Well, that was something new. Normally Fury wanted to see both of them together to either compliment them on their successful mission...or to yell at them for a sloppy mission. "Only me?" Natasha asked Sharon with an arched brow, not convinced by that. Sharon nodded. "Yeah. He said he would talk to Agent Barton later." "I see. Well then...see you later." With that she kissed the still confused Clint's cheek, threw her bag over her shoulder and walked out. "So, you have any idea why he wants to see only me?" Natasha asked Sharon while they walked through the hallways and Sharon could only shake her head. "All I know is that he sent for me and then sent me to get you because of some kind of special mission." "Hmm...that really is strange." To that Sharon could only nod. While she had seen Natasha around and even around Steve, she had never thought she would actually get to talk to her or even spend time with her. As one of SHIELD's best agents, the redhead was always so busy after all and her time at the helicarrier was brief. And now? Now she finally got to at least walk with her and didn t get out a word once they were done talking about whatever Fury might have planned. But Natasha found herself in a similar situation. Words weren t her strongest suit, even after all those years and while she would most likely never say it out loud or even admit it to just a single person, she had been curious about the blonde, had wished to spend some time with her to get to know her. Not to set her up with Steve or someone else, but because she had found herself quite curious about the other woman, something that was new to her. For a moment they just walked in silence until they had reached the office. "Let s go then?" Sharon asked carefully, patiently awaiting her answer. "No way out from here." Natasha chuckled and opened the door to the office, stepping inside while Sharon just followed. Director Fury looked up from the screen he was looking at and stood up. "Close the door." The blonde nodded and quickly closed the door before following Natasha to stand in front of Fury's desk. Natasha dropped the bag on one of the chairs, crossing her arms. "So what s this about Fury? Just got back from a mission and you plan on dragging me into another?" He completely ignored her questions and placed his hands behind his back. "Agent Romanoff, you are familiar with the work Agent Carter has been doing over the past years?" Arching an eyebrow, the red haired spy nodded. "Yeah, so?" "And you are familiar with her skills?" "Yes." "Good. Because I want you two to go on a mission together. Not planned to end in a fight or even involve fighting. But I need you two to take care of some business that has been brought to my attention by the Director of SWORD." "SWORD?" Sharon asked, a bit unsure. She had heard of the subdivision of SHIELD but didn t know much about them or their work. "Agent Romanoff?" "SWORD is a counter terrorism and intelligence agency which deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security. Acting as a subdivision of SHIELD, but is largely autonomous of its parent organization. The current head of SWORD is Special Agent Abigail Brand. Its primary command-and-control HQ is aboard the orbital space station known as the Peak. SWORD is known to have at least one undercover operative in the X-Mansion, also called the Xaviers School for the Gifted, a safe haven for mutantkind to learn control over their various powers." Natasha replied without any change in her blank expression. She knew about all this, had worked with SWORD before and had even worked with the X-Men through some channels to keep the world safe. Sharon listened to all of that, just nodding from time to time. Well, that was interesting. "So...we re going to go on a mission for SWORD?" Fury chuckled and looked at a monitor for a moment. "Not exactly. It is more of a personal request from Agent Brand." Natasha let out a sigh and lightly rubbed the side of her head. "Let me guess...some kind of experiment a certain someone needs help with and because Abby has no time, she sends me in again because I know as well how he ticks. And I gotta take Carter with me so she can learn what other things we do." Fury nodded and turned to her again. "Well, you two got your assignment. So get out and get it done. I need you back here as soon as possible, got it? Otherwise I send Barton out alone." Hearing that, Natasha grabbed her bag and grabbed Sharon's arm before she could say anything.
As soon as they had left the office, Natasha let go of her and gave her another nudge. "Get a bag with the most important things and meet me up on deck. We re gonna take just a small jet." Sharon nodded and ran off. Just a short time later the two women met up at the deck and as soon as they had entered the jet, Natasha began to start it up. "So...where exactly are we going?" The londe asked from the back, putting their bags away while sometimes glancing at her partner for this mission. After setting up the flight route and starting everything up, Natasha focused on getting them in the air, remaining silent to concentrate. Once they were in the air and on their way, she finally turned part of her attention to Sharon. "To the Xavier Institute, meeting someone we re supposed to help." "And who are we helping?" God, was she always like that? Natasha rolled her eyes at all the question Sharon was asking. Okay, it was kind of cute, but she should have picked up on a few things at least. Letting out a sigh, she just stared outside for a moment. "His name is Henry McCoy. He is a good friend of Agent Brand a from what I learned a brilliant man...and also very friendly even though his appearance might seem a little frightening." "Why that?" "You remember it is a place for mutants, right?" "Yeah. So...is he some kind of human monster?" Hearing that, Natasha laughed. "No, he s a big blue fuzzball. I was at the Institute once, but didn t get to meet him. This time I will meet up with him and you will get the big tour and join us later in the lab." "Alright. So..." Sharon began, most likely going to ask another question. "No more questions." The redhead immediately silenced her. "I need to fly this baby and get us there safe. There s a file in the box on your right. Read it." "A-Alright..." Sharon muttered and retreated to her seat with the file in hand, reading through it while her red haired companion focused on flying the jet. It didn t bother her to work with someone else or to go see Hank. But it bothered Natasha that she couldn t hang out with Clint for the next days and instead had to work with the one woman who completely confused her. Well, not like she wasn t confused enough around Clint, but this? This was even more confusing.
Trying not to think of it, she focused on flying and soon they landed at the Institute, already being welcomed by Charles Xavier himself. After turning off the engine and shutting everything down, Natasha stepped out of the jet and motioned for Sharon to follow her while Xavier and his blue furred friend, who was no other than Henry McCoy, came closer as well. "Agent Romanoff. It is a pleasure to see you again." The Professor began and smiled at her, obviously glad to see her. "The pleasure is all mine Professor." Natasha replied and turned to Hank. "Dr. McCoy, I have heard only great things about you." "I had hoped so. Of course I believe there is nothing bad that Agent Brand would have aid about me." He chuckled lightly and showed both women a friendly smile. "And who might your beautiful companion be?" Giving her a light nudge, Natasha encouraged Sharon to join the conversation. "Agent Sharon Carter." She then introduced herself with a somewhat shy smile. The two men now greeted her as well and the Professor then lead her away to show her around and show her where the two could sleep should it all take longer than planned.
For a moment Hank and Natasha stood there, watching the other to leave. But then Hank turned to her with a smile. "While she is getting to see the wonderful places our home has to offer, shall we get to the lab already and talk about the planned experiment?" A small smile stole its way on Natasha's face while she watched Sharon walk away. She really was a beautiful woman...and very sweet. Her trail of thoughts was cut short by the voice of Hank ringing in her ears. Brushing a few strands of her hair behind her ear, the red haired Russian turned her attention back to the blue furred mutant she had come to call an ally and friend. "Sure." Hank chuckled lightly, pretending to be unaware of how Natasha had been looking at Sharon. But he was fully aware of what had been going on and while Natasha didn t know why she couldn t keep her eyes off the blonde for long, he knew what it was. It was the same thing that made him steal glances at the SHIELD Agent. Not love, but desire. "Follow me, Agent Romanoff." He then said in his always so calm voice, motioning for her to follow.
With that small smile on her face, Natasha followed Hank from the jet, down the path to the mansion since they had to land the jet outside. A few students who were outside, enjoying the day, curiously watched Hank and the Agent but they didn t dare to approach them. The last time one of them had dared to approach her in a too flirty way, she had broken his arm for that stupidity. After that they had learned to fear her. Natasha and Hank soon reached the large gates of the mansion and stepped inside.
"It has been quite a while since I was here." Following him, Natasha looked around. It really had been a while, but she always enjoyed being around. Hank let out a soft chuckle and lead her through the hallways, down to his lab. "You are always welcome here." He smiled at her, always enjoying her company. "Thank you, Hank. And you always have my support." "Thank you, my dear. I have been wondering." While walking down the stairs to his lab, he let out a sigh. "How is Agent Brand doing? It has been quite a while since I had the chance to see her." A low chuckle escaped Natasha and she nudged the door of his lab open before holding it open for him. "You don t have to talk like that around me. I know what has been between you two." She winked at him and Hank let out a low chuckle, slipping into the room before closing the door behind them. "It just didn t feel right to approach it in such a way. I do care about her a lot, but things are not as easy as we wished." "I understand. But she has been alright. Given the circumstances...after all she is still on her personal leave." Hank nodded and lead her over to his desk. "Understandable. It has been a hard time for both of us."
In the meantime, Sharon had started to follow the Professor. But from time to time she glanced over her shoulder, unable to keep her eyes off Natasha. The Professor noticed it, but didn t say anything and asked no questions. He could have read her mind, but he knew it wasn t his place and he would never enter the minds of others without permission. But he didn t need his powers to see that the blonde was indeed interested in the Russian. "Have you worked with Agent Romanoff before?" Charles asked Sharon to get her attention back since she seemed a bit too distracted and almost tripped a few times. A faint blush showed on the blonde's cheeks and she bit her bottom lip. "No. Well, we were on the same side a lot before and when SHIELD was fighting, we both did. But never just her and me." Listening to her, Charles nodded a few times and lead her down the path to the large garden that Storm so often tended to when she had the time. "I see. Well, to something else now...as you might have known, the Institute is a school for mutants, to give them a safe haven where they can learn to control their powers and use them for good, like the protection of mankind which is what the X-Men, a group of my first students do."
"Of course." Sharon nodded and smiled. "It really is a great place and all those kids seem really happy here." "Most of them get to lead an easier life here, without the hate a lot of normal people have towards them. And here in the garden they get to relax and often play after a long day of studying." Looking around the beautiful garden with a smile, Sharon listened, the blush on her cheeks growing a bit when she saw a tall, white haired female in the arms of a shorter, dark haired man, laughing and whispering. "It really is a nice place." She looked back at the Professor who had now noticed the pair as well and a small smile showed on his lips. "And often love finds a way among us." He nodded his head over to the two. "Like Storm and Wolverine over there. Logan is not one who is known for the nice things. But while he spent his time here, he has grown to love Ororo, who with her calm nature is a great match for him." "I can see that. They seem very happy." Charles nodded to her and gestured for her to follow him.
Their path took Charles and Sharon through the garden and soon they entered the mansion through the backdoor. "A wonderful place, outside and on the inside." Sharon chuckled lightly and looked around in the large living room. "Thank you." The Professor smiled happily at her, glad she understood and was more open to mutantkind, and also that she enjoyed her time around them. "We try to give our students many choices what they could do with their free time when they are not working on their powers or studying for their classes." With that, he lead her through the other rooms, showing her the kitchen, the large library where Jean and Scott were sitting in a corner, quietly discussing some book they had been reading. Sharon's eyes grew bigger at the sight of all the books in the library and she smiled brightly. "Amazing. I would love to stay here to discover everything this place has to offer." Hearing that, Charles smiled and stopped to look at her. "You are welcome to come and visit us anytime." "Thank you. I really appreciate the offer." "No need to thank me."
Leading Sharon through the mansion, Charles soon lead her downstairs towards Hank's lab. "Down here we have the hangar and also Cerebro. And of course Hank's lab." "Cerebro?" A bit confused, Sharon arched a brow. "A machine we had built to be able to track down other mutants who might need help." "How does it work?" "I can show you. Follow me." He guided Sharon into the Cerebro room and as the door slid shut behind them, Sharon looked around in the large, mainly empty room. Charles moved over to the Cerebro helmet and its interface. "This is Cerebro. A telepath like me can use the helmet to cnnect with the interface which then, in combination with the shape and material of the room enhances the telepathic powers greatly, allowing the telepath to find another mutant even over a great distance." With that, he picked up the helmet. "I will show you what it can do, but I need silence to concentrate." Sharon nodded and stayed behind him while Charles carefully put on the helmet.
After some time of starting it, something similar to a holographic screen began to show around them, folding out into the whole room. Soon it seemed to zoom in on something, figures becoming visible until his focus was on someone, apparently located on a SHIELD Helicarrier. Completely amazed by that, Sharon watched in silence until it all faded away and Charles took off the helmet again. "Wow, that was incredible." "It is very exhausting work, but it helps us to keep watch over those who are against us, but also find those who might need our help." "And...who did you just focus on? As far as I know we don t have mutants in custody." Charles chuckled lightly and lead her out of the room and towards the lab. "Not in custody, but in your ranks. I had focused on Agent Brand." Sharon nodded slowly and followed him. "I see. She...has those fire powers, right? I barely know things about her...only that she is the Director of SWORD and basic things we need to know from the files."
Nodding, Charles opened the door to the lab and lead her inside. "I see. There is always a reason for certain secrets." A small smile showed on Sharon's lips and she slowly followed him inside. "Of course." Seeing Natasha and Hank both leaning over a table, discussing his notes, she took a step towards them before turning back. "Thank you, Professor. It really helped me understand a bit more." Charles nodded to her and left the room and Sharon moved towards the other two.
Hearing the door slide open, Natasha and Hank looked up from the notes and turned around. A small, yet somewhat shy smile showed on Sharon's lips when she stepped towards them. "So...what is this experiment about?" "How did the tour go?" Natasha asked at the same time as Sharon asked about the experiment. Both women laughed and Hank joined in on the laughter before picking up his notes. "You two go ahead and talk about the tour. I will have to prepare a few things." He smiled at them, but then quickly walked away, grabbing a few things. Natasha nodded and leaned against the desk, her hands resting on the surface while she watched Sharon now. "So...the tour?" Sharon watched her movements for a moment, her cheeks flushing red again. "Right..." She muttered and gave her best not to stare at Natasha. "He showed me the garden, the rest of the mansion...Oh...and he showed me how Cerebro works." "Pretty incredible, huh?" "Yeah. I ve never seen anything like it. It s amazing." "I ve only seen it, but not how it works." Chuckling lightly, Natasha pushed herself off the desk and lightly nudged her. "Lucky girl. Xavier doesn t show it to just everyone who is around the first day for a visit." The blush on Sharon's cheeks grew a bit more and she looked away, biting her lip when she felt the nudge.