Due to popular demand, I've decided to continue this story! I'd just like to thank everyone for all the great feedback.
Just because she's pregnant,it doesn't mean Natasha is going to be sitting on the sidelines and leave the saving the world to the men. But this may lead to problems in the future...
I don't own Marvel, etc.
Something was different about them, Tony scrutinized when the two master assassins sauntered into the room, but what?
Light remnants of a grin flickered on the archers face, but not his usually cocky smirk. And the Russian's eyes were brighter than her usual threatening glare- which was a rare occurrence in it of itself. Maybe it was the way they were walking. Normally, they would fall into step together, perfectly in-sync. But Clint was edging ahead ever so slightly. If Tony hadn't known the pair better, mainly the female, he would have thought the action protective.
Natasha and Clint joined the other four Avengers at a wide black conference table. Then the former noticed the perusing stare from her teammate.
"Stark," she demanded.
The billionaire jumped slightly before shaking his head, his current train of thought tabbed and filed away in the back of his mind.
"Hmm? Right, sorry," he apologized, clapping his hands together. With a push of a button, the table illuminated into a glowing blue screen. Tony flicked his finger across the table and suddenly each Avenger had a digital report in front of their seats.
"Marrakech, Morocco," Director Fury, or rather a life size holographic projection of the director, announced when he appeared standing at the head of the table opposite Tony. A three dimensional map of the globe flickered to life in the center of the table with a contrasting red dot appearing over the city in question.
"What about it?" Clint enquired, flipping through the digital report laid out before him.
"We have intel of stolen SHIELD tech- remnants of the scrapped Phase Two project- in the region by a group of arms dealers that calls themselves The Nine Pieces. It's highly critical that this tech doesn't fall into the wrong hands." The map zoomed into the country of Morocco, and then to the city of Marakesh. Three smaller red dots appeared, scattered throughout the enlarged map. "There are three suspected locations of the tech, two dummy locations and one real location. The only problem is that we don't know which is which."
"And why isn't SHIELD taking care of it?" Bruce chimed in, studying the file, "I mean, it seems like a simple enough mission compared to some of the stuff we had to deal with. Why are the Avengers needed?"
"Because-"
"We are being observed," Thor cut in, resting his chin on his hand.
"I think Thor's right," Steve concurred, leaning back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, "To see if we can function as a team."
Tony nodded in agreement. "and to prove New York wasn't a fluke, yeah I know. Which is why we're going to blow this mission out of the water."
Fury inclined his head. "Suit up and meet on the helipad. You leave in twenty minutes." Then the hologram evaporated.
The group nodded in unison and rose to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony watched as the assassins communicated silently as they always did; Clint and Natasha could convey more to each other in an almost unnoticeable twitch of the lips than most people could reveal in a novel. From the slightly knitted eyebrows on both their faces, he could tell they were disagreeing about something. Then the archer glanced down to her stomach for a split second before returning his contact to her bright blue eyes. But why would he look to her- oh my god.
When the two finished their silent argument, Clint drew a harsh breath, signaling his usually defeat, and followed the Russian out of the room.
"JARVIS," Tony called after everyone else had vacated the room, typing away on the table touchscreen, "Get me a full body scan on Agent Romanoff."
"Am I searching for anything in particular sir?" the AI droned.
"Yeah, a baby hawk in the nest."
Ta da! It was a short chapter, yes, but I needed something to get the ball rolling! We'll be following Natasha and the rest of the avengers not only through this mission, but all throught the coming months of cravings, hormones and huge, elephanty bellies.
Let me know what you thought! Stay tuned!