2014-04-02 - Cutscene: Catch Me If You Can - Come Into My Parlor

There wasn't much information coming in about Stark's kidnapping other than what looked like hoax videos on the Internet. Natasha had been grasping at straws and investigating different villains with a bone to pick with Tony Stark. The closes to a good lead lead to the the Mandarin. The villain was held up in Rural China, far away from the prying eyes of the legitimate government. His current residency an ancient palace, where he and his army are mining something. The info she found they were building something dangerous and the villain could use the expertise of his old enemy.

Natasha is inside the palace proper. Getting in wasn't too much of a problem. Getting to the Mandarin-- or where he might be holding Stark-- would be the tricky part. The LMD had better strength than she did herself, even if she still had her serum, and she was taking advantage of that to remain perched precariously in a high corner of one of the large main rooms, the dim lighting working as cover.

A small, wrist-mounted display, dimmed to the darkest possible lighting, scanning for where the nearest concentration of electronic signals were.

Natasha would have found guards with modern weapons and armor dressed in traditional guard. They would be a challenge to most infiltrators but not the Black Widow, she would be able to pass unseen or disable her opposition without a sound. The source of the greatest electronic signal would lead to what was once the throne room of this palace. In many ways it still as row after row of computer terminal with a work at it works. In the center upon a golden thrown sits the Mandarin. He sits with his fingers steppled as he watches the computer work going on. His expression contemplative.

Her eyes narrow as they sweep the room. Too many people to risk an assault. Too many between her and him. She can't risk it, even in a body that's not her own.

The sticky palms of her gloves and boots allow her to move along the sides of the walls like her spider namesake. If there's computers here, there should be a mainframe or server room of some sort nearby. Or someplace power is coming into the room.

She will find it. She may even manage to bug it.

The Mandarin turns to look at where Natasha hides. "Natasha Romanova. If you wish to know if I have your precious Stark. All you have to do is ask." The guards turning in a commotion and pointing weapons at the Spy. The Mandarin says, "Come down from your web spider." His voice as smooth as silk and just as sinister.

"I prefer the web, Mandarin," Natasha replies coolly, shifting slightly to bring her hands where she can release from the wall if things go further south than they already look to be. She curses internally-- it's been too long since she's worked solo. There is no backup coming.

But perhaps the Mandarin doesn't know that. And, if worse comes to worst, she can get out. It'll be painful. And she'll be offline for awhile while the nanites repair her. But... she can escape. She has an ace up her sleeve.

"But if you are being so kind as to answer questions today... do you have him?" Her voice is even friendly, almost, as she asks. A lie, that.

The Mandarin yells, "Out. All of you." in Cantonese. The guards and the technicians rise orderly leaving the room. It's just them. The villain rises, once everyone has left the room, "Welcome to my parlor spider. I am no fly." The Mandarin rises and says slowly and dramatically, " Do *I* have Tony Stark?" He then says it again, "Do I have Tony Stark? I do not. I have not given Stark a second thought in years. The drunken lout is of an inconsequential after thought. Put him behind me. But I see he has convinced many of his self importance."

He could be lying, of course. Natasha narrows her eyes slightly. In any event, Stark being here is... unlikely. Too many computers, too much capacity for his Extremis-enhanced brain to computer-think a SOS email or so other communication, even if he was locked in a cell somewhere.

Unless he was dead. Or drugged to near death. Her expression is grim as she regards the man below. "I suppose," she says with a dry tone, "it would be too much to ask for you to let me know if you see him?"

She can make it out the window with her line if he lifts a hand to use his rings. If she's out, she can move faster than he'd expect. He's expecting a spy, only human, not a decoy. She calculates, ready to spring. She doesn't trust him.

The Mandarin raises his hand right hand and aims the ring known as 'Lighting' at her, "I do not have the sire of your Bastards. Now begone useless wench." Firing a bolt of lighting and forcing her to take the escape path.

Widow's line shoots out, smashing through the glass of the window and dragging her along. The tail of the lightning hits her, but she keeps flying. She hits the ground hard, and rolls, but kips up and bolts, shooting through any resistance until she's out of the palace proper.

That could have gone a lot worse. Should have, but he's up to something. Natasha takes a mental note of all of what she saw, still running away from the palace.

As soon as her decoy has reached an extraction point, she shuts down-- and pulls the control array from her forehead. < Damn. > Back to the drawing board.

The Mandarin sits back down upon his throne after he is sure Natasha is long gone. "Tony Stark, Tony Stark, Tony Stark. You have long been the itch at the back of my mind, the irritation, an annoyance. You find a way to complicate my plans just by getting yourself kidnapped. No my Black Widow, I do not have your Tony Stark. But once he is found, I believe, yes, It will be time. I will destroy Tony Stark."

By the time Natasha can send SHIELD forces, the palace will be long gone. Not any sign it was there other than a hole in the ground.