A/N: Few, finally got an update done. Sorry it took a couple of days, guys. :D Work has really been kicking my butt lately. I'm doing a lot of job interviewing for a couple of positions in the lab, so it's very time and brain consuming. .

Anyways, got this chapter done and I hope you'll like it. At first I wasn't enjoying writing this chapter, but then things kind of fell into place and I ended up not minding it. This story is all about keeping multiple balls up in the air and finding enough time to catch them all before you guys lose interest and then throw them up again. LOL If it all works out that will be great, if not, I'm going to be stuck with a lot of balls... not as much fun as it sounds. ;)

Okay, let's get stuck into it and see what you make of it all, eh? :D

Chapter Fourteen

"Any questions?"

Natasha looked up at Director Fury's curt question and then went back to studying the information on her panel. "This is definitely the man we're looking for?" The picture of the albino black man stared back at her with his very pale blue eyes.

"From the description Captain America gave us, this is our most likely candidate," Fury confirmed. "Noble Maniatis had graduated college by the time he was fifteen with several degrees under his belt, all of them in sciences that would have given him the groundwork to start inventing something like those praying mantis creatures. He became obsessed with nanotechnology. He was brilliant, but the companies who employed him found him unreliable and erratic and he was fired from every job he ever had."

Clint shifted in his chair next to her. "His last job was with Hammer Industries," he noted. Clint looked up at the older man. "Did you hear that Justin Hammer wanted in on the Avenger's initiative?"

"The man's a madman," said Natasha flatly. "He's clearly delusional."

"Yes, I heard," said Fury evenly, "and before you ask, no, I'm not a big believer in coincidences. Our information tells us that Hammer Industries fired Maniatis over a year ago, but I'd like a little digging to be done and see if that is true or not."

"I'm on it," said Natasha confidently. This was what she knew how to do, it was what she was trained for.

"You can't go in undercover," Fury cautioned her. "You're too high profile now for that kind of work, both of you are. Your faces have been on every TV screen in the world after Loki's attacks. There are very few people who wouldn't recognise you nowadays, Romanoff. You have to go in head on with this one."

Natasha didn't bat an eyelid. "That won't be a problem, sir."

"I've got a meeting with the rest of the Avengers in an hour to bring them up to speed," said Fury. "I want as much information as you can on this possible connection by tomorrow morning."

Clint gave a slight nod. "Sir."

Natasha followed suit. "Sir."

"Don't disappoint me, Agents, we need to get on top of this situation as fast as we can," said Fury gruffly. "I don't like us being in the dark this way." With that, Fury turned on his heel and marched off.

Natasha immediately stood up from where she was sitting at the conference table and hurried to the changing rooms on the floor below, not bothering with goodbyes to Clint. She had a job to do and she was going to do it. Natasha emerged minutes later dressed in street clothes and ready to take a shuttle, head to the city below and seek out the New York headquarters of Hammer Industries. She frowned as Clint walked out of the changing rooms buttoning up his white shirt. "What are you doing?"

Clint stopped in mid-button and looked down at his hands. "Mastering the ancient Japanese art of origami." He finished doing up the buttons and walked up to her. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Natasha's jaw hardened. "You're not coming with me."

"I don't need your permission," he pointed out mildly.

Natasha squared off against him. "What is this?"

Clint arched an eyebrow. "This, Agent Romanoff, this is a conversation."

"Why are you suddenly so concerned with my welfare?" she bit out. "First at the Carousel and now wanting to trail after me on this assignment. What are you doing, Barton?" Natasha wasn't used to having people express concern about her. It was unnerving and she didn't like to be unnerved. The Black Widow did what she did and did it so well because she'd found a way to shut down the emotional side of her. People coming in and wanting to mess with the equilibrium she'd established made Natasha very unhappy. She didn't want Clint's concern because then there would be an expectation of an emotional response from her, and Natasha wasn't going to comprise her usefulness as an agent for that.

Clint gave her a considered look. "Firstly, I don't think it's too out there to ask a colleague if they're okay when they've got a nuclear explosive in their face and a six hundred pound green giant on their back." Natasha opened her mouth to tell him it had been more than that but Clint didn't give her a chance, continuing on. "And, secondly, Romanoff, Director Fury gave us both the job of finding out about any possible contention between Hammer and Maniatis. So, I'm coming with you."

"There is never going to be anything between us," she said abruptly. "If that is where you think this overly emotional, in your face stuff, is going to lead."

"I'm proposing we do the job we were ordered to do by our superior, not marriage," said Clint dryly. "And I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but we've already got something between us, history."

Natasha didn't want to hear that.

"And it's the one thing all the other Avenger's don't have." Clint shrugged. "We may not have super powers or suits of iron, but we have that."

"And what good is history meant to do us?" asked Natasha tightly.

"I have an arrow in my quiver that makes people vomit," said Clint conversationally.

Natasha looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"It releases a nerve gas which initiates a vomit reflex. I have no idea when that is going to come in handy, but it just makes me feel better knowing I've got it in my box of tricks. You never know when you might need something." Clint fixed her with a calm look. "The same goes for our history."

Natasha wasn't completely convinced this was all about the job. Sometimes she'd catch Clint looking at her when he thought she wasn't looking and it made her uneasy. Clint knew too much about her background for her liking and the last thing Natasha wanted was emotional ties to someone with that kind of power over her, no matter how blue his eyes were. "I work alone," she said coldly.

"Correction," he advised her, "you used to work alone, now you've got a partner."

Clint's words struck terror into her heart even though she made sure not to show it. "I don't want a partner."

"You're the super spy, famous for being able to adapt to any situation at a moment's notice," said Clint blithely as he walked by her, shrugging on his jacket. "So adapt."

Natasha stared after him in frustration, not liking this turn of events one bit.

oooOOOOooo

Tony walked towards Pepper's office in the Avenger's Tower, his ears pricking up as he heard her give a little peal of laughter. He quickened his step, eager to see what was making her sound so happy. Lewis and Cody were standing outside the door to her office and both men gave a slight inclination of their head in acknowledgement of his presence. Tony stuck his head through the door without knocking and smiled to see who it was. He stepped through the doorway. "Agent Coulson," he said happily, "to what do we owe the pleasure?"

Phil Coulson turned a little stiffly in the chair he was sitting in and smiled his familiar lopsided smile up at Tony. "I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd drop in to say hi."

Tony walked up and shook Agent Coulson's hand, remembering the sense of overwhelming relief he'd experienced when Nick Fury had finally revealed that the other man's wound hadn't been mortal as they'd been told. Tony had a grudging respect for Fury for finding the one thing which could unify a group of reluctant individuals into a team, even if it was short term. Agent Coulson's wide-eyed belief in the Avenger's initiative and his willingness to die for it had galvanised them into a formidable force which ultimately had triumphed against Loki's invasion plans. It was only after the war had well and truly been won that Director Fury let everyone know that the agent hadn't been killed but instead was in a very serious but stable condition in hospital. Tony had never thought of himself as a sentimental man but he'd have been lying if he'd said he didn't get just a little misty eyed at that news. Over the years Agent Coulson's calm presence had become a welcome one in their lives and he was happy that the other man was still around.

"Phil was just telling me about a funny story in one of his rehabilitation sessions," Pepper told Tony, still smiling.

"So we're still on the Phil thing, huh?" asked Tony, feigning mild disapproval.

"It's my name," Agent Coulson reminded him placidly.

"But we were all so happy with Agent Coulson," Tony protested. "Why change something that isn't broken?"

Agent Coulson kept a straight face. "Funny thing for a futurist to say. I thought you were all about change for change sake."

Tony's lips quirked, appreciating his point. "How are you feeling?"

Agent Coulson gave a little smile. "Like I got shot in the chest and lived to tell about it."

"And have the scars to prove it." Tony winked at the other man. "Don't sweat it though, chicks dig men with open chest wounds, take it from me." He looked over at Pepper. "And you, you stay away from him. I know you've got a big old thing for men with holes in their chests."

"You'll have to forgive Tony, Phil," said Pepper casually, ignoring him and talking straight to Agent Coulson, "he's gone insane since we last spoke."

Agent Coulson looked thoughtful. "How can you tell?"

"Every time he says something crazy, his lips move," said Pepper teasingly.

"Thanks for the heads up."

Tony pouted. "Are you two done mocking me?"

Pepper laughed. "Hardly."

Tony fixed Agent Coulson with a mock glare. "I blame you for this, you're encouraging her."

"I don't need any encouragement," said Pepper cheekily. She looked over at Agent Coulson. "Phil and I are going to have an early lunch and catch up."

"I'll come too," said Tony quickly.

"You can't," said Pepper simply. "Remember, you told me Director Fury is going to be stopping by soon to let you know how things are going looking for that albino guy, the one Steve thinks was behind the attack on New York." She gave him a pointed look. "You have to be there, you told him you would be."

Tony grimaced. "But that sounds boring."

"Life is full of boring things," said Agent Coulson philosophically.

"My life isn't," Tony protested. "My life is made of awesome which is periodically interrupted with bouts of amazing."

"That was a level of self-awareness I wasn't expecting from him," Agent Coulson remarked to Pepper.

"He has his moments of it," said Pepper in amusement, "but they're usually fleeting."

"You two can still see me, right?" Tony demanded to know. "I've not suddenly developed the ability to become invisible? It's just that you're talking about me as though I'm not here, so I thought I'd better check."

Pepper stood up from behind her desk and walked around to press a kiss to his cheek. "We see you, Tony, we hear you, and now we're leaving you." She breezed on by him and smiled at Agent Coulson as he carefully stood up. "What do you feel like for lunch, Phil?"

"Anything that doesn't come on a hospital tray," he replied.

Pepper smiled and gave a little laugh. "I think we can manage that." She took his arm and helped to steady him and nodded at Tony as they walked by him. "And don't be late for your meeting, Tony."

"When am I ever late for a meeting?" Tony protested.

"You weren't kidding about the self-awareness being fleeting," Agent Coulson commented to Pepper. "I guess we're back into more familiar territory with the self-delusion."

"I'm letting you have lunch with my girl, Coulson," said Tony with mock annoyance, "don't push the friendship." He looked at Pepper. "And don't forget to take the MMMBop boys with you."

Agent Coulson looked confused. "Excuse me?"

"Pepper's security detail, all their last names start with M, there are three of them, so I call them MMMBop," said Tony, proud of himself for finding a moniker for them. "It's funny."

Pepper and Agent Coulson just stared at him.

"You try coming up with something related to three M's," said Tony defensively. "The only other thing I could find was an Australian alternative radio station called Triple M, which would have been perfect, but it's a bit obscure for my essentially American audience."

Agent Coulson looked like he was trying not to smile. "You think?"

"You googled things with three M's in them just to come up with some kind of dismissive name for my security detail?" Pepper asked in disbelief.

"No," said Tony, "because that would be weird." He paused and looked at her expression carefully. "Would that be weird?" Pepper arched an eyebrow at him. "Okay," Tony continued on hastily, "yes, that would be weird, obviously." It seemed perfectly normal to Tony, but it seemed he was in the minority with that one. "And MMMBop is funny," he insisted."

Agent Coulson appeared to disagree. "In my experience, if something is funny, Mr. Stark, you generally don't have to tell people."

"What do you know about funny?" asked Tony indignantly. "You're a SHIELD agent, don't you have your sense of humour surgically removed before they give you the badge and the eight dollar haircut?"

Agent Coulson didn't miss a beat. "They do, but I asked for it back when I heard I'd be working your detail, Mr. Stark, and the haircut cost twelve dollars."

Tony suppressed a smile and tried to look stern. "All this insolence is starting to make me reconsider how I feel about you not being dead after all, Agent Coulson."

"Ignore him," Pepper advised the other man. "Tony is as thrilled as I am that you're going to be alright, Phil. When will you be back at work?"

Tony looked him over in surprise, taking in the fact Agent Coulson was wearing his usual black suit and tie. "If you're not back at work, why are you wearing the suit? Don't you have casual clothes?"

"This is my casual suit," Agent Coulson explained.

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" asked a mystified Tony.

"Phil can wear what he likes and I think he looks very smart," said Pepper. "Come on, I'm starving, let's do lunch." She looked over at Tony. "Have fun at your meeting."

"I won't," Tony confidently predicted, "and you two, have a mediocre time."

Pepper patted his chest affectionately as they walked by. "You complete me," she said wryly.

"Yes, I do," said Tony, watching as they left, "and don't you forget that, Agent Coulson."

He watched them leave, more determined than ever to prove he was reliable to Pepper after that conversation. All Tony had to do was figure out was how to do just that.

A/N: Okay, so like many of you, I felt a great travesty had been done by killing Agent Coulson. Whilst I get the artistic and crucial storytelling point that was being made, I just don't want my little cutie pie dead, damn it! And thanks to the wonders of fan fic, he isn't. ;) So, Agent Coulson is back and being as cute as ever.

I'm really interested to see what you made of that chapter, guys, especially the Black Widow/Hawkeye stuff. I'm still fleshing out their relationship, but I kind of like the idea of this closed off woman meeting someone who is just as cagey, but maybe looks at things a little differently. It should be fun. ;)