Thread: A Night at the Opera Characters: Phil Coulson and Natalia Romanova NPCs: Mysterious Assassin Location: The Vienna Opera House Timeline: Saturday, May 14th Description: Nat and Phil go on a mission together to get some intel on the latest in unorthodox killing methods. Rating: PG/PG-13
"Don't say I never take you anywhere nice," Phil murmured into his comms as he strolled around the lobby of the grand Vienna Opera House. He was more often than not found behind the scenes of fact finding operations like these. Even though he had a fair bit of skill for field work, Fury always seemed to like to have him on-hand as an idea man. It was flattering, considering the type of tactical mind that the Director himself possessed, but sometimes, it was a nice change to be able to stretch his legs a bit. He was lucky that the mission suited him well. Men like Barton or Barnes might stick out like a sore thumb at a staging of La Traviata, but Phil had always made it a point to be well rounded. He pretended to peruse his program all while taking in his surroundings and looking for a sign of their mark.
Nat was his dance partner for the night, skilled and certainly able to project the right air of sophistication. She was the one who would actually be meeting their target, an elusive assassin who was said to employ some unorthodox and highly untraceable methods of killing. Xavier's murder had gone unresolved, and even more strangely, no one had taken credit for it. So they'd managed to rummage up some leverage that a member of the dark seedy underbelly of society might care about and arranged for a knowledge share. Killers didn't really do consults, so it had to be this way, meeting in secret, doing a dangerous dance with an equally dangerous dance partner. Nat could handle her own, to be sure, but they needed someone on the lookout for signs of a double cross—someone who could also verify that the information they were being fed was of value and not a misdirect. "A courtsan reformed by love...there's some complicated gender politics in what we're seeing tonight. Almost a shame we'll miss a good chunk of it, huh?"
He liked working with Romanova. She didn't make any needless messes and had no interest in dramatics. She was utterly different in this way from the bulk of the Avengers. Plus, they always had interesting conversations. It kept the work from being boring. "Would you ever change your whole life for a guy? I guess the question is a little personal..."