(no subject)

[outstandingbalance]

Who: Natasha Romanoff & You
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: 6/24

Video

[Transmission starts at the same moment the woman laying in fram shifts from unconsciousness to tense stillness—her eyes open, darting, and she goes tense, but otherwise there's no movement from her for the first four or five seconds. That seems to be how long it takes her to process that she's in an unfamiliar space with no memory of how she came to be lying there. Then one hand balls consciously into a fist. Her eyes flutter. Jaw tightens.

Natasha takes a deep breath and forces her body to relax muscle by muscle.

Seems like spies don't make for great entertainment when they first wake up. Not unless you find tension and veiled suspicious looks riveting. The first minute or two isn't much more than that. She wakes up. She sits up. She swings her legs over the edge of her cot and stretches her back, trying to flex the adrenaline out of her muscles.

She looks directly into the camera at one point, her expression flat, lips tightening in a frown. She taps the edge of the lens experimentally.]

You know, if you're gonna kidnap a girl you could at least buy her dinner first.

[Her voice is just a touch to defiant to be neutral as she speaks.

Then she hauls herself to her feet. The last thing caught on camera before the broadcast ends is a shot of her catsuited figure walking away.]

Comments

[mucked]

It can still be nice. Can't it? [ there's a strain in her expression. nothing too dark or dreary -- but she can't shake the understanding that she's putting on a face. lauding the advantages of this place, while constantly fretting over its shadier corners. ]

By now, someone far clumsier must have told you about how you've been here before. I don't have to keep pretending otherwise, do I?

[outstandingbalance]

I've heard. No need to pretend on my account.

[There's a tight humor in Natasha's voice as she speaks. It's come up, and at the moment the only thing she can really do for it is laugh bitterly.]

So I take it you knew her when she was here.

[She can't quite bring herself to refer to the earlier Natasha in first person.]

[mucked]

We had...acquaintances in common. Me and her. [ me and you. ] It was inevitable that we should know each other, I feel.

[outstandingbalance]

Not surprising, at least. If you were here at the same time.

[If they were, then it would be more surprising if they hadn't met. That wasn't exactly the same though.]

Were you close?

[mucked]

Not especially. [ -- peggy chooses the truth. ] Like as not, there are a few... professional barriers in place. [ spies should never make friends with spies, after all. the distrust runs too deep. ]

But we understood each other. It was enough.

[outstandingbalance]

[It's pretty hard to come closer to Natasha than understanding, but she won't dispute Carter's assessment of the relationship.]

Professional barriers, hm. Yeah, I can see that.

There are worse things to have than an understanding, especially somewhere like this.

[mucked]

Has Captain Rogers gotten in touch with you yet? [ she makes no effort to hide the gentle shift in conversational topics. there's never been any incentive to play the game with natasha; she sees the moves too easily. ] If not already, I imagine he'll be responding soon.

[outstandingbalance]

Vision has. And Tony.

I'm sure Steve will be around before long too.

[Since all of them are here.]

Looks like we're very popular.

[mucked]

Seems as though we are. [ -- another mystery to unravel, though peggy's no closer to figuring it out. ] There are a handful of others from your...present, I suppose.

[outstandingbalance]

Anyone else I know? [Doesn't hurt to ask, know who's here, who Peggy knows and who she thinks it's worth telling her about. Compare her answer to Vision's.]

[mucked]

Ms. Maximoff is a member of my crew here on the Starstruck. Sam Wilson has been a recent arrival. And then there's Loki.

[ one name remains conspicuously absent. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[So it does. The name Natasha was looking for in particular. She clears her throat.]

Vision mentioned that Loki was here, and that he seems to be behaving himself.

[Which implies that Vision may have also mentioned Barnes, and that he hadn't been.]

Said Loki didn't seem to like him much.

[mucked]

He's not done much more than be -- well, mouthy is putting it mildly. [ peggy exhales. ] But I've been privy to the reports detailing what happened in New York.

[outstandingbalance]

[That gets a snort out of her.]

If all he's being is mouthy, then we're pretty lucky. But he's probably smart enough to know starting anything openly would end badly.

[mucked]

With every conversation I have with him, I'm left with the distinct impression he's smart enough to hope his needling will result in one of us starting something for him.

[ it's cowardly, really. ]

[outstandingbalance]

You're probably not wrong. It could give him an advantage in optics.

Or he might just be bored. I get the impression we're mostly entertaining ourselves around here.

[mucked]

While we entertain others. Supposedly. It's all a bit perverse.

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe he's trying to take advantage of the system. Gin up some drama.

[mucked]

Likely, you're right. But he's been oddly quiet of late. [ ... ] I wonder if that's reason for concern.

[outstandingbalance]

I can't say it inspires confidence...

[She gives a half shrug, arms wrapped around her body.]

But if he's not acting out, there's enough going on without borrowing trouble.

Or playing into his provocations.

[mucked]

[ enough going on -- that's a telling choice of words. ] Someone's told you about Barnes, then.

[outstandingbalance]

[He was included in the "enough," but even without him Natasha is new enough for for the kidnapping and captivity to count.

Still, she's not going to deny it. And she's not going to miss that it's where Peggy went first.]

It's come up.

[mucked]

I suppose it would. [ ... ] Who let the cat out of the back, then?

[outstandingbalance]

Vision was fairly thorough when he filled me in on who all was here. He mentioned you too.

[mucked]

[ her exasperation is quasi-affectionate. ] He does take a rather wholesale and clinical approach to information-sharing, doesn't he?