(no subject)

[outstandingbalance]

Who: Natasha Romanoff + you?
Broadcast: Fleetwide, text
Action: upon request
When: now

[If Natasha thought she escaped the rumors, she's going to be disabused of the notion. The notes start appearing here and there—short and anonymous. Things like:]

Natasha has a cat named Boris.

Natasha Romanoff once killed a man in Vegas just to watch him die.

Romanoff has been lying about about her age.

[And—]

Nataasha is a lingerie model.

[That last one, it seems, comes with some evidence. Sponsor drop? Either way, a few files seem to have been uploaded to support the case.

file1
file2
file3
file4

She shouldn't be surprised those came back to haunt her, should she? The real question is if anyone will dare to comment on them.]

Comments

text » private

[outstandingbalance]

It was for one of my covers.

[Peggy would understand that answer, Natasha is sure. Since they're already private, she doesn't play quite so coy.]

Though I'd like to say I just have good taste in things.

text » private

[mucked]

I thought as much. Lord knows I've worn all sorts for the mission. Even so, it's bad luck to have it put on display. So to speak.

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[outstandingbalance]

I suppose there are worse things.

[She's not sure what would actually be worse as a rumor. Something like this, or some kind of proof of her old life.]

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[mucked]

Oh, I don't know. The one about the cat is a bit heinous.

[ and that's coming from someone who doesn't even know the additional cartoon context. ]

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[outstandingbalance]

A little, maybe. You have to wonder where they get this stuff.

Someone without the best sense of humor.

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[mucked]

-- Could I ask about the mission, however?

text » private

[outstandingbalance]

What do you want to know?

[Which is one way of saying that she can ask, but Natasha doesn't promise to answer.]

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[mucked]

Only that it must have been quite the operation to have photos done up and all. Was it for SHIELD?

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[outstandingbalance]

Might be easier now days than you expect.

But yeah, SHIELD was involved.

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[mucked]

What sort of man was the target?

[ easily assuming it was a man. some of those shots are particularly cheesecake-y. ]

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[outstandingbalance]

[There's a pause before the response.]

The one you'd know is Tony. Back before we were on a team together, I was doing a psych profile on him for SHIELD.

The pictures helped get me a job as his assistant.

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[mucked]

Of bloody course it did.

[ ugh, starks. ]

Like father, like son.

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[outstandingbalance]

Any particular reason you're so curious?

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[mucked]

I'm always keen to learn more about how SHIELD operated. And in what pies it kept its fingers.

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[outstandingbalance]

You don't approve?

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[mucked]

Of your honeypot? Quite the opposite. I'm sure it worked admirably well. [ that's about as oblique a way to say 'you're hot' as they're ever was. ] But given its fate, I can't help but be suspect of what SHIELD had been up to.

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[outstandingbalance]

[Oblique, and at the same time, complimented her honeypot. Which sounds much more explicit than it is.]

Can't say I blame you. It puts some missions I've had in a different light. Hard to trust after that.

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[mucked]

And I'm certain it wasn't easy to trust to begin with.

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[outstandingbalance]

Apparently easier than it should have been.

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[mucked]

You certainly weren't the only one hoodwinked.

text » private

[outstandingbalance]

That's not really the part that bothers me.

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[mucked]

It's certainly the part that bothers me.

[ not that natasha & co were hoodwinked, essentially. but that well before them she'd built something with a shoddy foundation. somewhere along the line, she got had. ]

Agent Fitz. Over on the Bishop. Have you talked with him?

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[outstandingbalance]

We've talked. Maybe we should again.

Face to face next time, even.

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[mucked]

He seems to think there's something in SHIELD worth saving. We've met a few times in person -- he's a very bright young man.

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[outstandingbalance]

I don't doubt it. SHIELD recruited a lot of good people. And a lot of good people think it's more than the parts that were hijacked.