Thank you for continuing to read this story. At this point, we're over halfway through and it's time for certain characters to show up!
Friday, February 10th, 2012
Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Tony had to be honest; going through human resources training the day after having the sex talk with his boyfriend was not his idea of a good time. In fact, he would have laughed at the irony if he were not the one who created it in the first place. Granted, he forgot that he and Pepper had scheduled it for that day, but that did not matter. He only had himself to blame for that.
They had scheduled this training over a week ago. At the time, he was more concerned about giving Lara a refresher on how to treat people in emergencies. He did not think about what that would mean for him.
As to not single Lara out, it was mandatory for all upper management and their staff to go through this course, including him. Now, he was just wishing he had sent Lara to nursing school instead. It would have saved everyone a lot of agony. Not that there was no justification for doing the training anyway. After all, they just fired Freeman for slandering the company on national television. It made sense to do it now.
Before they could get into the real meat on why they were there, though, they had to go through the obligatory sexual harassment training. It felt unnecessary given that there were not any problems with sexual harassment in the upper levels of management at Stark Industries (Mostly because Pepper would not tolerate it, period.) but that was essentially HR's main job. So, they had to just let them do their thing and get over it.
That didn't stop Tony from letting it put a damper on his mood, though, since it was a little bit hard to fantasize about having sex with his handsome, muscular boyfriend when he had to be paying attention to a woman explaining how and when it was appropriate to touch a co-worker. (The answer was never.) It was truly a buzzkill. Tony spent most of the time the HR woman was talking playing around with the signal coding on his phone. He was surprised he got away with it if he did before Pepper swiped the phone out of his hand. Tony looked at her flatly.
"You know, as a superior, you shouldn't rip things out of a subordinate's hand," he said. "Some might categorize that as assault." Pepper did not look at him, mostly because if she did, she probably would not have been able to hold back from rolling her eyes.
"You of all people should be paying attention," she said. "After all, this was your idea."
"I gave you a choice between this and sending Lara to nursing school," Tony pointed out. "You're the one who wouldn't go with the easier choice." If Pepper was regretting that, she was not showing it.
"I don't think Lara would have gone for it either," she said.
"Who cares what Lara would have gone for?" Tony said. "It'd be far less excruciating than this."
"Relax," Pepper said. "It's not that bad." Tony scoffed at the notion.
"Please," he said. "I'd rather receive a nasal enema than have to sit through another minute…"
"Is there something you'd like to share with the group, Mr. Stark?" Tony looked up to see all his employees' gazes on him and the HR representative standing with her arms crossed and an expectant look on her face. Pepper had the decency to look embarrassed while Tony just smiled and waved them off.
"No ma'am," he said. "We're good."
The HR rep eyed him warily for a moment before continuing with her program. Once everyone turned their attentions back to the speaker, Pepper gave Tony a sharp look. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Can I have my phone back at least? I promise I won't use it."
"No," was Peppers firm response.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't trust that." Tony shrugged.
"Alright, fair enough," he relented. "But at least let me exit out of the thing I was doing properly."
"Why?" Pepper asked. "What is it?"
"I was trying to convert a frequency waves into a transmittable signal that my phone could put out." Pepper narrowed her eyes.
"Aren't that what phones do already?" Tony shook his head.
"What I'm trying to reach isn't another phone," he said.
"What is it?" Pepper asked.
"Not a phone." That was the best answer he could come up with, because God only knew what kind of high-tech communication devices Carol owned. It was probably only something he could create in his wildest dream's wildest dream.
Yes, Tony was just now getting to installing Carol's frequency on his phone. It had slipped his mind with everything that had happened, and he had only remembered that morning when he incidentally stumbled upon the stationary Carol had written it down on. Remembering what she said about not wanting to miss the party next time, he figured he should enter the frequency into JARVIS' database sooner rather than later.
He was just finishing that up when Pepper took the phone away. Honestly, he was not so much worried about losing work as much as he was of her accidentally hitting something and calling Carol. He had a feeling that calling an intergalactic warrior had similar consequences to if you called the fire department and there was no fire; the only difference being that a lot more pain was involved. However, Pepper did not let him explain that as she just went ahead and unlocked the phone.
"Okay," she said. "How do I exit out of this?"
"No, no, no," Tony said in quick succession. "Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"You unlocked my phone," he said as he caught a glance at the activated screen.
"Yeah," Pepper said. "What's wrong with that?"
"How do you know the pin? I never told you." Pepper raised an eyebrow.
"Using your boyfriend's birthday is a little obvious. Honestly, I expected better from you." Tony winced at his own stupidity.
"Alright, but can you just give it here and let me do it?" Tony asked. "I don't want you accidentally calling someone." Pepper only gave him a disbelieving look.
"Really?" she asked. "You think I'm that incompetent with tech?"
"I know you're not," Tony defended. "It's just that it's delicate."
"Delicate?" Pepper questioned. "It's a phone."
"It's not…" Tony sighed, not really having the patience to explain it right now. "Look, just give me the phone for two seconds. I promise I'll give it right back and I'll listen to the rest of this stupid… Oh."
"Oh, indeed, Mr. Stark." The HR rep looked unimpressed as she stood in front of him. "Now why do you keep feeling the need to keep interrupting my seminar?" Tony attempted to smile confidently, but that only served as another red flag to his guilt.
"You see," he said. "Miss Potts here took my phone and I was trying to get it back." Pepper flushed as soon as he threw her under the bus.
"Can I see the phone?" Pepper handed it over without a word. Tony would have been angry with her if his eyes were not solely focused on the device in question. He cringed as he watched the HR rep seemingly tap on the screen randomly; likely trying to find a way to exit out of the program and lock the phone. Tony tried to interject, but before he could, the HR rep had finally locked the phone. "There, now it's not a distraction anymore." She started to walk away, but Tony stood up.
"What did you hit?" The HR rep turned to look back at him.
"What does it matter?" she threw back.
"I was working on something kind of delicate," he explained. "If you could just tell me what you did…"
"I locked it," she said with the frustration that came with stating the obvious.
"No, I need to know exactly what you did because I don't know what could happen…"
At that precise moment, a sonic boom shook the entire building. Thinking fast, Tony pushed the woman in front of him to the ground with just seconds to spare before the glass pane that served as the room's fourth wall shattered into a million pieces. People screamed and scrambled for cover; seeking shelter from the flying splinters of glass as whatever it was that just struck the tower flew into the opposite wall, adding chunks of plaster and drywall to the mix.
Tony waited a full minute before he decided it was safe enough to risk getting up. As he sat up, the HR rep scrambled out from underneath him. Tony tried to catch her arm and ask if she was okay, but she brushed him off and started running for the exit as some of the other attendees to the seminar had started to do. Glancing down at the floor, Tony saw that the woman had dropped his cell phone, so he picked it up and pocketed it before scoping the room out.
Looking towards the front, Tony saw that Lara had gotten to her feet. She looked a little shaken, but no worse for wear. He gave her a concerned look and she nodded, mouthing that she was fine. Reassured, Tony turned to look behind him and saw Pepper kneeling on the ground, cradling her right cheek. He started to crawl towards her before he heard a heavy board hitting the ground on the opposite side of the room.
Unsurprisingly, it was Carol. She had managed to stop herself before she flew into the next wall, saving it from complete destruction. She cleared a bunch of debris out of the way and stepped through the hole she had created. Looking around, she blew a loose strand of hair out of her face and tucked it back behind her ear.
"Where's the emergency?" The room fell silent. The only sounds that could be heard was the occasional bit of debris hitting the floor. Tony put on his best placating smile as he stood up.
"Well, at least we know it works."
Nobody shared his enthusiasm.
Cabe and the rest of the building's security team arrived within minutes. Say what you wanted about them; they never wasted time fooling around. Both Tony and Carol were quick to assure that it was an accident, and no one was seriously injured. However, for obvious reasons, Cabe was not going to take that at face value. She ordered everyone who wasn't security or maintenance staff out of the room. Everyone who fell into that category quickly complied, recognizing the implicit threat that anyone who failed to do so would be sorry about it.
Almost as soon as Tony stepped out into the hallway, his phone started ringing. He answered it as quickly as possible and was relieved to find that it was just Rhodey. That was, until Rhodey explained that he was already in route to the Tower when he got a news alert that it had been struck by a missile. That made Tony's relief wain a bit.
Shit, it's already all over the news. That was not surprising given that it was New York and the last time a building in New York had been struck by a large, rapidly moving flying object, a national tragedy had occurred. Despite that, Tony could already feel the aggravation in his blood. Shit, I really fucked this up.
Tony tried to explain to Rhodey what had happened as best he could, but it was a little difficult given that he could not simplify the story down. He would have to extensively explain details like how a woman could fly and why he needed to program the phone with a special frequency. That would probably take more time than either of them had right then, so Tony gave him the very confusing short version and promised to explain in depth as soon as Rhodey arrived at the Tower.
Understandably, Rhodey seemed hesitant to accept that and asked Tony if he needed him to get there faster. Tony assured him once again that there was no danger and that no one was hurt (ignoring the minor cut Pepper had on her cheek.) Reluctantly, Rhodey conceded to Tony and hung up the call, but Tony would be damned if he did not end up arriving ahead of schedule.
Right as the call ended, Carol walked up to Tony with a none-too-pleased look on her face.
"You know," she said. "When I asked you to 'invite me to the party next time,' I meant a global catastrophe, not an actual party."
"This wasn't a party," Tony scoffed. "It was a group torture session."
"Seriously?" Carol said as she raised an eyebrow. Tony sighed.
"It was an accident," he explained. "I was plugging your frequency into my contacts so I could call you in the event of an actual global catastrophe and I ended up dialing you by mistake. I do not see what the big deal is, though. You obviously didn't have to travel far."
Tony gestured up and down to her outfit, which was a far cry from the stereotypical space suit. She was wearing a black tank-top, a light-blue short-sleeved mini-jacket, ripped jeans, and lace-up boots. Tony did not care how strong she was and neither did the laws of physics. No one would be able to survive the vacuum of space wearing that.
"I was in Louisiana visiting family," she admitted. "And you're damn lucky I was."
"Because it meant speedier response times?"
"Because I would've had to kick your ass if you pulled me away from a real emergency across the universe," Carol explained. "Believe it or not, there are a lot of those."
"Yet you still have time to visit family," Tony pointed out.
"You need to take time out for yourself," Carol said. "I learned that the hard way." Tony frowned, the few details he could remember of the story she told him coming to mind.
"Can't say I can fault you for that," he said.
"Neither can I," Carol agreed. "Just be more careful with your phone next time, will you?"
"I will," Tony promised. "You have my word." Carol smiled.
"Good."
"There is one thing I want to know though," he said.
"What is it?" Carol asked, looking puzzled.
"That day," Tony said. "That stuff with that girl, Jessica… Was that real or was I just tanked beyond all compare and just imaged it?" Lucky for him, Carol nodded.
"That was real." For a moment, Tony was relieved, but then he remembered what happened to her.
"Is she okay?" he asked. "Dr. Smith said she was recovering but I haven't heard anything since then."
"Jess is fine," Carol assured. "It only took a week for her to recover before she was as right as rain again and running off to go back under deep cover. I would've left after that, but then I found out my niece had leave this week, so I decided to take the opportunity to spend time with her." Tony nodded understandingly.
"But Jessica's fine?" Carol nodded. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Good. Glad she wasn't killed because of me."
"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that," Carol smiled.
The conversation ended there as once again, the scene sprung to life with action and sound. All that proceeded it was a call of Tony's name – his last name, disappointingly – a streak blue rushing to get in between him and Carol. While one part of Tony found it sexy, another more sensible part worried about whether or not his overprotective boyfriend was about to do something irrational in the name of defending him.
Thankfully, the answer was not anything irrational. Steve faced Tony rather than Carol, putting his hands right on Tony's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes.
"Are you okay?" were the first words out of his mouth. Tony nodded.
"I'm fine," he assured. "Outside of a few minor scrapes, nobody's hurt." Steve let out a breath of relief.
"Thank God," he said. "I was worried. When I saw that the armor didn't deploy…"
"There was no need for it. Trust me." Tony peered behind Steve and saw Natasha strolling up to the scene. Similarly to Steve in his Captain America attire, Nat had dawned her Black Widow uniform. "Aw, look at that! You both decided to play dress-up." Nat rolled her eyes.
"We didn't know what we were walking into down here," she explained. "It's always best to come prepared."
"Yes," Tony said. "I'm sure Carol appreciates the warm welcome, don't you?"
"I most certainly do Mr. Stark." Steve turned around to face Carol, a confused expression on his face. Glancing over at Natasha, Tony could see that her face held nothing but suspicion.
Oh, this is going to be wonderful, I can already feel it!
"Captain Danvers," Steve said. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Neither was I," Carol said. "Yet here I am!"
"Did S.H.I.E.L.D. send you?" Natasha scoffed at the notion.
"If they did then they're miracle workers," she said. "We weren't here that fast and we're in the same building." Steve realized she was right as Natasha leveled her suspicious glare at Carol, who for the most part seemed unphased. "Were you here when the tower was struck?"
"In a way," was all she provided as a response.
"What does that mean?" Natasha's eyes narrowed, trying to scrutinize Carol even further.
"It means she's what struck the tower." Natasha's face snapped into surprise. Carol gave Tony a slightly annoyed look, but he just shrugged. "There are eyewitnesses and security footage. No point in trying to hide it." Carol let out a relenting sigh.
"You've got me," she said. "I flew straight into the Tower."
"How? With an airplane?" Carol shook her head at Steve's inquiry.
"No, more like this." Carol's hands and feet seemingly burst into flames before she began to hover about a foot or so in the air. Steve and Natasha looked on in shock while for Tony it was more of a sense of awe. He knew Carol could fly – he just saw her do so just mere minutes before – but all capabilities to process it could not do so at the time. Seeing her do it with no threat of immediate danger made him realize that yes, it was real. After a moment or two in the air, Carol released her powers and easily landed on the ground.
"Looks like you can do more than just blast stuff," Tony remarked. Carol smiled and nodded.
"Oh, so much more," she said. Meanwhile, Natasha got over her shock. Well, at least enough to say something.
"You flew into the tower?" Carol nodded in confirmation. "Why?"
"Last time I saw Tony, I gave him a method to reach me in case something big happened like the Chitauri invading again." Steve and Natasha gave her identical surprised looks. "Yeah, I know about that and I'm pissed that Fury didn't call me. To circumvent that, I gave Tony a way to get into contact with me, which was fine until he paged me five minutes ago." Tony flinched a little at her easy pass-off of the blame. However, he smoothly transitioned it into an eyeroll.
Whatever, but I'm still not apologizing for something I didn't do.
"It was an accident," he said. "Someone took my phone, started messing with it, and ended up calling her." Natasha frowned.
"Sounds like you need to keep a better eye on your things," she remarked.
"I can," Tony defended. "When they're not forcibly taken from me." Natasha raised an eyebrow at that, and Steve gave Tony a concerned look. "It's fine," he mumbled, eyes fixed on the ground. Steve hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not hurt, though?" Tony shook his head.
"Pepper caught a shard of glass to the cheek," he explained. "A few others got minor injuries like that, but nothing serious."
"So, it's safe to say the situation's under control?" Natasha asked.
"For the most part." She nodded and brought a finger to her comms unit.
"Banner, the situation's under control," she reported. "You can let Clint up now." Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Do I want to know about that?" he asked.
"Probably not," Natasha said.
"Hey guys," Lara said as she ran up to them. Her ponytail was a wind-whipped mess and she was breathing rather heavily – likely because she had just run up over forty flights of stairs. "I was just downstairs… Wanted to let you know… Pepper's been seen by EMS…"
"Are you okay?" Carol asked, looking like she was ready to tackle Lara to the ground and start CPR at any second.
"Fine," Lara said, putting a hand to her chest and bending over slightly. "Just more out of shape than I thought I was…"
"Pepper's alright, though?" Tony asked. Lara nodded in response but took a few more seconds to catch her breath before she tried speaking. She straightened up before swallowing hard.
"Yeah," she finally said. "The cut was a clean slice with no glass embedded. Not enough to require stitches; just a big ugly band-aid."
"Oh, the horror," Tony remarked, but he was relieved that it was nowhere near as bad as it looked.
"So, I guess that's the end of Human Resources training for today, right?" As much as Tony hated wiping that hopeful look off her face, he had to tell it to her straight.
"Yup," he said. "Because now we have to think up a rational explanation for all of this." As Tony gestured to the disaster that was the conference room, Lara let out a disappointed groan.
"Why can't life be easy?"
"Because it wouldn't be life if it was." Lara glared at Steve for that remark, but Steve was not bothered. Tony brought a hand to his forehead as he thought out a strategy.
"Alright, Conroy," he said. "Go to my office and pull up what the media is saying. If we are going to think up a story, we might as well find out what they already think happened."
"Right," Lara said. "I'll call Jane Watts, too; make sure we have all our bases covered."
"Atta girl," Tony said, giving her a thumbs up before she turned and started to head back down the hall to their offices. That just left him with Steve, Natasha, and Carol.
"You guys take her upstairs," he said addressing Steve and Natasha. They both nodded while Tony turned to Carol. "It's probably best if you don't leave until everything's settled a bit." Carol shrugged but nodded at the same time.
"Can't argue with that," she said.
"JARVIS, lift the restrictions on elevator access," Tony added. "We know for sure they're not damaged and no one else deserves to nearly kill themselves on the stairs."
"Right away, Sir." Tony looked back at the other three, who were still lingering.
"I think that's everything," he said.
"Are you sure? Because we can stay and help." Steve told Tony.
"I'll be alright," he said, waving off his boyfriend's concerns. "Really, the best thing we can do at this point is stay out of Cabe's way." Reassured, Steve nodded.
"Alright. I'll see you at dinner." He kissed Tony on the lips before following the others upstairs.
The elevator ride up was particularly quiet. The only time anyone tried to speak up was Carol, who thought it pertinent to point out that it would be a lot faster if she could just fly them up to the penthouse. Neither Natasha nor Steve were amused by that remark and Carol just pressed her lips together and shrugged into the back of the elevator awkwardly.
Honestly, Natasha didn't know what to think. She knew Fury had his secrets, but to hide something like this; that there was another powered person out there who could have been an immense help against the Chitauri? What was he? Insane? S.H.I.E.L.D. was partially compromised. Stark had almost died taking that missile up into space. Coulson had died. He didn't think that was a big enough emergency for him to call-in this mysterious powerhouse? Speaking of which, who the hell was she?
She couldn't be the only one asking that question. In fact, given how prone he was to paranoia, Natasha was surprised that Tony really hadn't questioned it. Nat had known Fury for years; had worked under him for almost a decade. Never once had he mentioned a Captain Carol Danvers, or even indicated that he knew that someone with power such as hers even existed. Yes, he started the Avengers Initiative and sought out enhanced individuals like her, Tony, Steve, and Bruce to protect the world, but if he had known this woman existed, why didn't he recruit her? It didn't make sense in Nat's mind, no matter which way she sliced it.
That seemed to be a recurring theme as of late. All of them were doing things that didn't make logical sense when you stepped back and looked at it objectively. Her going off on Sharpton, Clint's impulsivity, Tony struggling with his addiction, Steve's near-constant worrying… The only one of them who seemed to be relatively well-adjusted was Bruce and something had to be wrong if that were the case. Their dysfunctionality even seemed to be rubbing off on Lara who seemed to be on guard every moment of the day, despite the fact that she was successfully able to obtain a restraining order against her crazy ex. It made Fury hiding Carol from them seem almost petty by comparison. That was, until she was reminded of the sheer size and scope of the Chitauri invasion or the fact that Coulson died. Then Natasha would feel justified in being angry again.
After a long and awkward elevator ride, they finally came to a stop on the first floor of the penthouse. Getting off, Natasha and Steve led Carol down the hallway and through the kitchen, into the lounge area. There, they found Bruce and Clint. The former had Lucky in his lap, spoiling the clearly attention-starved animal with lots of pets and scratches. The latter was lying spread out across the loveseat, still in his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform and looking half a second away from falling asleep. Nat had to bite her tongue to hold back the "I told you so" from escaping her lips.
"Up and at 'em, Sleeping Beauty," she said instead, shaking his foot. "We have a guest." Clint peeled open his eyes and sat up, letting out a yawn as he did so.
"Colonel Rhodes is here already?" He blearily looked around, quickly finding that was not the case. "Who's she?" Carol took a few steps closer to Clint and held out a hand for him to shake.
"Carol Danvers," she said as he took it. "I believe we've met before."
"Clint Barton," he supplied in case she had forgotten as well. He pulled his hand back to try and rub the remaining sleepiness from his eyes. "Sorry. I almost died a week ago so I'm kind of groggy on a few things."
"You had the flu," Natasha deadpanned. Carol, meanwhile, waved it off.
"No worries," Carol assured. "It's not like I can be one to judge on things like that."
"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here?" Even having an amazingly cute puppy in his arms couldn't distract Bruce from getting right to the point.
"You're Dr. Banner, right?" Carol asked. "I'm sorry, I just want to be sure I've got everyone's names right here."
"I am," Bruce confirmed. "But that doesn't answer my question."
"Right." Carol sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Well, the short version is that I flew into the building." Bruce's eyebrows knitted together.
"Okay, why the rush?" Carol shook her head.
"No," she said. "I mean I literally flew into the building less than fifteen minutes ago." Bruce's eyes widened.
"Because of whatever that struck the Tower?" The grogginess must have really had a hold on Clint, because he still wasn't quite getting it.
"I was what struck the Tower," Carol said plainly, leaving no room for misinterpretation. The gears instantly clicked behind his eyes and he jolted a little from the shock.
"What, like with a plane?!" came instantly pouring out of Clint's mouth.
"We'd be dead if that were the case." Bruce pointed out.
"It took an hour and a half for the Twin Towers to fall," Clint argued. "And with that reinforced staircase, we'd have plenty of time to escape."
"I was thinking more about the Other Guy freaking out," Bruce explained. "But yeah, okay. Live in dream land."
"No, I physically flew into the Tower myself," Carol clarified before the argument could progress further. "No planes, no missiles… Just me and my physical body."
"Are you saying you can fly?" Bruce asked.
"Among other things," Carol said.
"Things like…?"
"Blasting," Carol offered. "Energy absorption, lifting incredibly heavy things… You name it, I can probably do it."
"Can you stick your foot behind your head?" Carol made a face at Clint's question.
"Well, no," she said. "I can't do that. I don't think anyone can."
"Amateur," Clint scoffed.
"Captain Danvers already demonstrated her abilities to us," Steve said. "I can assure you that she's not lying."
"But how did she get abilities like that?" Bruce questioned before looking over at Carol. "I mean, are you from another planet, like Thor?"
"Thor?" Carol questioned.
"He's an Asgardian," Natasha provided. "And the only one of us that isn't living here at the moment."
"Ah, I see," Carol said. "Well, I'm not Asgardian if that's what you're wondering. I'm technically not entirely alien either."
"Then what are you?" Clint asked.
"Well, I was human," Carol explained. "But then I stood too close to an alien device when it exploded, and my DNA was sort of trans-mutated. Now genetically speaking, I am half human and half of a species called the Kree, which is why I'm able to do that stuff and more."
Everyone looked at her in stunned surprise; a billion questions easily popping into their heads. Carol caught on and held out a hand placatingly.
"I know, I know," she said. "But it's a long story and I'd need time to explain it all properly. Also, no offence, but none of you seem exactly comfortable right now."
She gave them the once-over, clearly taking notice of the tense ways they were each respectively sitting and standing, and the fact that Clint, Natasha, and Steve were still wearing their uniforms. Even Bruce's uneasiness was clear as he picked at a thread from a rip on his shirt sleeve, which Nat noticed had not been there when they left earlier. She would be more suspicious about that if she did not have bigger fish to fry.
"I don't see how that should matter. I mean if you're ready and willing to talk." Carol narrowed her eyes while Natasha's raised in challenge. Before an argument could get started, Steve stepped in between them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Let's not argue right now," he said. "Why don't we change into more casual attire, and when we come back, Captain Danvers can explain everything to us, alright?" Carol seemed to be placated by the idea, but Natasha had yet to lower her suspicious guard. "Natasha." At the prompting she finally relented.
"Fine." Steve let go of her shoulder.
"Good," he said before turning to Carol. "Please, have a seat, Captain Danvers. We'll be with you again momentarily." She nodded.
"No problem, and please call me Carol."
"Yes, ma'am," Steve said with a nod before turning to head out into the hallway. Bruce and Clint followed suit, but Natasha continued to look at Carol suspiciously for a moment before finally taking steps to join the others.
"JARVIS," she said once she assumed, she was out of Carol's earshot. "Keep an eye on Captain Danvers for me, please."
"Already done, Agent Romanoff."
It was only then that Natasha relaxed. Trusting that the AI would alert them if Carol tried anything funny, she stepped into the local elevator with the others.
Thank you to Radiant Arabian Nights for leaving all those reviews on FFN, and to Nerniie and the guest who left kudos on AO3! You're awesome!
Remember kids, it's hard to remember things you wrote years ago.
Originally uploaded to FFN on 10/26/22.