Violet and Bergamot

"You still smell of blood. Even though you changed clothes, I can smell it." She leaned closer, her warm breath brushing Salomon's ear. "Don't forget, I'm the best agent there is."

Even though Salomon had changed into an immaculate suit and put on a black tie patterned with crimson roses entwined in vines, she could still smell the lingering scent of gunpowder on his skin. She also noticed the dried blood caught in the creases of his knuckles. Though it was nothing more than tiny brownish fragments, her instinctive investigative habits had picked it up. She would never mistake it for rust or anything similar. She was intimately familiar with blood. Romanoff reached her conclusion with ease. Though it lacked hard evidence, she knew she was right.

"You've really opened my eyes. I was prepared for this, but I still underestimated the limits of mortals."

The Arcanist nodded in satisfaction.

Agent Romanoff's intelligence-gathering abilities exceeded his expectations. Even with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network reduced to ashes, she could still find the information she wanted through her own methods. Such skills and ways of thinking never went out of date. They were priceless and worthy of study by every intelligence operative. The watch Romanoff had given him lay before them, while the earrings Salomon had given her already hung from Natasha's ears, matching her gown perfectly.

"You won this time. Victors generally claim spoils, so what do you want in exchange for showing me this intelligence, Natalia Romanova?"

Natasha lifted her chin proudly, rose with a smile, picked up her expensive handbag, and walked down the jewelry store stairs without looking back. The changes in the color of her Aether body were strangely erratic, making the Arcanist wonder whether Agent Romanoff's divided mind had gone wrong.

"You're being too direct, Mr. Pendragon,"