Natasha drove her old Ford Focus through the Sirius Software security checkpoint without incident.
The air conditioning blasted her with cold air as she entered. She stood still for a moment, letting the cold air wash over her.
Aaron's office door opened, and he stepped out, dressed in his signature black leather suit. He gave her a small smile that sent a shiver down her spine.
"Welcome Ms. Parker. Follow me." he said, and led her to a pair of spartan gray concrete lodge-like buildings.
Natasha's curiosity grew as she followed him into the left building, and was assaulted by the smell of fresh paint.
Aaron led her up the stairs, to reveal a corridor with a series of doors, secured with hand-print locks.
Natasha gasped as she saw her name on the first door. Aaron gestured for her to open it.
With a trembling hand, she placed her palm on the hand-print lock, and the door opened with a soft beep.
Inside was a small, but cozy single-bedroom apartment, with a small kitchenette and a bathroom.
The walls were a freshly painted white, and the furniture was still covered in plastic wrap.
"You will find your uniform and equipment in the closet. Gear up, and report back at the Temporary Office in 30 minutes." said Aaron, leaving her alone in the apartment.
Natasha sank onto the bed, trying to process what had just happened.
She was used to unexpected situations, but this was something else entirely.
She had applied for a security guard job, thinking that it would be the mundane activity of patrolling corridors, checking IDs and monitoring security cameras.
The kind of boring job that had a four-hour shift, paid a few bucks an hour, and was a good way to stay in the background while gathering intelligence.
Instead, she had been put through a tactical skill assessment, and was given a fully furnished apartment rather than needing to bunk with 8 other employees in a cramped dormitory.
With a sigh, she got up and opened the closet.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed, as she saw the uniform nestled in the closet.
It was constructed from thick black leather. Not the thin delicate stuff used in haute-couture, or the fake stuff used in mass-production. This was pure cowhide leather, tanned jet-black, and polished to a high sheen.
"What the hell is this boy thinking? Am I supposed to be some kind of fetish model or cosplayer?" she growled in indignation, grabbing the blazer.
"Armor plating?" she asked herself as she ran her fingers over the lining, feeling the presence of a back protector, along with shoulder and elbow pads.
She unrolled the corset and examined it. The corset's satin lining also belied the presence of some kind of chain-mail armor.
With a shrug, she stripped down to her underwear, and started to suit up.
"With this much metal, the uniform should feel a lot heavier." she thought to herself, as she examined her reflection.
Bracing herself, she carefully lifted her right leg as high as she could. The skirt yielded effortlessly to her movement, with darts and vents opening up to allow her to easily lift her leg till she was in a standing split, the titanium toe-box, instep and heel of her left boot giving her the stability to hold the pose.
"I just did a standing split in a pencil skirt and stiletto heels." she chuckled wryly to herself, as she lowered her leg and turned to the mirror.
She picked up one of the gloves and examined the metal on the knuckles.
"Don't tell me that the armor is titanium!" she exclaimed incredulously, finally recognizing the metal.
"Titanium knuckle-dusters? Of course, why not?" she chuckled to herself, pulling on the gloves and flexing her gloved fingers.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed as her thumb pressed a switch hidden in the palm of the gloves, and electricity crackled through the titanium spikes on her knuckles.
"Making a tired old woman who is pushing 40 dress like some comic book femme-fatale for a security guard job! You are one sick individual, Aaron Zakhrov." she said to herself.
The uniform seemed to have taken 10 years off her age, and she looked like a cross between a dominatrix and a villainess rather than a nondescript security guard that was meant to blend in.
She opened the closet and started to equip the rest of her gear: two 9 mm handguns with built-in LED flashlights, 4 magazines of low-velocity non-lethal rubber bullets, a pair of 15 cm long titanium knives, a zip-tie dispenser, and a baton.
With a final look in the mirror, she walked out of the apartment and headed to the temporary office.