❚❚❚❚❚ 1 / DAY 141 / POINT A / LADY, RUNNING DOWN TO THE RIPTIDE
[ As Natasha freefalls, she inhales a familiar rush. She has been dropped without warning many times, seemingly abandoned by her agencies and companions. She feels her bones rattle ( perhaps even break ) upon impact, as her consciousness fades. She has felt greater pain than this. When she reawakens, the water surrounds her, splaying her red hair like streamers about her head, bright in contrast to the blue and green hues. The salt prickles her skin. Sea water, she thinks.
She has held her breath before, too. Seen others do the same. Watched them drown. Drowned them herself.
James Bond makes it look simple. In actuality, neither survival nor combat in open water will be is …show more content…
Or, just witness violent thrashing, a flash of light below, and Natasha resurfacing, gasping at her first breath and calming herself again. ]
❚❚❚❚❚ 3 / DAY 144 / RENDEZVOUS POINT
[ As a freelance agent, selecting a job is an exercise in risk management. Minimize risk, maximize return. Load judgement, ethics, and luck in your chambers. Fire assuming that you will miss. Operate knowing that help is unattainable. Rely on yourself ( and remember, even you are fallible ).
Natasha survived partly due to her own skills, but largely due to her fellow crew members' aid. This is no freelance mission: it’s a team effort, which is simultaneously comforting and frustrating. Not everyone here is a rational player, which lessens predictability and heightens the danger of working with them. As she untangles her hair from its’s haphazard knot of an updo, she can’t help but think agreeing to this was a mistake.
Fortunately, she refuses to dwell on regrets. Instead, she settles on the floor in view of the TV screens, leaning back against a wall ( minimizing the risk of unforeseen attacks, maximizing the opportunity to rest her muscles ). While she appears focused on the screens and her hair, she
[ As Natasha freefalls, she inhales a familiar rush. She has been dropped without warning many times, seemingly abandoned by her agencies and companions. She feels her bones rattle ( perhaps even break ) upon impact, as her consciousness fades. She has felt greater pain than this. When she reawakens, the water surrounds her, splaying her red hair like streamers about her head, bright in contrast to the blue and green hues. The salt prickles her skin. Sea water, she thinks.
She has held her breath before, too. Seen others do the same. Watched them drown. Drowned them herself.
James Bond makes it look simple. In actuality, neither survival nor combat in open water will be is …show more content…
Or, just witness violent thrashing, a flash of light below, and Natasha resurfacing, gasping at her first breath and calming herself again. ]
❚❚❚❚❚ 3 / DAY 144 / RENDEZVOUS POINT
[ As a freelance agent, selecting a job is an exercise in risk management. Minimize risk, maximize return. Load judgement, ethics, and luck in your chambers. Fire assuming that you will miss. Operate knowing that help is unattainable. Rely on yourself ( and remember, even you are fallible ).
Natasha survived partly due to her own skills, but largely due to her fellow crew members' aid. This is no freelance mission: it’s a team effort, which is simultaneously comforting and frustrating. Not everyone here is a rational player, which lessens predictability and heightens the danger of working with them. As she untangles her hair from its’s haphazard knot of an updo, she can’t help but think agreeing to this was a mistake.
Fortunately, she refuses to dwell on regrets. Instead, she settles on the floor in view of the TV screens, leaning back against a wall ( minimizing the risk of unforeseen attacks, maximizing the opportunity to rest her muscles ). While she appears focused on the screens and her hair, she