CASE FILE NUMBER: BW2218 {Red Headed Fetish}

STRATEGIC HOMELAND INTERVENTION, ENFORCEMENT, and LOGISTICS DIVISION

DATE: May 4th, 2010

CASE FILE NUMBER: BW2218 {Red Headed Fetish}

SUBJECT: Virginia "Pepper" Hogan.

INVESTIGATING AGENT-Natasha Romanoff.

FIELD IDENTITY: Black Widow.

AGENT'S STATEMENT:

Normally a missing persons case would fall to the police or the F.B.I. But the victim was closely associated to a valuable S.H.I.E.L.D asset. Thus it was decided that we would handle the investigation. An investigation of a missing person that neither the police nor F.B.I had any knowledge of to begin with.

On May 2nd, the year 2010, Virginia "Pepper" Hogan went missing. Ms. Hogan had come to Manhattan for a scheduled 0930 meeting with Agent Phil Coulson. They were to discuss the possibility of her employer, Anthony "Tony" Stark, {aforementioned S.H.I.E.L.D asset}, doing an overhaul project for the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. She was to meet with Agent Coulson at S.H.I.E.L.D's New York HQ but never showed.

0928 hours, Agent Alison Double, recently recruited into our ESP Division, was in Agent Coulson's office discussing a classified matter. When Coulson mentioned his scheduled meeting with Ms. Hogan, Agent Double suddenly had "visions."

The Hilton Hotel---Being physically assaulted---Bound---Gagged---Drugged---Other women, at other times, in bondage---Women with red hair.

Agent Double informed Agent Coulson that she believed Ms. Hogan had been kidnapped. And more, Double believed that Ms. Hogan was merely the latest in a series of missing persons. Women with something in common. Red hair and a connection to the Hilton Hotel. Unfortunately Agent Double could not determine if the women were the victims of a serial killer or something else.

After getting permission from Director Nick Fury, Agent Coulson immediately conducted an investigation.

May 2nd, 1157 hours, I got the call. Agent Coulson wanted me to go undercover at the hotel. All I had to do was just go there, be seen and let myself be snatched. {That's assuming the guilty party's red headed fetish would make him, or her, or them strike again so soon after grabbing Pepper Hogan. And that he, she, or they wouldn't be suspicious of another redhead showing up the very same day Hogan was snatched. Which was unlikely since most law enforcement agencies had to wait 24 hours before a person was officially declared missing.}

I started by studying the data Agent Coulson provided. The hotel's security cameras' recordings and other recordings as well.

On May 1st, 1522 hours, Hogan arrived in her rental car. She proceeded to the desk and signed in. Her assigned room was Room 616.

1608 hours, she exited her room wearing a terrycloth robe, flipflops and carrying a briefcase. The subject proceeded to the pool area, removed the robe to show off a toned body barely covered by a bikini, and spent the better part of an hour and a half studying papers and making phone calls. Then she went for a swim.

1813 hours, she returned to her room.

1834 hours, Room Service arrived with her meal

1911 hours, subject placed food cart outside her door.

1930 hours, subject exited room in a backless evening gown and left the hotel in her rental. {Coulson's notes states traffic cameras and theatre cameras showed Hogan attending the new musical based on "The Thin Man" movies.}

2221 hours, subject returned to hotel and her room where she stayed the rest of the evening.

May 2nd, 0451 hours, subject exited her room wearing gym attire.

0455 hours, entered hotel gym.

0548 hours, left the gym.

0552 hours, returned to room.

0631 hours, Room Service arrived with breakfast.

0754 hours, subject, with baggage, left her room. {Coulson's notes mentions her wearing the big floppy hat and making a point to not let her face be seen by the secruity cameras.} She paid her bill, {Coulson's notes also makes mention of the fact she rented a movie called "Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow." Really has no significance to the case but he thought it worth mentioning}, and departed the hotel.

0811 hours, while tracking Hogan's rental car via traffic cameras it was observed that she was headed in the opposite direction of our S.H.I.E.L.D HQ.

0822 hours, all contact with her was lost.

I put together a game plan.

1319 hours, I called the Hotel Hilton as "Jo Hanssen" to make a reservation.

2321 hours, I arrived, via a "rental" car, wearing a stylish pants and halter number. After signing in I'm assigned {surprise surprise} Room 616.

I enter my room and my Smarta.s.s phone starts to vibrate. {Smart phone with an Advanced Scanner System.} I pretend to answer it.

"Hi, Dad. Give me a moment."

I tip the bellhop and pretend to have a conversation after he leaves. The phone's screen showed me that there were hidden cameras in the room and bathroom. Proof for certain something was hinky at the Hilton. I was going to have stay on my toes here.

After chatting with "Dad" I pretend to text someone. Secretly using the Smarta.s.s to scan the adjoining rooms. One was empty. The other had two occupants. Heat images showed one was standing behind the other who was sitting down. If I were to guess I'd say they were looking at a monitor. Possibly at me looking at them. IF they were watching me they must have seen me arrive at the desk and rushed to the room adjacent to 616.

After I finished "texting" I put on a show for my suspected audience. I started by using the bathroom. Then I unpacked my luggage and put away my clothes. Finally the big number. The striptease. Kicking off the shoes first I then peeled off the formfitting slacks, exposing my thong panties. After removing the halter I then climbed into bed and went to sleep. I knew I'd be in no serious danger until after I checked out.

May 3rd, 0511 hours, having slept without incident, I wake up. After freshening up I put on gym attire and head for the gym for a lightweight workout. {While passing the room with the two occupants I pretend to be texting. The Smarta.s.s showed only one of them still there. Sitting in the same spot. No doubt looking at the presumed monitor.}

0621 hours, I leave the gym and return to my room. {The Smarta.s.s now showing three people next door. All gathered at the same spot as before.}

I shower and then Barbie up in a black mini-dress with matching hosery and hi-heeled sandals.

0701 hours, I go to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I turn a few heads but, outside of that, no one pays any special {as in suspicious} attention to me.

0809 hours, I head for the parking garage. I'm not followed. At least not by a living person. After scanning my car with the Smarta.s.s, and finding nothing amiss, I depart. Satisfied that no one is tailing me I head for S.H.I.E.L.D HQ to report to Agent Coulson.

0852 hours, I arrive. Phil is in communication with Tony Stark whose face could be seen on one of the numerous monitor screens in Coulson's office.

"Unless your armor has a Pepper-Tracker there's really nothing you can do at this point, Mr. Stark. Now I told you the Widow's on the case. It's Natasha we're talking about, Tony. If anyone can find out what happened to Ms. Hogan, it's her. Now please just stay put and let her, and us, handle it."

Coulson then cut communications and Stark's face vanished to be replaced by the standard S.H.I.E.L.D symbol. Phil sighed at me then said, "It's one thing for Stark to be mad at us when we're right. But when we're wrong...Please tell me we're right."

Before I could answer another voice spoke up.

"No. You tell ME if we're right."

It was another Phil Coulson who was entering the office carrying a bagel and fountain drink. He indicated the other Phil. "You go back into the closet."

That Phil, the one who talked to Tony, got up and did exactly as he was told.

"An L.M.D? You used an L.M.D to talk to Stark?"

Agent Coulson just shrugged. "You know what Stark is like. Besides. I was hungry."

Fury used to do the same thing. More times than I've fingers and toes Nick would be in the john reading the latest issue of Strange Tales. Or in another room catching up on official paperwork. Or getting a hotdog from a nearby vendor. All while his L.M.D had to deal with complaining government officials from the President on down.

I briefed my mission commander on the hidden cameras and my suspicious neighbors. Thus assuring him that he was correct to be suspicious of the Hotel Hilton. We reviewed the camera records again, focusing on the room adjoining mine. And we saw absolutely nothing. During Pepper Hogan's entire stay no one entered or exited that room.

IF my neighbors were the kidnappers then Phil and I belived that they had somehow tampered with the security cameras. Instead of showing people going in and out of that room the cameras were made to show only an empty hallway. But we wouldn't know until later. IF our suspects took the bait. And IF Iron Man didn't show up to screw the pooch.

If all went well, before this day was over, I was going to wind up being bound, gagged and taken to wherever Pepper Hogan was. And, hopefully, she'd still be alive for me to rescue.

If she wasn't then I'd be there to avenge her.

After my meeting with Agent Coulson I went to the S.H.I.E.L.D gym for a more serious workout. Mainly to pass time before returning to the hotel. Then, after another shower, I went shopping. After all, Jo Hanssen was from out of town. One does not go to New York without buying something.

1314 hours I returned to the hotel and my assigned room. The maid service had come and gone. I put my purchases in the locker and noticed that certain items were moved. Which meant someone had searched my belongings.

Was it due to the kidnappers' suspicion? Or just their standard operating procedure? In any case they would not have found anything. The only spy gear I had with me was the Smarta.s.s and a navel ring made from a sliver of Vibrainium. {A non-tech way of being tracked by helicarrier scanners due to its' unique composition.} I carried the phone with me at all times like most people would. And the navel ring was firmly attached to my bellybutton. 

I then pretended to text with my Smarta.s.s. The suspects' room was empty. I'd like to have gone in there to look around. But since my every move was being monitored I dared not chance it.

I then changed into a bikini and went to the pool. After all, my orders were to be seen. For roughly two hours I swam and tried to read a novel while being hit on by numerous would-be latharios. I had observed another woman in a bikini. She was making a clumsy attempt to watch me without looking like she was watching me. Could she have been one of my unknown suspects? Pretending to answer my phone I managed to get a picture of her. Which I then emailed to Coulson, asking him to identify her.

1504 hours, he responded with negative results. The woman didn't appear on any records anywhere. She officially did not exist. The Hilton's hinky facter just went up a notch.

1507 hours I returned to my room. {My Smarta.s.s scanning only one person in the room next door. Sitting in the same spot as before.} I cleaned up and changed into a pants suit. Since I was playing the role of an out of towner I couldn't spend ALL my time in a hotel.

1543 hours, I departed for the nearby theatre. I actually enjoyed "The Thin Man." Hugh Jackman and Alicia Witt were surprisingly good as Nick and Nora. And Mary Jane Watson was hilarious as one of the suspects.

After dinner I returned to the Hilton at 1831 hours. I told the desk I'd be checking out later tonight. I then proceeded to my room. As I approached my room I scanned my neighbors and found no one there. I changed from my pants suit to another pair of gym shorts and crop top. Gathering the outfits I wore on this caper, pants/halter, mini dress, the pants suit, I slipped into a pair of flipflops and headed for the 1 hour laundry. Then I headed for the laundry room on my floor. {Scanning my neighbors' still empty room along the way.} As my machine washables were being washed I sat near the door with my Smarta.s.s. People who would pass by would assume I was either texting or playing some silly video game. All the while I was actually tracking their movements.

Finally three people passed by. One of them was the woman at the pool. She was wearing a wig that copied my hair's color, style and length. The other two were male and obviously were going to be the goons that would kidnap me. And, sure enough, they entered the room next to mine.

1954 hours, my laundry was done and I returned to my room and began to pack.

2007 hours, there was a knock at the door. Either my dry cleaning was being delivered or I was about to be snatched. There was only one way to find out. I answered the door.

It was the woman and her two goons. She was wearing my pants suit. They charged in. One goon tackled me to the ground and clamped his big hand over my mouth. I could have taken this clown out easily but I was pretending to be the helpless damsel. He rammed his fist into my belly before I could make with the expected scream. I had to fake having the wind knocked out of me.

"Don't bruise her like you did the last one." The woman warned as she closed the door.

"Don't worry. That last one was a wildcat. This one's going easy."

I noticed he had a scratch on his face. Pepper must have put up quite the fight.

Unable to "struggle" the other goon zip-tied my feet. Then he and his partner gagged me and zip-tied my hands behind my back. Then the scarred one pulled out a pair of cargo straps from his jacket pocket. Together they balled me up and bundled me with them. 

Meanwhile the woman left the room and then returned pushing a laundry cart. If I guessed correctly she was going to impersonate me and check out. Driving off in my car and making it look like I vanished after leaving the hotel. Just like Pepper and the others. Meanwhile Lenny and Squiggy would smuggle me out as dirty laundry.

Sure enough they stuffed me into a laundry sack. But before they secured it over my head the woman approached with a hypodermic needle. She jabbed it into my neck and injected me. The drug took effect and I passed out.

At some unknown point in time consciousness returned. Before I opened my eyes I heard the Dazzler singing, backed up by a band. There was the sounds of an engine and churning water. Still gagged and zip-tied I was no longer bundled up in a sack. I was now sitting on a floor, secured to either a pole or pipe.

I opened my eyes to find myself alone. Alone in a community shower. Dazzler and her band was simply a radio being piped through a speaker system. The engine and churning water? If I had to guess I'd say I was on a moving boat.

Why was I tied up in a shower?

I then noticed I WASN'T alone. There was a woman, her back to me, standing by the shower's entrance. She was wearing a weapons belt that consisted of a sidearm {9mm}, ammo pouches, knife and radio. She also had a sword strapped to her back. She wore what looked like a standard Chinese-style unisex tunic, pants and flats. 

My guard turned and saw that I was awake. She looked Chinese and spoke it into her radio.

"She's awake."

Then she put the radio away and turned her back on me again. Resuming her guard duty.

Less than five minutes later a man and another woman showed up. The male in front, the female in back and to his left. They were dressed like my guard. And baring the same equipment. Except the man didn't carry a sword and he wore boots. The woman was carrying handcuffs attached to a waist chain, and leg irons. As they entered my guard turned and flanked the man's right. Staying behind him, just like her counterpart.

He made an officious gesture and my guard approached me, unsheathing her sword. She stood in front of me with the blade raised overhead. I knew what she was going to do. To lure these flys into my parlor I had to make them feel safe. So I pretended to be afraid. With expert precision she brought the sword down between my feet. Cutting the zip-tie without cutting me.

I looked scared enough that she sheathed her sword without suspicion. She then took her knife and cut the restrains to my hands. Sheathing her knife she took her place behind her superior.

"On your feet." He commanded.

As I reached to remove my gag...

"I did not SAY remove the gag! The gag stays ON! I SAID on your feet!

I needed to know more. So I stood up. As I hoped, the little prick went into his speech.

"Whoever you were. Whatever life you had is no more. You've a new life now. One of servitude and obedience. You are NOTHING except PROPERTY!

"Now strip and remove that ridiculous trinket on your belly. You will then wash away the remains of your past life and then we will take you to where we store the other cargo."

I heard enough.

I arched an eyebrow. Peeled away the tape. And spit out the wad of cloth stuffed into my mouth at the little turd standing in front of me. He was angered. The women drew their swords.

I simply crossed my arms. "Welcome to my parlor, fly."

I mopped the floor with the three of them. Against an ordinary person, such as Pepper Hogan, they might have been formidable. But against the Black Widow their kung fu was seriously weak.

Placing the leg irons behind the pipe I was tied to, I secured the feet of my would-be master. Removing the laces from one of his boots I bound his arms in a reverse butterfly. Cutting off his sleeves I gagged him with one and secured his neck to the pipe with the other.

I removed the tunics of the two women. Both had a tattoo of a yellow talon on their right shoulder blade. I now knew what I was dealing with.

It was the symbol of an international criminal organization called the Golden Claw. Originally they went by another name when it was created in the 1950s. Created by a would-be world conqueror mistakenly referred to as the "Yellow Claw." The Claw disappeared in the early 1970s. Most of his criminal empire had fallen since.

But what was left still continued on after renaming itself in his honor. And they're still as just as formidible the world over. White slavery being one of many crimes they committed over the decades.

After securing the waist chain to the pipe, I cuffed each woman's hand. Then, using the one of the sleeves I cut off from their tunics, I tied their respective arms and forearms together. Then I gagged them both with the other sleeves. I cut and tore strips off a tunic and used them to bind their feet.

Taking their weapons with me, I left.  From the looks of it I was on a freighter. I made my way to the outside without incident. It was late night. Most of the crew was probably asleep except for the night watch. I tossed the excess weapons overboard, saving one sword, weapons' belt, plus an extra 9mm, for me.

Carrying the spare gun in my hand, and using cover and concealment, I headed for the bridge.

There were just two men inside. They weren't Chinese and were dressed like ordinary sailors on a cargo ship. That meant NOTHING to me. As far as I was concerned the whole crew was in on this. I entered and less than two minutes later I was the only one standing. After binding and gagging the two sailors I looked around.

I was on board the Sokovian freighter, Adrianna, currently bound for Norway. According to the ship's clock, it was May 4th, 0406 Hours. Roughly eight hours since I was attacked at the hotel.

The charts showed a rendezvous point with a ship called "Madripoor Siren" that would take place on May 5th at 0832 hours. If I were to guess, the Golden Claws and their living cargo were going to switch boats. I had to find that living cargo.

Luck was with me. There was a security monitor. And one of the screens showed what I was looking for. The camera in the cargo hold was aimed at numerous nude women. Gagged. Bound by waist chains, with the handcuffs behind their backs. Their feet were secured by leg irons. And their necks were collared and chained from behind to the deck.

Like a pack of dogs on short leashes.

They laid curled up on their sides, either asleep or drugged unconscious.

And they weren't ALL redheads. They were made up of different hair colors and different races. Pepper Hogan was amongst them. My mission was almost accomplished. I had to wonder what the deal was with the Hilton Hotel and redheads. But I didn't wonder for long. That was a question that could be answered later. MY job was to find and rescue Pepper.
 
Of course I was going to rescue the others too.

I studied the ship's layout, duty assignments and the other monitor screens. If I figured correctly there was a crew of 13. Mr. Master and at least four of his female enforcers. {Two taken out. Two standing watch over the women.}  I had to move fast while the advantage of surprise was still mine.

I went over to the radio and, after setting it to the proper frequency, contacted S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Fanboy. This is Hourglass. I found the Spice in a variety pack. Give me 40 and come a'runnin'."

"Hourglass, this is Wah-Hoo. Startin' time is 0417 hours. Clock's runnin'."

"The race is on."

I disabled the security monitor, borrowed a watch from one of the sailors, and then went on the hunt.

0439 hours, the hunt was over.

0456 hours, I had dragged 13 Sokovian sailors, and 7 members of the Golden Claw, all bound and gagged, out onto the deck. 

0457 hours, 30 minutes after Nick Fury fired the starting pistol, The helicarrier came into view and hovered over the Adrianna.

0459 hours, the Adrianna was boarded by 21 S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Agent Coulson was the field commander. The other 20 would deal with my prisoners.

I approached Phil.

"32 women chained up naked in the cargo hold. But otherwise unharmed."

Phil nodded and relayed the information to the 'carrier.

0508 hours, seven sky buses and a sky cycle came down. One of the buses was an ambulance with a medical team. Two were transporting female agents to tend to the captives below. The other four was for transporting the prisoners and their former captives, separately, to the helicarrier. The sky cycle, it turned out was for me.

While we waited for the vehicles to land, Phil and I compared notes.

"The Golden Claw is behind this"

"Golden Claw? They must have formed an allience with the MAGGIA."

"MAGGIA?"

Phil nodded and then told me what happened after I was kidnapped. 

As I had predicted my imposter did take my car and luggage. But the S.H.I.E.L.D tracking system picked up my car going one way and my bellybutton ring going another.

The imposter was, no doubt, surprised when the car suddenly went all "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" on her. {Phil's words.}  {The car's flight mode was activated by remote control.} It took to the sky and headed for the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. Where Coulson and a group of agents were waiting for her.

Agents Coulson and Double, who was pretending to take notes, interrogated her. As expected she refused to co-operate. But, thanks to Coulson's questions and Double's ESP, the mind told what the mouth did not.

Our nameless suspect was a MAGGIA named Valerie Black. Recently her face was disfigured in an accident. Secret plastic surgery gave her a new face which was why our facial recognition system failed to identify her.

Black believed the MAGGIA had gone into human trafficing. Kidnapping women and selling them into sexual slavery. Teams were planted at numerous high priced hotels where the beautiful and glamorous would be targeted and grabbed after "officially" checking out of the hotel.

The MAGGIA had planted her and her commrades at the Hilton Hotel in New York. Their team leader had a serious mad on for redheads and liked to target them. {Which explained Agent Double's redhead connection.} But they also targeted all types that fit the profile.

If there were any other plants at other hotels in New York, Black didn't know about it.

After the interrogation, with the information gained, Coulson had the other MAGGIA at the Hilton taken into custody. Then it became a waiting game.

Waiting for the Black Widow to call.

From what Phil told me, he had to be right. The MAGGIA and the Golden Claw had formed some sort of partnership.

The sky cycle landed and Agent Isabella Five came over.

"Ma'am. Director Fury wants to see you 'five minutes ago.'"

"His polite way of saying..." Phil started.

"Git yer ass up here..." I continued.

"ON THE DOUBLE!" The three of us finished. Coulson and Five chuckled. I nodded and headed for the sky cycle.

"Good job, Natasha."

"Good job, Phil."

I flew back to the helicarrier and found Nick Fury waiting for me. He gave me a coffee cup that didn't have coffee in it. The rum was pure heaven. I then briefed him on my part of the mission.

May 4th, 0812 hours, with the Adrianna in a tractor beam tow, the helicarrier headed back to New York. I had filed my written report, showered and now headed for the cafeteria.

Pepper Hogan and the other women, fully dressed thanks to our wardrobe department, were there eating breakfast. Most were in good spirits. Those that weren't were the ones who lost a husband or boyfriend. Murdered because they came with them to the Hilton Hotel.

I got my breakfast and saw Phil Coulson at a table. He wanted me to join him.

I did.

"How goes the interrogations?"

"All finished."

"Already?"

"What's the point of having an ESP Division if you don't put them to use?"

"Learn anything interesting?"

"Enough to seriously cripple, maybe even destroy, the Golden Claw's operations in every country we have authority in."

"Really?" I replied. "That little twit must have been a real big shot."

"Well he worked for one. Col. Fury is putting together a game plan for coordinated raids. I expect us to be pretty busy the next few days."

"I'll clear my calender."

"And to think all this started because the helicarrier needed a new coat of paint."

It needed more than that. But I knew where Phil was coming from. The helicarrier needed an ovehhaul. We wanted Tony Stark to do it. He sends Pepper Hogan to represent him. She gets kidnapped. We save her. And now we have a chance to put an end to a major international crime organization.

Coulson raised his coffee cup.

"To the helicarrier. The catalyst that made it possible."

I raised my orange juice.

"To the catalyst."

We ate out breakfast. And, sure enough, as Phil predicted, were were pretty busy the next few days.