What It Takes To Spare A Life (October 2005)

Maria Hill had been sent to the Tower to speak to the Avengers about a serious matter. Tony, Isabella, Logan, Steve, and Kate sat at the conference table while Commander Hill stood in order to present information to the team. She used the projection screen to project up the image of a beautiful, exotic looking woman. "This is Natalya Sokolova. She is the SSB's most dangerous operative. As far as SHIELD can tell she was created by the SSB using the Super Soldier Serum and was raised and trained to be a killer." She advanced to the next screen, which featured a large list of names. "These are the names of all of Natalya's known kills. It upsets me to say that there are a number of SHIELD agents on this list. There are plenty more that we probably don't know about. She is fast, strong, fearless, and does not hesitate to kill. She is trained in more martial arts disciplines than I can name and is a trained assassin. She is, at this point, the most dangerous person on SHIELD's radar. I know that the Avengers aren't about killing, but we need Natalya Sokolova killed. The one person we believe who could track her down and take her down is you Logan," Maria said as she looked at him.

Steve had been working on Tony and Logan for some time. Every time they showed any sign of non-acceptance or distrust with Kate he made certain they heard about it. He did this in private though and eventually the incidences became less and less. Maria Hill’s appearance was indeed a surprise. A career SHIELD agent she, like Phil Coulson was widely respected by most government and law enforcement agencies. Kate ofcrouse knew her and though they weren’t good friends Maria, like Phil helped Kate become the agent she was...or rather, the agent she used to be. Some of the images were gruesome and to make her point Maria set down several Dossier files of some of the murdered agents. Most were men but some were women.

Logan popped the top of his beer and sucked the excess off of the top. Tony gave him an irritated look then just shook his head. “I won’t advocate outright killing anyone. We could take her prisoner but then I suspect SHIELD would find a way to kill her so no. Isabella nor myself will be involved in this. I will not speak for anyone else though,” Tony said.

Steve looked and felt troubled by this news. He ofcourse suspected that this woman was the girl that had been reported to have been experimented on by the SSB. Now all grown up. “I must recuse myself from this. My objectivity is compromised,” Was all Steve said. Logan seemed to be more interested in his beer than anything else and he let out a small burp as he looked around the room then settled his gaze on Kate. “What do you think Kate. Should this ‘woman’ be killed? I suspect if she’s killed so many ‘SHIELD’ agents that she’s killed other law enforcement people too yes?” Logan asked.

Kate had only seen bits and pieces of Natalya's dossier. She knew enough to know the woman was extremely dangerous. She had murdered countless numbers of people and had done harm to the US Government with her work as a spy. She was extremely beautiful and men wanted her attention and would thus tell her all sorts of things so she would sleep with them. She heard what Tony said and glanced at Isabella. She kept her expression neutral and remained silent. Kate could tell though that she was quite disturbed by what she had heard.

Kate was not surprised by Steve's answer, but then the focus of the room seemed to shift to her for her thoughts. She sighed and glanced at the files again. She was only just starting to win over Tony and didn't want to compromise that.

"I think this woman is extremely dangerous. I don't think we know even half of what she is capable of. We need to get her off the streets, but I think we should try to capture her."

Logan scoffed inwardly at Kate’s opinion. He had come to like Kate to a degree. She had a very bad taste in men but beyond that she was willing to put herself in harm's way to complete a mission. No less than anyone else and he respected that. “Bullshit, I didn’t ask you what you think Tony wants to hear, I asked you what YOU thought. Is there a benefit for bringing her in alive? If she is some SSB monster then can she even be questioned without torture?” He asked her.

Kate sighed when Logan called her out. She was put on the spot now and had no other choice but to be truthful about what she thought.

"No, she won't be able to be questioned without torture, but you wouldn't even get that far. SSB agents will kill themselves rather than be captured. And if, by some miracle, you were able to take her alive torture would do nothing. This woman has likely been tortured by the SSB her entire life to prepare her for such a possibility. She won't speak no matter what is done to her. There is no point in capture. She should be killed."

Tony just sighed and lowered his gaze and rubbed at his forehead. If this wasn’t evidence that he had done wrong by Kate he didn’t know what else was. He owed her an apology but he wouldn’t do that in front of Maria. He had met Maria several times. He even liked her but she was SHIELD and that was more than enough reason not to associate with her.

“You have a capture option yes? Whatever it is I require it. Something to disable whatever device she might have to allow her the ability to kill herself or someone from the SSB to do it for her,” When Maria looked to disassemble Logan shook his head. “No, don’t even try it. I know you likely have scanned her at some point so SHIELD likely knows every lockpick, every tooth filling that isn’t a real one. I can find her...I can kill her but without that option...not saying I’ll care to use it, but I won’t do it without it,” Logan said. “And if SHIELD tries to monitor me, gets in the way or anything else, I’ll call it off,” Logan said then took a casual swallow from his beer.

Maria sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at Logan. “We do have a device I can give you that should work. Logan, I need you to understand that this is a very serious situation. She is extremely dangerous and even you need to be on guard. We have a piece of clothing we know was hers that I can give you for her scent. Will that work for you to be able to find her?”

Logan finished his beer and then squished the can with his hand as Maria finished. “Lady, if you can put me within 3 miles of her she’s as good as dead,” Logan said then looked over at Kate as he stood up. “Don’t worry Kate, I’ll only make it hurt...a little,” Logan said as he gestured with his fingers only a small span apart. Steve flashed him an angry look. “What, the woman killed SHIELD agents so let's call this what it is...payback. Maybe some of your friends are dead because of her,” Logan said as he stepped away from them. He actually chuckled as he moved toward the kitchen to get himself another beer. Steve only frowned and shook his head.