A Study in Crimson and Viridian
Rating: PG (ratings vary per chapter)
Characters/Pairings: FrostIron (Loki/Tony), canongirl!Tony Stark(i.e. Natasha Stark), and the rest of the Avengers movie cast.
Warnings: Movie spoilers, obviously, and in a major way. Spoilers for various events throughout the comic-verse, including Civil War, Dark Reign, and Siege.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Well, except Earth-199990, but that's pretty useless to me without all these great Marvel characters.
Notes: Captain America! (Also, I don't have a beta. Is anyone interested? That is, if this fic doesn't completely bomb …)
CHAPTER TWO:
YOU WERE SIX FEET BENEATH ME
The next time Natasha sees Captain America is when Pepper gets a call to turn on the news and they see Steve Rogers stumbling into Times Square, barefoot and surrounded by S.H.E.I.L.D. agents.
She hums into her coffee, "That's embarrassing," and only pauses to snatch a slice of toast off Pepper's plate before she makes her way downstairs to her workshop. She gets a call from an anxious Agent Coulson the very next day asking if she could "please come to New York" because a certain Steve Rogers was very eager to meet her. She can tell by the delicate strain in Coulson's words that for once the S.H.E.I.L.D. agent would like nothing more than for her to reject the request in typical Natasha Stark fashion.
She has Pepper cancel her meetings for the day, and then hops on the private jet to New York within an hour of the phone call.
Steve Rogers is all pleasant smiles, dimples and perfectly coifed hair. Natasha smirks, feels the glares at the back of her head, and takes the proffered large hand in greeting.
"Natasha Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you. I knew your father."
The room drops about ten degrees in temperature and everyone but Natasha and the oblivious Super-Soldier stiffens with anticipation. Natasha retracts her hand and feels her smirk transform into a grimace. "Yeah, he talked a lot about you. Guess you guys were pretty tight?"
She watches the cogs turn behind those baby blue eyes as he literally works to translate her meaning into something his seventy-year-old brain can understand. Finally, he nods. "We were friends, yes. He was a very brave man."
Natasha shrugs, noncommittally. "I'll take your word for it, Cap."
Rogers frowns, bemused. Carefully, he says, "Director Fury informs me that you are now running your father's company."
"Uh, yeah …" Natasha casts a furtive glance over her shoulder at Fury, eyes narrowing suspiciously. The days of Stark Industries manufacturing weapons for war are long gone but it's certainly not a point of pride for her and she doesn't like the idea of sharing this information needlessly with a national icon.
"That's mighty impressive for a lovely dame such as yourself, if I may be so bold."
Natasha jerks her head back to Rogers—hears Barton snort—and blinks. It takes a moment for the words to sink in—because Captain fuckin' America just called her 'dame'—and then she steps forward, dropping a hand on one broad shoulder and swiveling on her heels to grin at an exasperated Fury.
"Oh, I like him! I think I'll keep him!"
Agent Coulson sighs. "Stark, please."
She rolls her eyes and looks up at the adorably confused expression on Rogers' face. "By the way, how are you adjusting? You seem pretty together for a guy who just woke up seventy years into the future."
Rogers frowns, dropping his eyes to the floor. "I'm not sure the shock's really worn off. It's all—this isn't really something you get trained for. One moment, I'm in the middle of the second biggest war the world has ever known, and you think you've seen everything and that nothing could really surprise you—and then …"
Natasha shifts, uncomfortable with the soldier's emotional honesty, and glances back towards the four S.H.E.I.L.D. agents watching them with varying degrees of stoicism. She finds a distraction in the slight swelling on the right side of Fury's nose.
"Oh man, did you clock Fury one when you were trying to escape yesterday?"
Rogers clears his throat, looking about as sheepish as a guy his size can be while still looking intimidating. "I thought—"
"He thought Fury was a German spy. Called him Fritz. It was awesome," Barton explains, a grin threatening to destroy the fairly impressive poker face he's been wearing since she arrived. His eyes are bright with amusement and she throws her head back with a laugh.
"I didn't think—the highest ranking black man in the U.S. army is—was a Brooklyn-born captain I grew up with. I just thought—"
"It's fine. No hard feelings, soldier," Fury grumbles, glaring at Natasha.
Natasha barks another laugh, wiping tears from her eyes as she holds onto Rogers' arm to keep herself from collapsing to the ground. "Oh my god! That's—! Rogers, marry me! You're too perfect!"
"W-what—?"
"She's joking, Captain," Coulson sighs wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose as if to ward of a migraine. "Stark, try to behave or I'll have to call Pepper."
Reeling in her mirth, she exhales loudly and steps away from Rogers. "Ooh, you play dirty Coulson. I like it."
Out of the corner of her eyes she sees Romanoff and Barton exchange one of their looks. Barton's shoulders seem to be trembling and Romanoff is shaking her head, just barely.
"You're doing this on purpose, Stark," Fury accuses, single eye reflecting disapproval.
When she glances at Rogers, he looks visibly upset. She has no doubt he must consider her behavior to be very untoward. He seems to have a hard time looking at her, but a harder time looking away and there's a question in his eyes that seems to blatantly ask: are all twenty-first century women like you?
.0.0.0.
"Stark, you should come with your own warning label," Barton says when they enter the same conference room from a week before, sans one former Capsicle.
"He'll get used to me. Or not. I really don't care," Natasha replies as she drops into the seat across the table from the four agents.
"Why do you have to antagonize him?" Coulson mutters, clearly upset with her. She is amused, mostly because she's known Coulson for a while now and she's never been able to get under his skin quite so easily.
She snorts. "Give me a break. Half the shit I said just went over his head, anyway."
"He's a national icon, Stark, you can't—"
"Spare me, lover-boy. I don't—"
"Both of you! That's enough," Fury snaps, still standing, flanked on both sides by his agents. Coulson looks away, properly chastised, and Natasha smirks. Fury sneers, "Stark, apart from the obvious joy you take in making my life more difficult, why are you here? You can't expect me to believe you came here just became Captain America asked nicely."
"Why not?" she asks, feigning innocence with wide eyes and a slack expression.
"Cut the bull."
She raises her hands in mock surrender. "Actually, I wanted to congratulate your deviousness in person, Director. You got me. You win."
Fury looks annoyed. "Excuse me?"
"That was pretty clever of you, talking to Pepper. Using her to convince me to move to New York. Well played, Iago."
Fury is silent. His agents might as well be stone statues for all that Natasha can get a read on them. She stands abruptly, planting her hands on the table, expression darkening.
"I just came here to let you know that the next time you want something from me—you better stay the fuck away from Pepper."
.0.0.0.
After four years, Stark Tower was nearly complete, but Natasha honestly could be less excited. Despite being the pinnacle of modern architecture, the building would not be able to serve its intended purpose as a luxury hotel. Instead, she'd had to redesign the building to work as both a secondary base of operations for Stark Industries, and her own private home. Natasha isn't thrilled about the move, but Pepper is excited and that is enough to content Natasha. Plus, their building is directly across the Chrysler Building, and that was pretty cool.
"Natasha, have you finished packing? We have to go in a couple of hours."
Natasha pretends she doesn't hear Pepper calling down to her from upstairs, grimacing as she gingerly removes the exterior paneling alongside her suit's forearm.
"Natasha!"
She's picking through wires, careful not to disconnect anything, when she hears the sharp clicks of Pepper's heels descending the stairs. A second later, the security on the door is disengaged and she tries not to betray her anxiety with her body language.
"Ma'am, Ms. Potts to see you." JARVIS's voice echoes within the workshop.
Natasha looks over her shoulder, blinking innocently. "Yes, dear?"
Pepper frowns, crossing her arms and arching a perfectly manicured brow. "You haven't packed, have you?"
Natasha pouts. "Can't I just buy new stuff?"
"Be serious, Ms. Stark."
"I am being serious, Ms. Potts," Natasha lays down her tools, swiveling in her chair to face her assistant. "You know I hate packing."
"You know I hate being late."
Natasha gestures, in what she thinks is a very generous way, towards the door, "By all means, don't let me keep you waiting."
"Ha ha. Very funny."
"I don't understand the attraction."
"The renovations on Stark Tower will be finished in a few months. We need to be there when it opens up to the public."
"Pep, no one's gunna want to live there. It became a shit investment the moment Iron Woman came into the picture."
Pepper rolls her eyes. "Come on, Rhodey's waiting. I'll get Happy to send some of your stuff over later, since you're so useless."
Natasha sighs and stands obligingly, grabbing a hand towel off her desk to wipe the grease from her hands. "Rhodey's coming?"
"He's going to ask you to introduce him to Mr. Rogers," Pepper answers flippantly as she ascends the stairs.
"JARVIS, lock up, will you?" Natasha jogs to catch up to Pepper. "You realize Fury's got the guy under complete lockdown, right? He's paranoid his new toy will have a mental breakdown if he's exposed to the outside for too long."
"Weren't you the one who recommended he take precautions with integrating the Captain into society?"
"I didn't mean he should lock the princess up in the tower and throw away the key. I think Fury gets a kinky kick outta keeping our Super Scout all to himself."
Natasha can feel Pepper rolling her eyes but she can only judge her by the back of her head. They take the elevator downstairs and meet up with Happy in the lobby.
"Ladies," he greets them with a smile and falls easily into step beside them.
Natasha peers around Pepper, grinning at Happy. "Hey, Happy, guess what?"
Happy blinks at her, smiling guilelessly. "What is it, Ms. Stark?"
Pepper cuts her off with a disapproving look. "Unless you want the Secret Service knocking on your front door, you'll stop right there."
"Secret Service?" Natasha scoffs. "I can handle them. Besides, I don't think even the Secret Service is in the know about this."
"No offense, Ms. Stark, but if it's that important, I don't think I really want to get involved," Happy says in his best placating tone.
Natasha gasps, shocked, "Happy! I didn't raise you to be a coward!"
He drops his gaze, flustered, and seems overwhelmingly relieved when they reach the car. He opens the back door for them, smiling uncomfortably. "Ladies."
"Thank you," Pepper touches his shoulder gratefully before she slips elegantly into the backseat of the limo.
Natasha glares at him. "You always take her side."
"Uh …"
"Ms. Stark, please get in the car."
Grumbling, Natasha does, Happy shutting the door behind her as soon as they're situated. Automatically, Natasha reaches for the bar and begins mixing herself a drink. Happy takes the driver's seat, rolling up the privacy window and Natasha frowns at her reflection on the dark glass for a second before turning to Pepper.
"Are we going to have a talk?"
Pepper arches a brow, smiling mysteriously while she types away single-handedly on her Stark tablet. "Are we?"
Natasha is bemused but sits back, sipping carefully at her Vodka and orange as the limo pulls out onto the road. "Hey, how come you and Rhodey can know about Star Spangled Man but Happy can't?"
"Because I wasn't there when you told Rhodey and I have no control over the information you wish to disclose with me." Pepper holds out the tablet to her, swapping Natasha's drink for a stylus. "Here. Sign this."
Natasha makes a face, taking the tablet to properly skim over the documents. Pepper takes a sip from Natasha's drink and watches. "This is so lame," Natasha grumbles.
"Well, they're not just going to allow you to tinker with the city's power supply without covering their bases. They want to make sure that whatever you do only affects Stark Tower and nothing else."
"Which is stupid. We're talking about a self-sustaining energy source for an entire city. Why would they turn that down?"
"They need to be sure it will work, obviously."
"Of course it'll work, Ms. Potts. I'm a genius!"
Pepper smiles indulgently. "Yes, I know, but it's a necessary precaution. If they make an exception for you, they'd have to make an exception for every other company promising a limitless green energy supply."
"That's stupid."
"Yes, Ms. Stark."
