around him, grabbing his wrist and leveraging his own weight to slam him into another attacker. Close-quarters combat was her specialty. She used it to her advantage, controlling her movements to keep her opponents colliding into each other. Her strikes were swift, every punch and kick broke their bones or tore their muscles.
One by one, the assassins fell, but as she dispatched the final one, a new threat emerged. A squad of heavily armed reinforcements entered the room, their rifles raised, eyes narrowed with deadly intent. She backed up, her options narrowing as her mind raced through possibilities.
"End of the line intruder," one of them said, finger tightening on the trigger.
Natasha held her hands up in mock surrender, her mind ticking over an escape plan. "You really think so?" she taunted, casting a quick glance at the ventilation shaft above.
But before anyone could move, the reinforcements froze solid just like that as the temperature dropped rapidly. Aron appeared before Natasha and stopped his super speed.
"I took out all the kids. And found Bakuto's location. Bastard hiding in the underground chamber. So, you ready to kick some asses?" He asked while looking at the frozen soldiers.
"You bet I am." She cracked her neck. "Let's go!"
Arron nodded and teleported both of them to the underground chamber.
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