DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Marvel.
"Avengers Assemble!" Steve said on the intercom of the facility, Natasha and Clint trailing behind as he walked to the gym. He had done three rounds around the Barton state and Natasha made sure Clint's emergency system worked perfectly before finally departing, leaving James sound asleep in a shared crib with Nate, Laura assuring them he would be safe (Clint and Natasha had taught her how to shoot perfectly, something she proved them the day prior).
Once they walked into the gym, Natasha and Clint had a hard time holding back the laugh that came from them. It was 4am after all, and it shouldn't surprise them to find the team standing in their pajamas, sleep marring their faces.
"An Avenger is always ready. And Sam for Pete's sake couldn't you put on some pants at least?" Steve glared at his friend, who stood in only a wife beater and his boxers, which prompted him to hide behind Maria, who looked perfectly put together in her black silk PJ's even though she just woke up. Natasha and Clint burst out in laughter right then.
"Okay, guys, go upstairs and get changed into workout gear, I don't think I need to see Sam's junk any longer" Natasha said, rolling her eyes at Sam undignified groan, "Meet us at CR2" she said dragging the other two men with her.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was seated in the conference room Natasha had chosen.
"Hill, what have you found?" Steve asked as he sat across from her on the table, eyes set on the files appearing on the touch table.
"FRIDAY got into New York's surveillance cameras and was able to track down the truck. It used to be a SHIELD issued one; it had been assigned to Rollins before the fall."
"Should we assume he's alive too?"
"Negative. I snapped that bastard's neck." Natasha stated proudly, rolling her eyes at Steve's pointed glare "What? You know that's my thing."
Hill ignored them and added another file to the table "Rollins is indeed, dead. The truck was abandoned in a ditch near just outside New York. We found traces of gunpowder and a few sets of prints, but none of them matched Rumlow's."
"He was wearing heavy tactical gear; he would not leave any trace behind." Wanda said, eyeing the evidence.
"Anything else?" Steve asked, closing the files and eyeing Maria again.
"Not really, whoever he's working with is very good at cleaning his tracks."
He sighed, his eyes setting on Natasha's form as she studied the files, frown deep in her face.
"So how do we track them?"
"We don't. We let them come to us." Sam said from his spot next to Maria, something that had caught Nat and Clint's attention when they first walked in but choose to ignore, at least for now.
"How?" Rhodey asked, lifting his head from the table to look at him.
"Steve and Natasha need to go back to the suburbs. Act like nothing happened. Find out how exactly they got to you."
"We are not bringing James into this. He's safer away from here." Natasha snapped right away, scowling at Sam, who managed to ignore her intense glare.
"You are not. I'm sure Wanda and Vision can get a few of those creepy realistic looking dolls to match James, and then add his voice via tape or something. Cover him up really good and just act it up."
"Actually, that makes sense. Someone spied on you and whoever it was, it's over there" Clint stated, stretching on his chair. He saw Natasha's eyes shine with mischief and he knew right away she was onto something.
"Yeah that's true… And I think I know who it was… Let's do this."
-00-
Steve, Natasha and one of the four different James' dolls returned to the suburbs with Wanda, Pietro, Vision and Clint in tow, who was driving a beat up truck that hauled a platform with an imported race car that Steve wasn't sure how he got, but Nat assured him it would be useful if they had to run. He wasn't sure about that, but he knew his Stark-issued Audi would be parked on the driveway from now on.
Clint would take on the role of Natalie's big brother, Conrad. His story was simple; his wife got angry and kicked him out when he decided to get back to work after having surgery not long ago. He was a high performance mechanic and would be crashing with them while he fixed his problems.
Natasha had jumped out of the car and pulled the fake baby out with her, hugging it to her chest and trailing behind Vision as he scanned the house and declared it safe. While Wanda trailed behind with Pietro to help Clint with his bags, that actually contained the other dolls.
"Steven! Hi!" Holly approached the men unloading the sports car, fake smile and overwhelming perfume that had Clint rolling his eyes.
"Holly. How are you?" Steve greeted, moving away from the platform to look at her, and doing the best he could to stop his grimace.
"Great… Don't tell me you are moving out already?"
"Oh no, we are not. This is Conrad, Natalie's older brother. He'll be staying with us for a while"
Clint could tell something was off about the woman as soon as she turned to him, her eyes widening slightly at the mention of him staying. Uh.
"That's nice; it's rare to see siblings so close. I thought you had a family" she smiled at him "Natalie mentioned something about it some time ago"
"I do, but the wife is kinda mad at me and I'll let her cool off for a while. Besides, I don't get to see my siblings that much, y'know with Natalie living in Europe for so long and the twins being here… Speaking of twins, I'll go make sure they aren't going through my stuff"
Steve saw as Clint grabbed a few other bags from his truck, his weapons probably, before turning to Holly again "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yes, we are doing family day this weekend, and I wanted to invite you. Bring all your family it will be fun"
His instinct told him to say no, but he knew that whoever gave their location to Rumlow was in the neighborhood, and with Clint around, they would probably find them.
"Uh, sure. We'll arrange someone to babysit Clinton during the week, thanks"
"Oh don't worry the little one can come along, it's always a pleasure to have him around"
Steve wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling that party would end in chaos.
-00-
"FRIDAY, lock this place up and turn up the privacy" Clint stated as he walked into the house "Do let Captain Rogers in when he returns"
"What got your panties in a twist?" Pietro asked from his position, slumped in one of the couches with his feet propped on the coffee table as Wanda and Vision tried to prepare something on the kitchen.
"Punk, you still haven't learn some manners… Anyways, where's Natasha?"
"On her room, she's talking to Laura" Wanda replied without turning to him "I can sense your distress, found something interesting?"
He was about to answer when Steve walked into the house, eyes searching for Natasha.
"She's upstairs" Pietro filled in rolling his eyes.
"She's downstairs. Laura called and apparently James doesn't miss us. At least not that much. What did Holly want?" Natasha said as she stepped into the living room, nudging Pietro's legs off the coffee table to sit next to him.
"Family day this weekend. And we are all invited apparently. I said we would go as soon as we could arrange someone to babysit Clinton" Steve explained as he moved to sit across Natasha and Pietro.
"Let me guess, she said Clinton could be there too?" at Steve's nod, Clint turned to Natasha with a wide grin "So… I think the spy is your super friendly neighbor Holly"
"Tell me something I don't know already" Natasha rolled her eyes "She's been trying to get closer to us since we got here. At one point she even tried to set up her son with Wanda"
"Wait what? How come I'm hearing of this right now?" Wanda's eyes widened as she turned to the group from her spot on the kitchen, twisting a pillow and smacking Pietro with it when he laughed.
"It's irrelevant; I told her you already had a boyfriend, one you lived with none the less. But yes, Holly and her husband have been trying to get close to us from day one. Good thing James never liked her so she never got to hold him"
"So what's the plan?" Pietro turned to Steve smirking "Stars and Spangled Man with a Plan, yes? That's what Stark said"
"I'm killing Tony" he muttered under his breath before clearing his throat "I think Natasha and Clint should lead us here. They are our spies; they know this kind of ops better than me"
The duo nodded before Clint moved close to Nat "FRIDAY, privacy still on?"
"Yes, sir"
"Please make a transcript and send it to Hill and Tony. Backup is always useful" he eyed Nat "What do we do?"
"I'm sure not everyone in that party works for Rumlow, so we need to decipher who's our threat and who isn't" Natasha's eyes scanned the group "We need to take out as many agents as we can"
"I can do that. I can read people's minds after all" Wanda stated, walking into the living room with Vision in tow.
"Good. Figuring that out will give us the chance to calculate our moves. Once they realize we don't have James with us they will probably send someone to raid the house" Clint continued, grabbing a StarkPad and requesting the house plans "Vision?" he questioned looking at Natasha.
"No. It would be odd for Wanda to show up without her boyfriend. Have Rhodey and Falcon cover the house and take them out. Tony put enough ammo on Rhodey's suit to kill them all and then some" Natasha frowned "Steve and Clint, we need to find a way for you to access your weapons that doesn't mean attaching it to your back"
"Stark's Sentry suit could drop them for us. It's up there and FRIDAY controls it. It could work" he shrugged "Is Tony joining us?"
"I doubt it; Pepper dragged him to Milan for some Stark Industries event last night. That's why we got the sentry suit. But I wouldn't be surprised if he turns up" Clint stated, stretching on the couch "Sounds like we have a plan"
"And what about the agents Hill will probably send out?" Pietro asked.
"They can handle those that try to escape. Now let's move! I need to figure out how to hide my weapons in civilian clothes"
"Does your cat suit really hide that many?" Pietro wondered, nearly jumping out of the couch when Nat shot him Taser lines, smirking.
"Wanna find out?"
AN: I am so sorry for getting behind on this! This chapter has been ready since forever but my internet has been crap and I've been so busy I didn't have time to visit my aunt until now… Anyways… This story has like two or three chapters left and a epilogue so there's that.
Also… Who saw Civil War? I did a couple of weeks ago and HOLY CRAP IT WAS AMAZING! I don't wanna spoil anything in case some of you haven't seen it but damn… I'm excited for SM and BP movies! Also… I did choose my side: #TeamIronMan and I stand by it even now (Don't judge me!) but I still love all my Avengers because they are my little box of cinnamon rolls and I'm done rambling.
Don't forget to R/R and thank you all so much for sticking around!-OHP