067

Norman almost immediately processed the sound he had heard, one he recognized almost perfectly, as it was the sound of a gun being fired with a suppressor integrated into it.

The screams of surprise and fear soon covered those of joy and so the chaos began. Soon a second shot reached Norman's ears.

Quickly some of the guests and people passing through the streets began to run for cover, at the same time the guards began to quickly escort the royal family.

Instinctively Norman pulled Gwen a little closer to his body as he covered her completely thanks to the difference in height and body structure. "We need cover!" with a tone of voice loud enough to snap Dr. Connors out of his shocked state as well-ordered Osborn.

Norman simply moved in a quick manner with Gwen in his arms, but at the same time paying attention to Connors, the only thing that could be considered a good thing is that due to the panic that the gunshots caused it was very easy to hide among all the people.

Norman's gaze was taken unconsciously to the place where the first screams had been heard and from where the first people had begun to run away, his vision looked at a man, he recognized him as the winner of the peace category.

He could see how various of the guards that were there for the event began to quickly approach the man and swiftly began to try to remove him from what was basically a free target range.

Osborn could notice a gunshot wound near the man's left shoulder, but that would not turn out to be fatal if it was treated immediately, which would probably be the case this time. He could also notice how a body lay on the ground, he could not hear any breathing coming from the man nor could he hear any heartbeat.

As he moved Norman could hear about three more shots, but due to the sound he could sense that it was not the same gun that was fired the first time. That caused him some hesitation because of what seemed to be a random attack.

However, soon those thoughts were completely out of his mind as he concentrated entirely on a safe position for Gwen and Curtis. He would have some time to investigate later.

…

It had been some time since a surprising and terrible incident had occurred at the end of the Nobel Prize ceremony.

An assassination attempt had taken place, resulting in a fatality believed to be the result of collateral damage and the Nobel Peace Prize winner injured but not critically.

Because the media, both international and national, had been broadcasting the event, hundreds of people had witnessed the event from its inception, which soon grew to thousands and continued to grow into the millions.

News headlines and news reports were talking about what had happened at the same time as innumerable unanswered questions were being raised.

None of the Swedish authority figures had made an official statement, although several countries around the world had already condemned the attack in its totality and called for an immediate response.

However, this night would remain in the memory of many people for a long time to come.

The city had an overly somber and tense aura while the sound of the sirens of the cars used by the police were the only ones that could be heard throughout the city.

Outside the Stockholm Concert Hall exactly where the terrible incident had happened was surrounded by numerous police cars. More than 100 meters away on a tall building stood a black van.

Two men got out of it, one of them was a blond man dressed in black with somewhat strange purple glasses, the other seemed to be older than the previous man and dressed in a formal suit.

"This is the one?" asked the blond man.

"The information given by Agent Romanoff is what it indicates" replied the other man as he began to walk inside the building.

The blond just adopted a thoughtful look, "By the way what was her mission?" he questioned again curiously.

"It's classified" was the answer he got.

"Considering she was in the right time and place to intervene then I have to assume she must have been undercover or perhaps on a follow-up mission" not letting himself be discouraged by the rejection he received the blond continued speaking.

"Barton" he called, "Concentrate on the mission" he ordered shortly after.

In a short time they arrived at the rooftop of the building where they were greeted by a woman with red hair, wearing a black dress completely attached to her body, she exuded an aura of mystery, charm, sensuality, and danger.

The woman's almost indifferent eyes looked at the two men, "Agent Coulson" greeted the man in the suit, "Clint" this time addressed the blond.

As Coulson and the woman began to have a conversation with each other, Barton walked over to one of the corners of the rooftop where the weapon used for tonight's attack was located.

He realized it was the perfect place to be, as even a novice shooter could make the shot, and he shouldn't even be talking about someone experienced. His eagle-like eyes scanned the rooftop for several seconds, finding multiple casings from an ammunition of a smaller caliber than the weapon on the rooftop.

His vision soon refocused on his two companions, "The shooter?" he asked.

The woman just looked at him for a few seconds before answering, "She managed to escape from my grasp before I could subdue her" it is fair to say that both men were surprised by that statement.

Regardless of what the woman in front of them may have looked like, they both knew perfectly well that she was possibly the best field agent S.H.I.E.L.D. had in its ranks, so for someone to have managed to escape from her was certainly an accomplishment that few had.

"Were you able to figure out who it was?" this time it was Coulson who asked.

"No, she had a black combat suit that covered her entire body including her face, however, due to her combat style and body shape it was almost certainly a woman" she mentioned to them as she recalled their previous combat.

Before any of the three could say anything else a small buzzer sounded, both the red-haired woman and the blond man looked at Coulson who only began to pull out a phone from his suit.

Instinctively he knew who it was. It hadn't been long since Stane had escaped their grasp and to this day they still hadn't found any trace of the man, not even a full day had passed after that for Anthony Stark to not follow the orders he had been given and reveal the truth of the events that had occurred in the incident at Stark Industries headquarters.

And now an incident had happened again that put at risk a part of the leaders of the world, as well as scientists really necessary for the development of the planet. Without any doubt these last few weeks had been a stain on the agency's record.

Normally the man took the call, "Sir" he said and with that he waited for the other party to begin speaking.

While Coulson was conducting his conversation with the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Barton approached Romanoff calmly.

"So what's really going on?" he asked earnestly, the type of attack that had occurred in no way justified the deployment of two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents and one of Fury's most trusted men.

The seconds passed, and he received no answer, but just as he was about to give up hope of receiving any answer, "Red Room" two words, only two words were given as the answer to his question.

Two words that didn't need any kind of explanation at least not for him, 'Shit' was his only thought, no doubt things would become more complicated than they seemed at first.

…

Norman for his part after having gone through all the trouble of being a potential witness to the event had been able to arrive at the hotel along with Gwen and Curtis, both were still in a bit of shock as neither had experienced anything like this before.

After they both went to their respective rooms to rest and probably make a call to their families to inform them about their condition and the possible delay of their arrival due to the fact that thanks to the incident any kind of transportation out of the city was on hold, although it wouldn't take too long to get the permits to fly.

Currently, Osborn was observing the scene formed by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. It was the first time he had seen the versions of the three of them in person.

Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff and Phil Coulson all three of them had some prominence in the MCU although as was now usual, he couldn't simply pay attention to their past life information.

The short conversation they had was completely overheard by him and gave him some information about what was really going on, perhaps most importantly about the Red Room.

If it was an attack directed by them then it would be somewhat logical why Forge failed to find any assassination contracts, his mind soon recalled the blonde woman he had seen with Gwen on their little trip through the nordiska museet.

'Maybe' thought Osborn, his mind flashed back to one of the Red Room agents who for a time was Natasha's enemy and who had been trained to be the next Black Widow.

Norman's thoughts came to an abrupt end when he could see a crow land near where he was standing, soon the temperature began to drop and time seemed to freeze.

"Can you see it?" a wonderful voice to hear reached Osborn's ears, "Despite your reluctance with me, you always come back to my touch" she continued as Norman began to feel delicate, yet strong arms wrap around him and draw him in.

"Death" uttered Osborn as he fell into death's embrace without being able to do anything.

"It really is wonderful to have you in my hands" she mentioned with pure joy.

"I thought last time you were in trouble for being on earth" Norman pointed out to her.

"I do" she gave him the reason in a simple way, "Because of my last visit I was warned about being on earth and because of that I am only allowed to be on it for a short period of time" she added.

"That or when there is a major occurrence involving me" she said casually, although Norman could already imagine the level of deaths there would have to be for her to be able to manifest on earth for an extended period of time.

However, there was something that didn't make sense, "Aren't you death?" asked Osborn.

"Couldn't you just do the job yourself?" he questioned a second time curiously, as he really didn't have too much knowledge about how it was that beings like Death worked in Marvel and the little knowledge he had might be completely obsolete.

"It doesn't work that way" the answer didn't take long to come, "First of all beings like me have certain rules that we must follow otherwise we run the risk of being judged for our actions, of course there are loopholes that we can exploit for our benefits" she started to explain in a simple and very general way.

"Besides you must understand differentiating between the two facets of death" she told him.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Osborn.

"Death is a concept perhaps a universal rule without any exception or at least very few, every living being will have its death at some point, however, you can consider me as a personification of that concept" she explained calmly and slowly letting Norman begin to understand her words.

"We are both the same, but at the same time we are different from each other" were her last words before she fell into silence.

Death began to caress Osborn's black hair while she felt satisfied to see his thoughtful face, with affection and softness she brought her hand to the man's cheek, "You don't have to worry about it right now, in the future you will be able to understand it" she commented with affection and a tender hope in her voice.

The small atmosphere between the two was one of silence, but unlike the first few times where there was a hostile and distrustful feeling, this time there was a small hint of comfort.

However, that comfortable atmosphere was interrupted by the small caw of a crow, the same one that had landed on the rooftop shortly before Death's appearance.

"How is it able to move?" asked Osborn curiously at such an action.

Death smiled at the man's question he held in his hands, "Those birds are possibly one of the inhabitants of this planet that have the strongest connection to me" she explained simply.

"No, they are not something I create" Death mentioned seeing the unspoken question on Osborn's face, "They are animals that are capable of sensing death, so seeing them in places where they have a strong connection to it or places where a death has just happened is not surprising" she explained to Norman even if he didn't ask for it.

"At the same time you have a higher connection to me than they do so having them follow you constantly especially when you are involved in my domain is just a natural action" with those words Norman basically remembered all the times he had carried out a murder as most of them always had crows in them.

Before he could say anything to her, he felt the woman remove her delicate arms from his body and for a moment he felt completely lost at the lack of the warmth and comfort that being with her brought him.

"I have to go, as staying any longer would be exceeding his limits" she mentioned with a sad smile, "Even though I may not be visible to you, and you may have doubts about me, I will always be by your side, until the day you become mine" this time there was no oppressive aura in her words much less threatening.

"Although of course you can always give me a reason to materialize next to you and be by your side" with those final words Death disappeared, and the surroundings returned to normal.

Norman who had kept quiet as Death disappeared simply shook his head before turning his attention back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to a few seconds later use his teleport ability and disappear from the rooftop.

…

The night continued to pass and in the middle of it the rain began to fall, in one of the alleys of the city a blonde woman could be seen barely standing, if someone approached her they would be surprised to see a deep cut on her right shoulder and a gunshot wound in her stomach.

The woman's face showed a certain tiredness, frustration and anger, at the same time she had in her hand a small cell phone however no matter how many times she called the other side did not answer no matter what.

In a fit of anger and simply not controlling her emotions the woman hit the wall she was supporting herself against, "Damn it!" a small scream came from her lips.

She knew it, she knew it, yet she still couldn't believe it, she had been working for them for years, carrying out their orders to the letter without ever doubting them no matter how cruel or dangerous they were.

And this is how they paid her? All the jobs and demonstrations of loyalty she had shown were not enough for her to be forgiven just once. They would simply abandon her to her fate for failing a single mission.

'Damn traitor' thought the woman, this was all her fault had it not been for her intervention then nothing would be happening, the sirens of the police cars snapped her out of her thoughts.

She had to move at this point it was possible that the safe house security system had been completely changed so going to it would be a complete waste of time, and she was sure Romanoff would find a way to find her quickly if she was in it.

Slowly she began to walk while supporting herself with the wall, somehow she would find a way to make both Romanoff and the Red Room pay, if she didn't die she would be sure to make them pay the price.