They all agreed – some more begrudgingly than others – that it would be a good idea for Tessa to see what she could find out from Cal before getting in any deeper with Lobe. The ingenious businessman, as he had referred to himself, had invited Tessa to come out to his temporary facility outside of Albany. But try as they might, none of them could find anything about this mysterious site. And – "You're not going out to some off-the-radar science lab on your own. Not with the current lack of intel we have." – Steve was the one giving the orders.
Well, if intel is what he wants...
"I'm telling you," she says, as Natasha hooks up the not-even-remotely-noticeable bug in the hem of her sweater, "He's not going to help."
Steve looms in the foreground, arms folded across his chest. "He doesn't have to help. Just get him talking and we can sift through all of it later."
"It's looking like this might be more than we thought," Clint mumbles from his position at the conference table. He's busy looking through all of the virtual files that he and Nat had spent the last few days compiling. Swiping through another page on the holoscreen in front of him, he says simply, "Since all of the Terrigenesis stuff started, people have been paying more and more attention to… super people." He glances up to raise a single eyebrow at Tessa. "Depending on what his end game is, this Lobe guy could be the next big bad."
"Then by all means, let's go waste some time grabbing coffee with some crony instead of figuring out what the big bad is up to," she snarks with a pout.
Natasha triggers the bug to make sure everything is set up and pats Tessa on the shoulder. "You're good," she tells her. "Just don't conveniently spill a drink on it when you two start in about the past." She shoots her a playful, crooked smile before turning to gather her things.
"Alright," Steve starts, manner and voice all business. "I'll be in the back of the café." He moves over to Tessa and gently reaches out to grab her shoulders. "I know this should go without saying, but do not leave my sight."
She rolls her eyes. "You really think I'd take off with him?"
"I might," Nat mutters from across the room.
"That," Steve intones, pointing at Natasha, "is why you three are all off comms."
Clint rises and shuts down the computer in front of him. "See? Once again, your sexual appetite has us sidelined."
Natasha cocks a brow in his direction. "My sexual appetite has gotten us out of more jams than it's ever gotten us into."
Steve visibly winces. "Enough. Come on, guys. Can we just… not?"
Natasha shrugs and shoves some equipment into Bucky's hands. He almost drops it and has to regain his balance as she piles more crap into his arms. "Make yourself useful, Sargent," she tells him. "You can't just stand there brooding in silence all day."
"I don't know," Clint says as he takes some of the load off Bucky. "If anybody can do it, he can." He gives the silent, gloomy looking man a wink and heads for the door.
000
It makes perfect sense, of course, that the three of them would be sequestered in a van down the block. Well, maybe it doesn't really makes sense why all three of them would be… Natasha was the only one actually needed in here working the recording equipment. But Clint wasn't about to sit any part of this out. And Bucky was obviously not going to let Tessa go out there without being close by. Even if no one really believed that she was in any danger.
After all, this was just a simple, casual meetup with a potentially knowledgeable contact who might be able to supply some intel on what now seemed to be an ongoing op. Fine. No big deal. His lab rat girl was just now invariably working out in the field. He could handle that.
Well, he'd be able to handle it a lot better if he had her in his sights. And if he had a weapon, some sort of recourse, in case something did go wrong. But no sniper should be needed today – especially not one who admittedly kind of wants to blow off the head of the guy she's meeting with.
"How you holding up, Barnes?" Clint asks as he bumps Bucky's shoulder with his.
He sighs, long and loud. "I'm not used to being non-essential."
"Yeah, well… Think of this," he says, sweeping his hand across the tight space of the cargo van, "as a chance to play stakeout. It's like we're the FBI!"
"Hunting down mob bosses?" Natasha supplies as she hands each of them an earpiece. There won't be any comms going, so they can't talk to Tessa. And they'll only be in contact with Steve if something goes wrong. But thanks to the high-tech bug in Tessa's sweater, they'll be able to hear everything going on at the café down the block.
"Exactly." His smile fades a bit when he looks back over at Bucky and notices the concerned look on his face. "Did you two get a chance to talk?" he asks him in a low tone. Natasha would be able to hear, of course, there's barely a foot of space between them. But his voice makes it clear that this talk is between just the two of them.
He nods. "Yeah. We're good."
"Cause, you know, the other day… we were just joking around. I mean… I was there at the tail end of their thing. It wasn't anything like what you and Doc have."
The sincerity in his voice, makes the corners of Bucky's lips quirk up into a small smile. "I know," he says. Then, his face transforming into a confused sort of pout. "I forgot you said that you met him. That was when you first met Tessa, right?"
Clint settles back into the cushioned bench that runs the length of the van. "Yep. Minsk."
"Funny, isn't it? How we mark moments in our lives by either the name of the op or the location of the mission," Natasha utters, without turning around. She continues to busy herself with the recording equipment, doing one final test to make sure everything is working as it should.
Clint lets out just the shortest of chuckles. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"So what happened there?" Bucky asks, genuine interest perking his voice.
Clint gives him a suspicious look. "She never told you?"
He shakes his head. "In case you haven't noticed, Tessa's not great about sharing things from her past."
Natasha finally turns and joins the men in the rear of the van, all equipment up and running. "Did you know she graduated from med school when she was 23?" she asks incredulously. "I only found that out last year."
"How'd she manage that?" Clint asks, taken aback.
She merely shrugs. "That, she did not share."
He pulls in a deep breath and drops his raised brows. "Well… the thing in Minsk was kind of a shit show."
"You were sent by Fury, right?"
He nods. "Genetech had a facility on Long Island that was shut down back in the 1980s. SHIELD found out about some nanocontagion they'd let loose, and they moved in and took out the whole operation. Or so they thought," he says with a glint. "Fury heard rumblings about the company starting up again in Eastern Europe, so he sent a couple of us to go check it out."
"Who'd you go with?" she asks.
He shrugs. "McAllen."
"Ugh," she responds, obviously sharing his less-then-enthused view of whoever Agent McAllen is.
"So Genetech was what?" Bucky inquires. "Some kind of medical lab?"
"Hardly," Natasha answers. "They were a powerful med firm, specializing in genetic research. They were started by a guy who designed bio-weapons with Howard Stark."
"Can't say they were always exactly reputable," Clint intones. "But they did manage to get a big following in the scientific community. No surprise, really, that some new facility popped up even after the company was supposedly shut down."
"And no surprise that someone like Tessa would want to work there," Natasha says simply.
"True," Clint declares. "But, she knew something was up. And she was the only one there willing to help me figure out what it was."
"What was it?" Bucky asks.
"Long story short? They were engineering a gene that would mutate when exposed to radioactive energy." He frowns briefly. "I'm still not really sure about the science of it, but the theory was that, if they could introduce it into a human host, and then expose the host to radioactive material, they could create a… super person."
Bucky grimaces. "A super soldier?"
He cocks his head as if to say, maybe. "The higherups didn't really share their plans with Doc… and she was the only one who shared anything with me."
"So wait," Natasha interrupts, suddenly onto something. "The radioactive genes, or whatever they were… the samples that Tessa accused Calvin of stealing – "
"One and the same." He clears his throat before going on. "I shared some confidential intel with Doc about what Genetech had been up to all those years ago. And she agreed to hand over some files on the work they'd been doing. But before she could get them all copied, the facility went on lockdown – with us trapped in it – because samples of the nearly perfected genes had been stolen. She knew right away who did it. Went on a little tirade in the office while alarms were going off around us. I just wanted to get the hell out of there, and she's mumbling and yelling about how that son of a bitch had sworn he was there for her and not some damn job." He smiles and shakes his head. "Whew, she was pissed."
"How did you get out?" Natasha asks. Her chin rests on her fist as she watches the man, clearly enthralled by his story.
"Right, well. First we got caught. Armed guards rushed the office, saw we were stealing files. Chaos ensues… yada yada yada," he says, waving his hand in a glib gesture. "I got shot. Doc let loose."
Bucky frowns. "She used her powers?"
"Yep. Smoked 'em. All eight of them. They just… dropped." He takes in a deep breath. "She got us out of there and we holed up in this old factory outside of town while she fixed me up." He turns to Bucky and says, utter sincerity lacing his words, "That was about two weeks before my daughter was born. If not for Doc, I never would have gotten to know my little girl. Never would've even made Nathaniel." With a small smile, he tells him, "I'm never gonna be able to repay her for that."
Natasha scoffs. "Sounds like you never would've been in that position if it hadn't been for that asshole Calvin."
"Oh ho," Clint says, raising a brow, "So now you agree he's an asshole? Is your crush fading?"
She shrugs. "He's still hot as hell. But it sounds like he almost got two of my best friends killed. So if I meet him, I might just have to end him."
Bucky looks to Clint, curiosity lacing his features. "You said you met him?"
"Ah, yeah," he breathes out. "During my first meeting with Doc… I showed up a little early at this bar and saw them together. He was laughing and whispering in her ear and shit. And she was looking not amused. I stopped him on his way out of the bar… asked if he was an American… you know, play the whole what a small world card. He told me he was in Minsk on business, but would only be in town a few more days. I asked about the woman he was with at the bar, if she was his girlfriend… small talk," he says with a wink. "The guy just laughs and says when I want her to be. Prick. Then he lights up a cigarette, shakes my hand, and disappears into the night."
"And no one ever caught him? After stealing the samples?" Natasha asks.
"Nah. Doc said he was sort of a mercenary… doing whatever needed to be done for whoever was the highest bidder. So it was no surprise he managed to disappear. That guy in Africa, the one that Ultron got the vibranium from? Saw Calvin with him in some photos taken about ten years back. That's the kind of guy he is. Anyway, it was just a few months after Minsk that he got made by MI-6… doing some kind of dirty deal. But then he conveniently got blown up in a car bomb before they could nail him."
Bucky lets out an irritated huff from his corner of the van. "Nice," he says with a nod. "Good story. I feel much better about this guy now."
Clint laughs and slaps him on the shoulder. "The takeaway from all of this is that Doc's been done with that guy for years. And she knows who he really is. She's not gonna get sucked into his lies or manipulation."
"I never really expected her to," he mumbles.
Clint takes in the thoughtful expression on Bucky's face and adds, "She's grown up a lot since then. I, for one, think she's been making much better decisions."
The corner of Natasha's mouth quirks up. "Yeah, from asshole mercenary to brooding ex-assassin."
Clint tosses a reproachful look over his shoulder at her. "Even I think that was crass." He turns back to Bucky. "Sarge, after what she did for me, I'll have Doc's back for life. So if I thought she was wasting her time with someone who didn't deserve her, I'd chase him off in a heartbeat."
Bucky cocks his head at the man to his right. "You haven't been trying to chase me off these last couple years?" he asks with a smirk. "You're saying this is just how you are?"
Clint snorts. "Hilarious. See?" he says, turning to Natasha. "They're made for each other."
She throws up a silencing hand and presses the earpiece into her ear. "We're on," she says, tone suddenly all business. "The asshole is in the building."
