Blair's POV
Blair had been chatting casually with the front desk receptionist when the door to the left of the front desk opened and a handsome young man in a lab coat walked out.
“Oh hi, Peter” said Susan, the front desk receptionist as she smiled flirtatiously at him. Blair smirked, from a quick browse of Susan’s mind she was unsurprised the middle age woman was interested in the young scientist, her marriage had not excited her for years and by the look of the ring on her finger, Blair had a feeling it was regularly removed.
As Blair stepped toward Peter her empathic abilities picked up the way Peter seemed to bask in Susan’s flirtatiously attention and he smiled cockily at her as he shook her hand.
“Hi, I’m Elaine” she said smiling coyly back.
“Peter Wilson, Dr. Harvey sent me to conduct the first part of your interview” he said, grin still plastered on his face.
As he turned to lead her into the office Blair smirked, oh yes she thought, this was going to be much easier than she had imagined.
****
Around five minutes later, Blair ripped open the door leading from the office to the lab and quickly descended the stairs, stepping over Peter’s inanimate body as he drooled on the floor. Both Peter and the receptionist were sound asleep, she used the pent up energy from the night before to lull Susan to sleep through the office wall, a feat she was quite proud of. Peter on the other hand had simply taken no effort as her power intensified with physical contact.
As she cleared the wall that separated the stairwell from the basement laboratory her eyes widened in surprise. In front of her, an upright tank was riddled with bullet holes and poured gas into the dimly lit space. Looking up she noticed that emergency lights flashed red and the regular power supply seemed to be down. The gas mixed with the air in the room, making it difficult to see as she waded between the tables. Nitrogen she thought, luckily, it was likely just nitrogen but she still resolved to get out quickly as she searched for the bioweapon. Stumbling she looked down to see the facedown body of a man in a lab coat, rolling him over she realized that it was Dr. Harvey, owner and public face of Horizon Labs. He was dead, shot cleanly through the chest, although Blair felt little remorse as the man had spent his life profiting off of violent conflict. More cautiously than before she stood and continued her journey through the lab, someone else was here, she could sense their presence. Their mind cried out to her in desperate pain.
Hearing scuffling behind her, Blair whirled just in time to see a red headed woman level a gun on her. Blair lashed out, her right foot kicking out across her body to knock the gun from the disoriented woman’s hand. Almost simultaneously her hand reached out to grab the woman’s face.
Sleep, Blair commanded the woman every ounce of power she could channel and the redhead dropped like a rag doll to the floor. Kneeling, Blair examined the woman more closely and confirmed what she already suspected. Images of the invasion of New York, the Capital Hill hearing, and the Sokovia incident flashed in her head. She was looking at the face of Natasha Romanov, infamous Black Widow, and member of the Avengers team.
Trying to calm her panic, Blair examined Natasha. When she had tried to sneak up on Blair she can been clutching her left side and she saw that she had been shot in the abdomen a few inches above her hip bone. Realizing how fast Natasha was losing blood, Blair had to make a critical decision, save Natasha Romanov’s life or secure the bioweapon.
With little hesitation Blair quickly wrapped the wound with her jacket, tying it securely to stop the bleeding. As gently as she could she lifted the other woman onto her shoulders, although it was difficult as they were nearly the same size. Ascending the stairs Blair burst through the office backdoor after snagging Susan’s car keys from her purse.
She clicked the remote and the car beeped across the parking lot. Blair laid Natasha across the back seat and jumped into the driver's seat, slamming on the acceleration pedal. She needed get Natasha back to the apartment and stabilize her before she went into shock.