The first thing Natasha hears as she steps off of the elevator onto the top floor of Stark Tower, is the sound of a baby giggling. It brings a smile to her face with that smile only widening when she turns a corner to find Tony and Pepper as well as their one-month old daughter relaxing together on the couch. Pepper has her top off and is guiding her daughter's mouth back to her chest for further breastfeeding, but when they look up and see Natasha walking towards them, she just smiles, making no move to stop.
As little Morgan quiets down, suckling away at her mother's teat, it's Pepper who addresses Natasha's presence first.
"Nat! What brings you all the way to the top of the Tower at this time of night?"
Sighing, Natasha offers Pepper an honestly affectionate smile and nod… before walking over to Tony's side of the couch with tablet in hand.
"Unfortunately I'm afraid this is work related. Something has happened."
She doesn't hesitate to set the tablet down on the table in front of Tony, knowing better than to try to hand him anything after knowing the man for years. Tony reaches over and picks the tablet up, flipping the cover over and eyeing the contents of the screen for a moment before sighing and giving her a look.
"So then, Fury and Pierce's plan to keep me in the dark has finally blown up in their faces."
Natasha blinks. She supposes she really shouldn ' t be surprised… and yet part of her still is. Part of her is also a little angry, seeing how this situation had Barton compromised.
"You knew this was going to happen?" She tries to keep any accusation out of her voice as much as possible, but it's not easy and judging by the look Tony gives her, she doesn't completely succeed.
Gesturing down at the tablet with his free hand, he shakes his head.
" If by ' this ' , you mean Loki showing up and mind controlling our people after Thor told us she was 'lost to the void'… no, Natasha. I didn't know that specifically was going to happen. However, I'm not an idiot. In fact, I'm quite smart. And you know full well why Fury and Pierce weren't going to get anything past me."
JARVIS, most likely. Natasha still didn't fully understand how Tony had managed to infiltrate HYDRA so successfully. Someone like Alexander Pierce should never have been so easily convinced of the Stark man's sincerity, and yet he'd managed to get so far up HYDRA's ass in just three days that he had SHIELD dancing to his tune and offering her up to him on a silver platter. Still, she supposed she hadn't fully understood what it all meant until now. Of course Fury wouldn't be able to keep something like this from Tony. Not even with Pierce's blessing. Tony was playing both men for fools the entire time.
"I was pretty confident that this research into the Tesseract would only end in one way. In tears. Just didn't have any clue what would happen with it, or when Fury would be forced to call me in to clean up his mess. Seems we've reached that point though, haven't we?"
Natasha thins out her lips and nods. Ever since switching to Team Stark so soon after switching to Team SHIELD, Natasha had to admit… her respect for Nick Fury had diminished year over year. The man wasn't the dangerous and competent leader that Natasha thought him to be. Even if she took the incredibly unflattering comparison between Fury and Stark off the board, there was still knowing that Fury was being strung along by Pierce and HYDRA, had been for decades, and still hadn't figured it out for himself. " The Iron Legion has been mobilized, of course. Agent Rumlow and his men are ready to move out at a moment's notice. But until we have a location, it doesn't matter what firepower we can bring to bear on Loki and… her turncoats. We need a way to track her down, so Fury made the call to have me bring you in."
That causes a broad smile to spread across Tony's face.
"Good to know he can still make good decisions sometimes, I suppose."
Sighing, Tony looks to Pepper.
"Get yourself and Morgan on the first Stark Jet to Malibu, alright Pep? Looking at everything, none of this should touch California so I want you to stay over on the West Coast until it's all taken care of." Natasha suspects Pepper would have said no if it weren't for Morgan. After all, Tony's wife is just as strong and durable as Stark himself and Natasha now. Stronger than her actually, Natasha has come to believe. After taking the ES3 that Tony offered her a year back, Natasha had felt like she was on top of the world. She'd felt faster, stronger, and just plain better in every way. It hadn't been healing, it'd been a huge boost to her body, and she knew for a fact that there was no one she'd faced off against throughout her storied career as a spy who could have taken her down after that.
However … Tony and Pepper still had her beat in the bedroom. They'd literally gone at it for three days straight at one point, only for Natasha to realize that whatever Tony had given her… he saved the REALLY good stuff for himself and his wife. Not to mention she'd noticed how he was now capable of interfacing with technology without touching it.
She didn't mind though. He'd lived up to his end of the bargain either way and she'd never felt better. As things currently stood, Pepper sighs but nods, keeping Morgan fastened to her chest as she leans over to give Tony a peck on the lips before standing up. She fixes Natasha with an intense gaze.
"You two take care of one another, alright?"
Natasha smiles and nods, even as Tony rises from the couch as well with a chuckle.
"You don't have to worry about us, Pepper. Loki won't know what hit her."
With that, Pepper leaves the room to get ready for a cross-country trip with Morgan. Natasha isn't sure taking a baby that young on a plane is safe… but not only is the plane going to be Stark Tech, the baby is Tony and Pepper ' s daughter… which means she's not a normal baby girl by any stretch of the imagination. "You know Nat, this might be your opportunity."
Blinking, Natasha looks from where Pepper and Morgan have disappeared, back to Tony.
"Oh?"
Tony shrugs, giving her a crooked smile.
"We'll play it by ear of course, but when else are we going to get a better shot at killing you off? Loki invades Earth and you valiantly sacrifice yourself saving it. The perfect cover."
Natasha furrows her brow, pressing her lips tightly together.
"… I can't bow out too early. You might still need my help to defeat her. And besides, I still owe Barton one. If he can be saved, I have to try to get him back." That gets a nod from Tony, even as he starts heading for the roof, where a helicopter will no doubt be waiting to take them to the Helicarrier.
"Sure, I'm not saying you jump off a building right here and now so I can blame it on Loki. I'm saying once we've kicked her ass for sure and everything is almost said and done… look for an opportunity to take a dive and I'll back you up. As for Barton, I've already got J working on methods for breaking Loki's mind control. We'll get him back. Alright?"
Natasha only hesitates for a moment before nodding resolutely. The thought of finally being out from under SHIELD ' s radar and being able to pursue her dream of motherhood… it fills her with a certain level of excitement.
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