Chapter 11: Speculations and Reputations

It had been two weeks since they moved into Maria's house. The media was still going crazy about Natasha's whereabouts, but so far they hadn't found her. None of the other Avengers have been able to visit. Since the news broke out that Tasha was out of action, all the Avengers had been followed everywhere they go. Having to go about their normal life thinking nothing was wrong at all.

Tony was sat on the couch with his head between his knees. Pepper came in the room to see this and was confused…Until she looked at the TV. 'Tony Stark another member of the Avengers and wealthy business man, has not been seen out lately. Everyone is questioning if he's injured too or if he's gone undercover, leaving his other superhero pals to fend for themselves.' Pepper sat next to him. "This is getting insane" She said putting her hand on Tony's back. Tony didn't say anything. He was nervous and didn't know what to do. Cloud came and brushed up against Tony's leg and made him jump. "It's a cat Tony…" Pepper sighed and picked up the cat. Cloud was the only one who was actually stress-free in this house...

"I just can't stand hearing all these news stories where people are just speculating and not actually thinking of the safety of Natasha and the rest of us" Pepper turned the TV off.

"Problem solved" She smiled at him. "Like you said. No one is going to find us, we are safe"

"The sooner we get Natasha back to her normal self the better." Tony got up and ran to the basement where he was currently working on his helmet. All the things the news were saying was encouraging him to do more work…

Natasha had been feeling cheerful over the last couple of days. She had another session with Mr Doyle that went exceptionally well. She knew her progress had been great, but she still felt trapped. Even Tony was starting to go crazy. No one was acting like their usual selves. Tony was an Insomniac, Pepper was Paranoid and Maria just wanted to be supportive…

She was sat on the bed watching some bizarre TV show that Tony had put on for her. Cloud was sat in her lap curled up asleep. He really helped Natasha to not feel so lonesome. She thought back to when she found him.

He was a stray that had been wondering the streets for a couple of weeks. She started to feed him just a small amount of food every day and in the end Natasha got attached to him so she kept him. Her current situation made her feel thankful that she kept that little stray.

Tony seemed to have calmed down a bit. But he still feared the worst. A ringing noise made Tony jump. He then saw Maria answer her phone and overheard her conversation. "Yes sir. I will get him for you now" Maria came over to Tony "Fury wants to talk to you." Was all she said before handing him the phone.

"Stark. When you said you were going M.I.A I didn't think you meant falling off the face of the earth."

"Hey, I've already fallen off the face of the earth and trust me, it wasn't fun."

Fury sighed down the phone. "Tony, I'm serious. People are going crazy, you need to make some sort of statement or just let the public see that you are okay."

"But if I do that, then I may be pressured into answering questions about Natasha that I cannot answer honestly enough for the public to like."

"Look, I'm going to tell you something that I shouldn't be telling you." Tony sat back and breathed heavily down the phone. "We have had threats of people trying to come after Natasha. They don't know where she is at the moment but eventually people are going to figure this out. You need to get out there with the rest of Avengers currently available and fight! If you don't, it's going to have serious consequences not just for Natasha, but for all of you. So get out there and protect the people you care about!"

Before Tony could have a word in, Fury ended the call. Maria was stood there leaning on the wall with a cup of coffee. "Geez" She said. "That sounded harsh…"

"Maria, I'm going to need your full support on this, no questions asked." Maria put her coffee down and stood eye to eye with Tony.

"Whatever you need Tony"

"I'm going to make a press statement about what is going on. Not giving many details on Natasha's current situation but…" Tony stopped.

"What is it Tony?"

"I want you to be my back up, at the press statement. If people ask questions I can't answer, I need you to help me with the statement, answer questions whatever I need you to do." Maria nodded being fully supportive of Tony's decision.

"I'd be honoured, especially to help the people I care about" Maria put her hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Well let's get this press statement started. I need people to know about it. Where it is going to be held, who needs to be there and possible questions people might ask"

"Ok! Let's get this going!"

"I don't know how he does that…" Maria smirked.

"What, Fury?"

"Yeah."

"He's one big softie really, just like you. All the tough guys are. They just try and hide their emotions but we all know they are there" Maria picked up her coffee and exited to the kitchen.

It was 7:49PM Tony and Maria were working on his statement and Pepper was trying to help as much as possible not sure if it was the right idea. "Are you sure Tony?" She said looking concerned.

"I have to do this Pepper. Everything will be fine, like you told me earlier today."

"Yeah but I meant in the far future not! This may be a bit drastic…"

"If I leave it then everything is going to get worse. Someone might think I'm dead! There has been threats targeted towards Natasha. We need to deal with them"

Pepper nodded but frowned. "Do what you have to do."