005 ♟ closed } { bombs are falling everywhere

[emojis]

Who: Drizella Tremaine/Freya Mikaelson + Regina Mills, Leopold Fitz, Natasha Romanoff, Klaus Mikaelson, probably some other people. It's a party!
Where: Various places in the mansion/love hotel
When: Last week of January through the event.
Rating: PG-13?
Summary: Drizella is trying to help Fitz out. Whether she is on the right path or not remains to be seen.
The Story:

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Klaus. [It's a name she's heard before. She nods slightly, letting some curiosity show.] We had some connections back home. Work related.

[poppycock]

Oh, good. ( his tone is more flat than the enthusiasm the words convey, but he does mean them. he may or may not say the next with an easy bluntness to see her reaction. ) So you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Or Hydra. Either way, I'd like you to help me find him. ( protip: he does not intend for this to be a request. )

[outstandingbalance]

[That gets an arched eyebrow out of Natasha. If she's intimidated, she doesn't show it.]

Formerly, SHIELD. [Just so they're on the same page.] And if you're looking for him, I'd say it sounds like we have a common interest.

[poppycock]

( she should be, as far as klaus is concerned. her careful cultivation of emotion and reaction does not go unawares to him. more to the point, considering her allegiance with intelligence organizations, he can guess what to expect from her. ) And what's your interest? ( so they're on the same page.

not that he'll believe her, but he'll take her word for it. either she'll help him, or he'll use her. )

[outstandingbalance]

That's a complicated question. [Or rather, it's a complicated answer, and one Natasha's not sure she wants to elaborate.

She'll play it by ear.]

You could say I'm looking for him too. [Which puts them approximately on the same side.] What do you know about magic?

i literally had to roll if he'd be more amused or more annoyed. right in the middle~

[poppycock]

( bold of her to assume this is at all to be done on her terms, and while the audacity of her non-answer certainly grates, he admires the attempt at dominance. klaus, however, doesn't play that game. there's something violent about his dimples as he smiles, something hard as steel in his eyes. ) Well, that's a complicated question. ( he's certainly not going to illuminate anything for her if she has no intention of doing so herself. ) Where do you think he'd go?

that is nat's life

[outstandingbalance]

[Not the first time Natasha's seen a smile like that. Usually before someone tries to kill her.]

Hypothetically? I think he'd look for someone who could help him. [Not exactly an olive branch, but something. A start? A sign she's willing to bargain.]

[poppycock]

( she could help fitz. it is one of the many scenarios he acknowledges: she said she was s.h.i.e.l.d., but that certainly doesn't mean she wasn't hydra. on the contrary. or that she has some other vested motive. it's part of the reason he stopped her in the first place.

regardless. he certainly agrees. ) You'll forgive me. I haven't been here for quite some time. I don't know who his friends are.

[outstandingbalance]

At this point, I'm not sure I do either. He's cut ties with a lot of his old friends, and some of them have left.

[Natasha doesn't want to pick a fight, she's not trying to frustrate him, but it's her nature to control the flow of information, especially in a situation where she's not sure who she can trust.]

At this point, I wouldn't call the people who'd help him his friends.

[Not his real friends.]

[poppycock]

( they certainly have that in common. klaus has no intention of endangering his endeavor to save leopold from himself, but every play has risks. and despite his utter reluctance to trust anyone, klaus knows how to employ the truth to his benefit.

and he can't help agree, again, on all her points. save one. ) Yes, well, I'm his friend. Possibly the only one he does have left. ( sorry freya ) So unless you have anymore technicalities to comment, perhaps I don't need your help. ( he lifts his brows in question; it's up to her to decide if that's true or not. )

[outstandingbalance]

[Sucking her teeth slightly, Natasha weighs her options. Klaus isn't exactly winning her over with his personality, but a sparkling disposition isn't necessarily what she needs in an ally.

If an ally is what you'd call this.]

I don't know where he is. [She admits after a pause.] But I do know where he was not that long ago.

[poppycock]

( ally, enemy; what's the difference, truly? at least to klaus there's a fine line. speaking of, at natasha's admission of useful information, klaus darkens. (she is hiding something. it could be a trap, but he has every confidence he'd thwart it. and make them pay, regardless.) the black mood is offset by the pinpoint focus of his gaze, for if she knew where leopold was and can take him there, he can all the more easily track the man down.

klaus takes an only somewhat menacing step closer. ) Where?

[outstandingbalance]

One of the hotel rooms. He was meeting a woman I didn't recognize.

[She doesn't back down. It's not a challenge, but Natasha knows better than to flinch.]

[poppycock]

( that's all the information he truly needs. he has her scent; he can follow it until hers and leopold's intersect. however, for curiosity's sake: ) Take me there.

[outstandingbalance]

[It's been a while since Natasha took orders, but if they're going to do this one of them is going to have to put aside their ego.

Natasha has a lot of practice.]

This way.

[poppycock]

( klaus is content to follow, on her heels as they make their way. his eyes bore into the back of her head for a few steps; though finding leopold is his inarguable priority, he's also considering the few details he's learned about this natasha.

well, why not use the time allotted? ) How long have you known Leopold?

[outstandingbalance]

Just since I came here. [She says casually. If it doesn't actually answer the specific question he asks, she does a good job of making it seem incidental.] We knew of each other back home, but didn't ever work together.

[She does seem to know where she's going at least, there's no hesitation or apparent attempts at misdirection as she chooses her path.]

You?

[poppycock]

( he doesn't take anything she says without a grain of salt as a point, but regardless, he appreciates an answer. klaus stays a step behind her, quite purposefully, slightly to the side. ) Since I came here. ( incidentally. the strand of humor in the response is not remiss. it would have been difficult to know him beforehand, being from different universes and all. ) The first time. Or the second, depending on how you look at it; I don't remember the first.

[outstandingbalance]

[She snorts, not missing the way he throws her words back at her. She's willing to see the humor in it.]

You too? seems to be a lot of that.

[poppycock]

Yes, well, Wonderland has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. That seems to be her favorite one. ( bringing them here. taking them away. bringing them back. memories lost and given. all at whim. )

[outstandingbalance]

If anecdotes are to be believed, you're right. [And she's not a fan. She's really not a fan.]

The room was down here. The one with a peephole.

[She lucked out in that respect.]

jessie, you're up!

[poppycock]

( klaus' brow lifts as turn down the hall. it's as she described: she was here. so were many others. so is fitz; he hears his familiar breathing.

he sees no reason to feign himself and plenty of reason to get this done. he moves quickly, at a speed which is near-impossible to discern with the naked eye, and opens the room in which leopold currently resides with a sharp push. )

[hypoxic]

[ he might have just been breathing, but it's been expressive nonetheless. He's huffing, left alone in the aftermath of his encounter with Drizella.

When klaus approaches, he'll find the doctor in a state of undress, he's shirtless, examining himself in a mirror. It's more unkempt than he lets himself be seen in captivity. When he realizes someone has joined him, his muscles tense, defined and urgen in a physical manifestation of his instinct to flee. He stays in place though. ]

It's polite to knock.

[poppycock]

( wow, fitz, what were you doing in here. it doesn't look chaste.

regardless, klaus has no shame if an illicit moment or two was what he was after. he strolls in, grabs leopold's arm in an unbreakable grip, and makes to drag him out, no matter his dishabille. ) It's also polite to stay in your cage.

( at the doorway, he gestures to natasha. ) I believe you know Ms. Romanoff.

[hypoxic]

[ He tries to struggle at first. He hasn't had enough time yet. There isn't a scar, or even as much as a bruise. There ought to be a mark, somewhere, indicating where his heart used to be. He intended the moment to be careful and methodological, not like this.

Struggling is impossible, however. It takes minimal effort to drag him out into the open. He scowls at the sight of Natasha. SHIELD too ? He knew they were colluding. ]

The Black Widow is prone to betrayals. You might want to reconsider trusting her.