2019-12-16 - How Do We Blunt Razors?

Summary:

Laynia and her former mentor Natalia meet with Klavdiya and strategize about the Razors situation

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Mon Dec 16 10:00:00 2019
Location: Safehouse - Abandoned Parking Structure - Disaster Zone - NYC

Related Logs

russian-razors

Theme Song

None

black-widowklavdiya-vasilievlaynia-petrovna

After a bit more discussion, Hunter lapses into silence for a while. Not that this is a huge change; the woman barely speaks even when she is communicating, and clearly that's very frustrating to those trying to work with her. But … it just seems to be who she is. How she is.

That settled, however, and the medical situation handled, it's now time to try to get a handle on the threat the Razors represent. That was the purpose of the aborted meeting in Mutant Town after all. So, with some discussion, Thea left to take care of SHIELD business and get some rest, while Lexi headed through the tunnels back to Mutant Town to check in with the Pride and get a read on how they are doing and whether more attacks may have occurred. Meanwhile, Laynia finally reached out to make contact with her Widow once more, trying to reestablish contact and make that meeting finally happen.

Meanwhile, Black Widow has been dealing with the aftermath of the attack in her own way, which includes interfacing with NYPD and the FBI, who descended upon the lone captured sniper, and questioned the Wasp who captured him.

Most infuriating might be that the tactical team that struck at close range have all disappeared, leaving nearly no sign whatsoever they had ever been there. All three women know all too well they killed or disabled those they fought. But someone made it all disappear.


Having reached out to Nat, Laynia looks to Hunter. "I must go for a time, I will bring my friend back to meet, da?" Once she has the Hunter's permission she declines taking her car, she needs to get some new plates and report the others stolen after all. Nope, she'll arrange a meet at an underpass near the disaster zone, and then portal directly there - she'll keep an eye out for the tac guy she stranded her, though she suspects he's probably a gibbering idiot after a day or so in the Darkforce Dimension without her to protect and shield him, but who knows? Better not to take chances.

If the Widow is already at the meet point she'd see a familiar rip in spacetime form out under the structure, and then the Darkstar will step out in full old-school costume, which will surely bring back memories. Only the long hair having changed to a pixie cut.

If the Widow is present she'll greet her with a grim smile and a nod, if not, the Darkstar will wait, keeping to the shadows.


The Black Widow is indeed present, though it may not be apparent at first glance, she has made it a habit to keep out of sight and out of mind. But she's pretty quick to step out of cover when Darkstar makes an appearance. After all, she's not after pranks, she was hiding in case anyone was somehow still scoping and tracking either of them.

Naturally, tracking Darkstar would take considerable talents, what with her penchant to come and go as she pleases thanks to the Darkforce Dimension. Black Widow herself? Most who know her to be an actual agent, rather than a myth, are likely smart enough not to actually track her. But these Razors did seem like the kind of guys who like to break the mold.

"So…shall we?" Natasha offers to Laynia with a considerable lack of small talk. There was a meeting set up, it didn't go well, there was plenty of room for talk and discussion, but likely only after surveying the recently infamous 'Hunter'.


Determined to fight and not to revert to her feline state if she can help it, Hunter is clad in the sweats provided, though she has claimed some additional gear from one of the caches nearby to the parking structure. She has an oversized army surplus jacket once more, and is armed. She has settled in against one of the stable support pillars working on slowly and methodically sharpening the blade of the combat knife she has claimed. Nearby, a pair of heavy caliber pistols lay read for her care, with an even half-dozen magazines to be checked and stashed.

When the rift appears and disgorges one woman she knows and another she does not, the somewhat unkempt blonde woman nods and watches both very carefully as she finishes on the knife, and puts it away, then starts checking each of the pistols in turn. "Saw you last night." she offers in a soft, mush-mouthed tone, like all of the edges of her words have been sanded off aggressively. "Not dead. Good."


"Da, we shall." Nat is sure to see that Laynia has her 'game face' on, and is in full on battle ready footing. Which is good, she'd been a little less so when first they met in Mutant Town, clearly the woman's got her head in the game again and about damn time.

She doesn't even make one of those little unneeded gestures she's so fond of, just rips another hole in reality to slip them through into the Darkforce Dimension, if the Razors can track them through that they are far more dangerous than anyone suspected, and likely the expats are fucked. Plain and simple.

Teleporting via Darkforce Dimension is never a comfortable experience, the cold, the chill, the dark, the whispers and feeling of dread…yeah, not comfy, fortunately it is not a new experience for Black Widow, and she knows that Darkstar's presence mitigates this to tolerable levels.

At the bunker another hole appears, and the two women emerge, and again, Hunter will see that ghostly Darkforce Laynia peer out at her through the portal, hell, Nat might sense it too - and that's a new thing.


If Klavdiya had any working experience with Red Room operatives in the past, she might recognize the uniform in which the Black Widow is dressed, as she came ready for action, based on the kind of heat Okhotnik seemed to attract. "I hear you're Spetsnaz, I expect you saw me," Natasha offers with a friendly smile, before inclinging her head and quipping, "but unlike most Spetsnaz, you seem to have a special gift, don't you? Mind filling me in about it, just so I'm not in the dark…? For a routine meeting, you drew a heck of a lot of heat from those Razors, that's who they were, weren't they?"

Natasha does indeed have some experience in Darkforce Dimension travel, particularly during her time of cooperating with Laynia on US soil during the cold war. It's a good thing, because it allows her to keep a straight face and not look like she's struggling not to vomit while striking her supposed first impression on Klavdiya.


The Hunter shrugs a little. "Gift? Curse." She makes a throw-away gesture, something common amongst Russian military as a stand-in for saying 'whatever, you stupid officer, it doesn't matter'. Then she settles back down, continuing with her prep work, checking over the pistols. She proves, yet again, deliberately and profoundly laconic.

"Was Spetznaz." Hunter admits. There's more working, as she doles out words like precious treasure, one tiny bit at a time. "Attacked. Survived. Recovered." She turns, and spits over her shoulder forcefully. There's an anger in it, absent in her words. That's not a positive memory there. "Return to unit. Then Razors came."

Yep. Last night was not the first time she had encountered the Razors. But Hunter clearly wishes it had been!

"Came. Papers. Ordered come with." She turns again, spits again. "Major gave up." Hunter slumps a little, almost as if she has deflated. "Ran. Did not know insignia. No trust. Instinct."

And Hunter has been hiding out amongst the homeless of Mutant Town for over half a decade since then. Until now. Until a concentration of fellow Russian expats in the area seems to have drawn their attention, and blown her cover and hiding.


Some of what Hunter states is new to Laynia, some of it was suspected. She figured the Spetnasz on her own, it wasn't a huge stretch.

Honesty compels Laynia to add to the Hunter's explanation. "I was the one to blow her cover, they bugged my car. It has been dealt with, but I got on the Razor's radar and it is on me that Okhotnik was compromised."

One thing about Laynia, she takes responsibility for her actions. Hunter has likely not seen Laynia's physical costume before, so it is a new look, similar in most respects to the one she fashions out of Darkforce at need, but yellow and gold, not black and white, and the material is an advanced composite, probably insulated.

Her lips thin at the depth of her unit's betrayal however, that's just vile. Units should protect their own. Period.


"Different perspectives, I'm afraid I have been conditioned to have a certain perspective that may not always agree with others," Natasha admits readily. "I can see that much," Natasha accepts Hunter's assessment, not trying to force out words when few are offered to begin with. After all, they've just met.

"I've had an experience working with others who were impressed by my potential, you choose correctly," Nat notes even though it likely won't matter much to Hunter. "Anything you can share about the Razors?" The question doesn't state whether it comes from lack of knowledge, or seeking to verify existing knowledge. Regardless, Nat states, "what's your gameplan?" Before offering anything like support, or exposure to SHIELD, which Nat figures isn't the route Hunter wants to take.

"Ah…Laynia, you'd admit that much?" Natasha asks while turning to grin at her former student, "clumsy. But candor is appreciated." Of course, in the Red Room, there'd be a great deal of more painful follow up, but that was in their past. Times they are a-changing as Bob Dylan once sang.


Hunter shrugs slightly, finishing with one pistol and then racking the slide, loading a bullet into the chamber and tucking the pistol away in her jacket before she starts on the other. "Not much." She frowns, sighing. "Know armor … powered. Hear it. Know weapons … not normal." Then she reaches up, putting the pistol aside, and presses a hand to her shoulder. The shoulder through which she was shot. "Know they knew … more about me. About what I become. Than me." And she has lived with it for over five years. "Know questioned family. Unit. Tried to find." And she has remained hidden for a long, long time. "Heard they hunt … different."


Red Room, Laynia thinks, she does not say it out loud however, Nat wouldn't want that. That's for her to reveal, or not, not Laynia's call.

"I have seldom met anyone who is the Widow's peer, and cannot say for sure she has ever met anyone who was her superior." Laynia says in support of Nat's commentary. "The Razors also were prepared for me - they had weapon that fired bullets of super concentrated light, they /ate through/ Darkforce, like drill through wood. It was most disconcerting, it…hurt. Even when they fire through barrier I raised. Feedback."

She meets Nat's gaze and nods, accepting the blame. "Clumsy." She agrees.

That Hunter is speaking so much is a surprise, but a welcome one. "We need to find them, perhaps a trap to draw them out? If we stay on the defensive, if we are RE-active, they win. We need to be PRO-active."


Hunter glances up and nods in response to Laynia's words. "Bait?" she questions, eyeing Natasha. The other woman has not shared her intel yet. And that was, for her, the entire point of agreeing to the meeting in the first place. Perhaps from that intel they can figure out the right bait?


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