The Lowtown of Madripoor smelled of blood, murder, and sin. It was a world completely antithetical to the pristine glass towers of Stark Industries, yet Pep walked through the crowded, narrow alleyways with her shoulders back and her chin high. She wasn't foolish enough to come here unprotected, but she had specifically ordered her security to wait three blocks back. The woman she was meeting didn't respond well to chains or badges; she was someone who had collapsed entire regimes from the shadows before she ever called this criminal island her home.
Pepper stepped inside the dimly lit, smoke-heavy back room of a low-end tea house, her sharp eyes instantly cutting through the haze to find the woman sitting in the furthest corner.
Even with a fractured file compiled from the deepest, most classified vaults of SHIELD and old KGB archives, Pepper knew the data barely scratched the surface. Yeliza wasn't just a former Soviet weapon or a high-end Madripoor hitman; she was an ancient force not to be reckoned with. Pepper could practically feel the invisible, heavy static of tension in the air around her -- a subtle, instinctual warning from her own body that she was stepping into the cage of an apex predator. But Pepperβs nature didn't allow for fear.
"You're a very difficult woman to track down, Ms. Changeling," Pepper began, her voice smooth. She didn't offer a polite handshake or a charming smile. She knew better than to play corporate games with a living omen. Her expressive eyes locked onto Yelizaβs, searching for any trace of danger. "And given the sheer amount of blood on the ledger of the men Iβm currently trying to remove from my supply lines, I was told youβre the only catastrophe in Madripoor worth the price tag. So, letβs skip the pleasantries. Are you as controlled as your current reputation claims, or am I going to regret giving you access to my grid?"
SC // @g0dkilled
