Having heard enough, Spider-Man stood up, which made all three look at him. He turned his attention solely to Agent Romanoff.
"You should think about my proposal, Agent. Maybe we could discuss it further over a couple of drinks sometime soon." (spoken in French)
Natasha's eyes widened slightly at the language switch.
"Are you inviting me on a date?" (French)
"Perhaps. I know some perfect places, and I can think of a few things that would make for an interesting evening." (Latin)
Romanoff showed a small smile of genuine amusement at the constant language changes, as well as at what she was mentally planning.
"How many languages?" (French)
"Fifteen. Enough to keep us from getting bored. Perhaps you will even have the chance to ride my motorcycle." (German)
Both Nick and Tony felt like the third and fourth wheel at the table.
Fury watched, somewhat impressed, as his best agent reacted, while Tony proudly observed the young man hold his own in front of a SHIELD director.
"Darling, I am probably thinking about going on this date." (French)
"This is your possible cure."
He moved his hand back and tossed a file to Tony. All three internally wondered where he had hidden it.
"This is half of the file. The rest is with Fury, which is appropriate, since that file along with everything else belongs to Stark by right. I hope you give it to him, Fury, or there will be severe consequences."
"How did you get it?" Fury growled.
"I hacked your system a while ago." He saw Stark staring at him. "Do not worry. I am not interested in your reactor. It is insignificant to me."
"Why?" Tony asked.
"Because I created an element. One based on quantum energy, more powerful than that." He turned and winked at Natasha, ready to leave. He nodded to the other two men and walked out of the place.
"Tell me, Agent. Did you get anything useful?" Fury said, frowning, fists clenched because the meeting had not gone as planned.
"A job offer," Natasha said. "And a date to plan for the future."
....
Twip. Twip.
Twip. Twip.
He had spent the day with the girls and his children watching movies rather than working in the lab, a deliberate choice.
When night fell, he went out on patrol. So far, he had dealt with two drug cartels, six attempted suicides, twelve store robberies, ten assaults, eighteen murders, and several other incidents.
Taking a short break, he stopped atop the Abstergo building and sat down to admire the city, a masterpiece of architecture. He let out a sigh as two arms wrapped around him from behind.
"What brings you here, Bobbi?" he asked, still looking out over the city.
He felt her rest her head on his shoulder before tilting it slightly against his. He reached up to her blonde hair and began gently stroking it.
"I have news," she said in a slightly distorted feminine voice.
"Which news, Little Agent?"
"First, my former teacher has allowed me to use her codename. Mockingbird[1]."
"It suits your personality," he said, earning a small giggle in return.
"It was something I got from her."
"I hope you did not pick up anything else, Little Bird."
"Who knows. Second, I was reassigned. Fury said I am in danger after finding out you hacked his data system. He even thinks you hacked the agent database too, which is true."
"Congratulations on your reassignment."
"God, you are so dry. Do you not have any emotions? Could you not say, 'Goodbye, Bobbi. I will miss you,' or, 'Please do not go. I have never had an apprentice like you,' or, 'These three weeks we spent together between training sessions were—'"
"Dreaming is free, and this is not goodbye. It is see you later."
"Pfff. Boring. By the way, you owe me."
"What?" he asked, slightly confused.
"In our last sparring match, I managed to hit you. I want my reward."
"Showing off your boobs to distract your opponent during a spar cannot be considered a fair win," he said dryly, remembering their last session. "I thought that tactic suited Natasha more than you."
"Well, I learned something from her."
Hearing that, he sighed.
It had been three weeks since they had met.
He still remembered that night when he found her despite her supposedly impenetrable stealth approach.
More than once, he had told her that her stealth was on the same level as Percy Jackson's.
After that, he had started offering what she called insults but what he considered simple advice on skills she could improve.
From that day on, whenever they had the opportunity, they sparred, with him promising that if she ever landed a clean hit, he would tell anyone who asked that Bobbi Morse was the finest agent he had ever encountered.
"If you think I will say something like that, you are very mistaken, Mockingbird. I will do it the day you manage to put me on the ground, and that day will come never."
"Fine, but I still hit you. A hit is a hit. I want something."
"I thought the suit would be enough."
"You gave me this suit for my birthday. By the way, where did you get it? This thing is worth more than my entire salary at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"If I told you, I would have to take measures."
"Fine, do not tell me. By the way, I already have a cover story for the suit, so no one asks questions. You do not have to worry."
"Okay. How is Ben[2]?"
"He is getting better. Thank you for helping him."
She kissed his cheek.
"Tell him to take his pills. He will recover soon."
"I already have. If it were not for you, I think I would have done something stupid trying to find a cure."
"People tend to do stupid things in desperate times."
Bobbi nodded because she had seen exactly that at various points throughout her career.
Looking out over New York City, she realized she would miss the view and the strange company the masked man provided.
She had never expected to take the advice of a madman seriously, yet during their brief training sessions and every sparring match, she had steadily improved.
She had learned techniques and movements that had never been taught at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy.
In just three weeks, she had learned more from this masked man than she had thought possible.
[1] [Comic books: Barbara "Bobbi" Morse is a brilliant biologist and elite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who uses her martial arts skills and battle staves to fight crime as Mockingbird in comics]
[2] [Comic books: Ben Morse is the ordinary human brother of Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird) who occasionally gets caught up in his sister's espionage and superhero adventures in Marvel comics]