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-How long till we arrive? - Asked Pierce approaching Natasha.
-Twenty minutes. - Romanoff replied.
-Then there's no point in sleeping. - Suppressing a yawn, Pierce sat down in the co-pilot's seat.
-"By the way, since everything's come together so well. I've been meaning to talk to you about something. - After a minute of staring at the clouds, Ryan said after checking the recently activated jammer.
-Yeah? What is it? - With interest without turning her head asked Romanof.
-I need a specialised person who is able to increase the chances of survival in emergency situations in a short period of time and not very frequent meetings of almost untrained people. So I need a trainer. - Said Pierce with his eyes fixed on Natasha's face.
-You know, the pay in the Shield isn't so bad that I need to open a young fighter's course. - Romanof turned and gave Rain a sceptical look.
-That's understandable. But I'm willing to pay for your lessons quite valuable. - Said Rain.
-How much? - Natasha asked with interest.
-20,000 cash for each lesson. - Pierce said calmly. He knew that even if such a large sum of money could not completely override Romanof's decision, the way the money was received would definitely make her give a favourable answer. Like anyone working for secret organisations, Pierce understood the desire of such agents to have a backup plan. But all the finances of such individuals were strictly controlled by their superiors and their outflow to obscure parties led to a nice interrogation and a strong loss of confidence from above. Therefore, for the one who has already been written off once to have several ways of escape as a minimum purely psychologically necessary.
-You do realise that for such a sum you could hire a team of specialists? - With incomprehension asked the spy.
-I don't know, as for me it costs a lot to hire the Black Widow herself as a personal trainer. And who better to teach a girl how to fight than you? - Rain replied light-heartedly.
-Sounds flattering, but I'll think about it for a while. - Natasha said, thinking that it would be foolish to refuse such a favourable deal, and that it would be possible to find out more about Rain through her future "pupil".
We arrived in China closer to night and having sorted out the situation we began to prepare for the mission. Our task was to retrieve the hard disc with the files of some secret project of our superiors, which were stolen by the former shield agent Tony Masterson. The kid was considered dead on the mission for two years, but a month ago he was dramatically resurrected in one of the Shield's secret complexes, killing scientists and stealing research results. After that, he successfully avoided the pursuit of agents and even managed to finally escape. The data stolen by him appeared among the lots of a rather influential underground auction known as "The House Without Doors". The auction itself is covered in mysticism as the venue has been tried many times, but each of them just ended up in an empty building with no guests. That being said, the venue was listed differently in each country. Shield just two days ago managed to find Masterson on the record of one of the murders in China and considering the importance of the stolen information we were given the task to return the data by any available means and catch or in extreme case kill Masterson.
We were given ten million dollars for the mission, which to be honest is a pretty ridiculous figure for a place like this. To put it simply, they left us literally no chance to buy the data without conflict. I decided not to complicate my life and added another nine-digit figure to the given finances. We got the invitation from a liaison who had taken it from a tech tycoon who was hooked on the Shield. According to the rules of the auction, the buyers deposit the amount they want to spend on the given account a day before the auction, because during the auction all electronic devices are switched off and money transfers are unavailable. It does not matter whether you spent the money or not, the auction takes 2% of the initially deposited amount.
During the auction all participants are untouchable and can not worry about their safety, but afterwards there are usually a couple of bloody incidents. Often, many rich new participants outbid dangerous competitors and taking the lot soon died from attacks or accidents. And while some were lucky, it's usually those who came in from the same place as you that have the most power. As we would get to the auction via Beijing we were strongly advised to minimise any chance of conflict with the Ten Rings terrorist group. This group were the shadow rulers of China, rumoured to be run by an immortal capable of single-handedly pulling down an army. Even though I don't know how much power the Mandarin has in the KWM since the last picture I saw of this world was of the second spider, I still wouldn't try to conflict with the Mandarin because the risks are too great. Firstly I have one of his rings, which suggests positive thoughts about his death, but at the same time he could just hand out two or three rings to his strongest men and then he's still an Avengers level threat. In the comics, this guy could break bonds at the subatomic level, transform bodies, become invisible, cause darkness to consume all light, create a vacuum explosion, create an entire illusory world, control electricity, subjugate people's minds, use fire attacks with the power equal to the flames of stars, influence time around him with the ring I had. All in all, it was a fucking immortal monster learning to use his powers for at least a thousand years. I don't want to meet such personalities for another ten years, so this mission is quite stressful for me. I'm literally like a thief who stole a man's car and then decided to buy the house across the street from him after selling it.
It was still thirty minutes before the appointed time, and since the place of entrance was so conveniently appointed in one of the elite nightclubs, Natasha and I sat down at the bar and made an order.
-Vodka Martini. - Said Pierce to the smiling bartender.
-Kh- kh really? - Natasha, who had already started drinking her cocktail, even choked when she heard Pierce's order.
-I've always wanted to try it, but never got round to it. And now the stars have aligned. - Ryan smiled with a smile on his lips.
-The coincidence of the year. - She reminded herself that she wasn't with Barton and that she needed to keep an eye on the boy.
-Well, Mr Bond, now all you have to do is have a brief fling and you can say the image is complete. - Sarcastically said Romanof erotically bent and showing all the best views provided by the neckline on the bright red dress.
-I don't think so. - Pierce pronounced, slightly grimacing as he sipped his drink.
-Why is that? If not the role of Bond, then your friendship with Stark should have taught you how to spend an evening "nicely". - Natasha asked with interest, not hiding her attitude to Tony's past lifestyle.
-Tony, for all his arrogance, arrogance, carelessness and lust, had one undoubtedly strong advantage over me. -Said Ryan, pushing back his glass.
-And what was that? - Romanoff asked perplexed.
-Luck.
-Luck?
-Yes. -And I don't mean Iraq and the events that followed, I mean Pepper. Despite all his mistakes, he had someone who still appreciated and believed in him. He could afford to waste a few years of his life, I couldn't. Let's just say my Pepper wouldn't be willing to wait that long, and I'm not willing to trade happiness for passion and alcohol. - Pierce said with a smile, looking round the room.
-You're too mature for your age. - Said Natasha with a glance at him.
-Well, they wouldn't hire children for this job, would they? - Pierce asked rhetorically.
After waiting for the appointed time, we went to a separate room, where a guard was waiting for us, who checked our invitation and pointed to the wall behind him. As we approached it I realised what was wrong. Instead of a wall there was a weak illusory magic that covered the working portal circle. Now it was immediately clear to me how this auction was conducted and why it couldn't be tracked down, but that was only the beginning of my shock.
Once we were in the beautiful room, a nice looking British man in a suit appeared in front of us, who checked some data in his tablet and handed me two bracelets of gold and greenish colour.
-Welcome to the House Without Doors. You will be given a VIP room, please follow Daniel. - The British man said, partially turning his body towards the man who had come round the corner.
-I will escort you to the assigned room. - Said Daniel.
As we walked down the corridors we stopped at a room like the others without any identifying marks.
-Please place your hand with the bracelet in the centre of the door. - Said Daniel.
As I put my hand through I saw the rune on the bracelet light up for a millisecond and the door opened.
-You may call on me to place any orders from the menu. The auction itself will last for five hours and all you have to do to bid is say the item number and bid amount out loud. If there are any other questions please press the button on the table and I will be with you in a minute, have a good evening. - Said Daniel before he left.
We took seats in front of the window that overlooked the common room and the stage. While people were seated and the beginning had not yet been announced, I decided to look around the room and put the lens in my right eye on the true gaze. When I looked around, all I could hear in my head was $@%&*#$%$%$#%&@#$&*@#$%.
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