Ch44. Killian's base 1

Aldrich Killian's base was something Tony was trying to find out for quite some time now. He didn't want to give him the chance to complete even the experimental and extremely unstable variant of Extremis, much less get the loyalty of crippled veterans.

But Aldrich seemed to be extremely good at hiding his base.

After his first attempt to find it, Tony quickly understood the base he knew from his past life, the one where he was held after his epic fail with the fake Mandarin, was not the real base where Extremis was being researched.

Which sucked because it shot all his foreknowledge to hell. Without knowing where Killian's research was being conducted, Tony's range of possible actions became pitifully small. He could either go and beat it out of Killian the wizard style or he could give JARVIS and FRIDAY some time to play detectives.

Obviously, Tony chose the second option as it would help their development and the matter was not yet really so pressing.

And now they finally uncovered its location.

Tony stubbornly looked at Natasha, "We are going together."

"Fine." Natasha sighed in exasperated fondness, knowing there was no way of talking his stubborn ass out of it.

...

The base where Extremis was researched was unsurprisingly another mansion. Tony was a bit disappointed as he expected something... more villainy, he guessed.

A dark castle... to which Natasha pointed out there are no medieval castles in the USA.

Or some hard-to-reach facility high in the mountains or on the North Pole... and Natasha just rolled her eyes, saying Killian did not have enough money to make such a thing. Tony had to admit she had a point there.

Or maybe a hidden entrance to an underground base somewhere in an old abandoned cemetery! ... And this one just earned him an exasperated and disbelieving look from Natasha, not even deigning to answer this one as he left Tony to his imagination of fantasy adventure. She surmised it was a guy thing.

But Tony definitely did not expect a basement under a mansion to be where Killian's hidden base was located.

Natasha thought that was the whole point but Tony's ego would not have it and he decided his Mars base was better and less 'findable' than Killian's.

'Typical men.' Natasha snorted, deep down already missing Tony's exasperating behavior, as she sneaked through the halls of the mansion under which was Killian's hidden research facility.

Infiltrating the building was not hard. The problem with placing a research facility in a place frequented by other people was that... well, it was frequented by people.

All Natasha had to do was get information about the cleaning company they liked to hire and 'borrow' one of the company's vans.

Nobody really paid attention to those, after all. Especially not in the wealthy areas where the mansion was located since many rich people were regularly hiring cleaners.

Plus it was already night and no matter how many patrols a place has, there is always a way in for a creative enough mind.

Creating a small disturbance by remotely blaring the van's alarm right in front of the mansion and attracting the guards while sneaking in was not hard for Natasha under the darkness of the night.

The black suit made of nanobot clothes she was wearing certainly helped her to blend into the shadows as it could adjust its shade according to the surroundings.

Natasha did not take much in terms of gear for this little outing. She only sported a pistol with a silencer and that was honestly it. There was no need for anything else as Tony's plan was as always ridiculous but... it would make her job that much easier.

Natasha suddenly stopped just a few feet from the corner and raised her pistol. A moment later, a guard walked around the corner, a slightly sleepy expression on his face... and then his eyes widened when he spotted Natasha but it was too late.

One silent shot later and the guard's forehead sported a new hole while his body fell onto the ground with a thud.

'Magic is such a convenient bullshit.' Natasha inwardly muttered as she stepped over the fresh corpse of the guard and continued on her way through the mansion, looking around and marveling at how weird being able to see through the walls felt.

She has just learned some magics that would be helpful with her spy and assassin skills after Tony gave her the file with the people connected to the Red Room but there was the issue with her feelings for Tony and the contract recently... plus her relationship with Tony needed some very enjoyable deepening.

Needless to say, Natasha was a very busy bee with that in the past weeks so she did not learn as much as she would have liked.

Being able to see the guards behind walls made her infiltration a child's play.

Speaking of which... Natasha again stopped, looking to her right where only a wall without any openings was located. She could see there were three guards lounging around a room behind it and the door faced the opposite side of where Natasha was.

She casually raised her pistol and aimed at the first guard through the wall and with a trained ease shot, repositioned her arm, shot again, and repeated the process for one last time.

The third guard was dead before the first's body even hit the ground.

Natasha could only wryly smile. This felt like cheating... and she absolutely loved it!

Tony's enchanted bullets that could easily go through thick iron plates could also go through walls as if they were butter.

Natasha's progress through the mansion was quite fast since she didn't need to be as cautious as usual. She could see every guard coming in her direction and also was capable of silently dispatching them before they had a chance to detect her.

If she had a way to store their bodies too, this would have been perfect.

Unfortunately, Tony was not yet at a level to create something like that. Maybe she should propose this idea to him though? Who knows what his brilliant brain comes up with next...

Natasha already entered the basement and was well on her way towards her target when the alarms in the mansion suddenly started blaring, making her snort. She was leaving a trail of bodies behind herself, not bothering to even hide them and the remaining guards only noticed now?

She wondered if Killian did some budget cuts for his security or something.

There was no real need for worry. Natasha knew Tony was eager to take a part and when the alarms went off, as was planned from the start, it was his time to shine.

No way was that man missing this chance to give Aldrich Killian a proper trashing. His ego was too delicate for that.

Her thoughts turned out to become true a moment later when three massive crashes could be heard from above, giving Natasha a signal that Tony started his little show.

'Mhm... I will have to give him a reward for averting the guards' attention from me.' Natasha thought as she excitedly licked her lips and continued on her way through the basement laboratories.