A/N: Just a cute small chapter, I think. I like it. Don't have much to say really.
Make it a great week and I'll hopefully figure out this chapter and talk to you soon.
Red/S-B
The sun was already shining through the window when Laura woke up. Apparently, Clint had let her sleep in. The sun was surprisingly high already and it seemed to be a nice February day at least.
She was happy he had let her sleep. Last night she and Pepper had stayed up way too long to look at different furniture for their new home. He was well aware she had stayed up not only to look at interior design. She had mostly done it just to talk and hang out with Pepper. After two months of living more or less under the same roof, they had grown very close.
Pepper was so nice. She was kind and caring, but also such a smart and strong woman. She knew a lot of things of most things and she continued to aw Laura more every day.
The woman was of course working a lot of the time. Traveling into New York city most days, and sometimes even to California, but when she wasn't there, Pepper spent a lot of time just with the avengers.
Laura liked all of the Avengers a lot. All of them were so nice to them, with fun unique personalities to brighten their days. They helped them if they needed it. And were all in all just good friends. And the kids adored them all.
They usually ate all together at least one time a week, but even on random days at least one of them usually ended up eating with them. Even between training and missions they all took the time to say hi or play with the kids. No wonder why Natasha loved living here. They really were like one big family.
Laura let out a loud sigh stretching her arms over her head. It was just past 9 and for the first time in weeks she really felt rested. She spent some time just on her phone looking through some emails and messages before getting out of bed.
She looked through the drawer wondering if she was planning on going outside today and if she should dress warmer if she did. At one point they needed to go shopping again. She had of course some clothes, but it wasn't much since most of them got left behind when they lost their house. At one point they all needed to upgrade their wardrobe a bit, especially now that it was getting warmer already, even if it was only mid-February.
It was Pepper's birthday today. She knew the woman was working, but she was planning on baking a cake at one point today. She had already gotten the ingredients for the cake. She was thinking of making an apple cake. It was Natasha's favourite. It was also very people friendly. You can't go wrong with that. Some whipped cream and powdered sugar on top. She was looking forward to it already.
Already when she walked out of the room, she could hear people talking in the hallways. She had learned that this part of the facility was only for the Avengers and their living quarters. Closed for everyone else that worked here. And there were a lot of people working here.
The living quarters had a lot of rooms. Like a gym, a pool, a shooting range, multiple rooms for meetings. Offices for everyone that wanted one. Lots of storage. A library. Multiple small living room areas. It was a lovely space, and she was so thankful they let her be a part of it.
She found the kids with Clint in front of them with some kind of chart. They had started to homeschool them a bit. They were obviously not enrolled in a school anymore since they weren't home. And they didn't want to take the risk of putting them into a new public school right now. Hopefully, the local school by their new home had space for their kids next summer.
Laura and Clint had no idea how to homeschool, but they tried their best. Laura had found a few programs online, as well as gotten some help from Annie, who was a former teacher as well. And of course, all of the Avengers were like experts in all kinds of fields, so they were actually helping as well.
"Friday, could you turn on the oven for me please?" Laura said with a small smile as she picked up Nate from the floor to hug him.
"What temperature do you need, Laura." She answered and Laura smiled.
"350 is good. Thank you." Laura replied casually.
"It is on."
She loved Friday. They might need something like this in their new home. She was getting spoiled. An AI doing things for her. What a life she was living.
She let Nate get back to playing on the floor while Clint continued to teach. She knew she had plenty of time until Pepper would be back, but she kinda wanted to do something, really anything. Because while the kids were with their dad, she usually turned bored very fast. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she felt like she had gotten so much free time since when they moved to the Avengers compared to when they lived at their old home.
Laura ended up making two cakes instead of one. One apple cake and one chocolate cake. The whole common room was smelling like a bakery when she was done. Filling the room with a mix of both chocolate and apple cake.
"Wow, it smells delicious in here." Laura turned her head when she heard Steve enter the room. Behind him was Tony. In their hands they had bags and Laura could already smell the Asian food from the bags.
"Pepper better be happy now; we ordered the whole menu. Chinese, Tai, Indian. Everything." Tony said with a loud groan as he put the bags on the table.
Laura let out a small laugh before turning her head back to the chocolate cake she was frosting. She wasn't really a frosting kind of person, but she thought Pepper deserved some rosettes regardless.
"I am sure she will. Does any of you know when she will be back?" Laura said still trying to concentrate on the last rosette.
"She texted me saying around 15 minutes," Tony said as he started to unpack everything.
Soon they were joined by the other avengers. And precisely 15 minutes later Pepper walked in the door with Maria and Happy behind her.
Seeing Pepper smiling so widely when she entered to a full dinner table alone made it all worth it Laura decided. And she hadn't even presented the cakes to her yet. It was something about watching this woman being so thankful that just made her so happy. She knew how much Pepper did for the team already. And she had done so much for just her and her family too. Things she would be forever grateful for.
The whole evening turned out nice. Pepper was so happy about all of the cakes and the gifts she received. And Laura knew this was something the team needed. Just a break. Taking a breather from the stress that was their life at the moment.
The adults ended up sharing thee bottles of wine and some beer after the kids went to bed. Or everyone except vison of course. But was he really an adult when he wasn't human?
Wanda was technically not old enough to drink in America, but the Avengers didn't seem to care as Tony offered her a glass of red wine. But even though they didn't care, Laura still felt her mom heart calm down when she kindly declined the glass.
They ended up just talking the whole evening. Sitting in the living room keeping the nice atmosphere they had had the whole day. They didn't get interrupted before Friday decided to cut Maria off mid-sentence.
"It is somebody by the front gate. It is a delivery car from FedEx."
Laura's reaction was to turn to Tony with a confused look. She was not alone. Everyone looked at him confused. It was 9 in the evening what were they doing here so late. In the daytime, the gate was usually open because they had staff all around to let them in. This seemed. Odd.
"Let them in. I'll meet them personally. Rogers. Want to bring that shield of yours?" Tony said turning to him with a small look.
"Meet you downstairs," Steve said nodding before standing up looking back at him with a serious look.
They all watched them leave the room. It was no hiding how it felt very strange getting a delivery so late, but they couldn't really do anything about it other than hoping it would turn out okay.
"Friday, turn the monitoring on," Maria said when they passed the two minutes mark. A second later a big hologram popped up. Steve and Tony were standing talking with the guy in the car. They both had a serious look on their face as they listened to the man talking.
He looked like every other delivery man really. Nothing seemed off just based on looks. But Laura could see in Steve's eyes that something was up. Something that upset him.
Laura lifted an eyebrow when Tony nodded at the guy before handing him, money? She turned to Clint to see if he was seeing the same thing. He too looked confused as the two men walked inside again, and the car drove off.
"So that was, interesting," Rhodey said as the hologram disappeared looking at the rest of them. At the same time, Tony and Steve walked into the room again. Steve closed the door behind them before putting his shield by the door nodding at them. He seemed calmer now. Still serious but not as upset.
"Vision go after him to make sure that car actually leaves," Tony said turning to his creation. Laura watched as he nodded before flying out through the wall and disappearing.
"So other than flirting with the delivery man, what happened," Sam said leaning back in his chair before taking a drink out of his beer, making Maria let out a huff.
"Wouldn't call it flirting. He wasn't cute enough for that." Tony said before dropping a box in front of Pepper with a thud. It wasn't very big. If anything, Laura would call it small. It was just a normal cardboard box.
"What is this?" Pepper said looking at the box as if it was going to kill her.
"A birthday present," Tony replied dryly. Pepper lifted an eyebrow at him. "Not from me," Tony said rolling his eyes before taking a seat again.
Pepper only looked at him before lowly tearing off the tape and opening the cardboard box. Inside was a small velvet black earring box. Pepper turned around in the room to look at them confused, but when nobody said anything or claimed the gift as theirs, she only slowly opened the box.
"Oh my god" she whispered as she revealed a pair of red stone earrings. Pepper turned to the group again looking at them with big eyes before lifting out the small box and started looking around in the box of silk paper and bubble wrap.
"Those aren't real. Surely that isn't actually real stones." Tony said grabbing the box looking at them. "Friday?" Tony said as he continued to look at the earring closely.
"They appear to be real rubies, boss." The woman's voice replied.
"Jesus Christ." Tony only mumbled. As he put the box down pushing it over to Rhodey.
"Here," Pepper said as she finally seemed to find what she was looking for. It was a small card from the brand they came from. On the back, Laura could clearly see it.
Red
Laura knew that handwriting very well. And she could tell Pepper recognized it as well. Her eyes were wide before turning to Tony.
"You knew?" She asked holding the card close to her chest.
"Not really. Had a feeling. The delivery guy was suspicious. Gave us almost no intel other than she gave it to him personally somewhere in New York City. Hence why it's no actual shipping label on the box." Tony said pointing at the box. Laura hadn't even noticed the naked box before he pointed it out. But he was right, it wasn't any labels on it anywhere.
"She is in New York?" Pepper whispered looking down at the card in her hand.
"Something like that. We don't know. The guy didn't say much." Tony said with a sigh. "And knowing her, she might have traveled to the other side of the planet by now." He said shrugging. Pepper looked at him before nodding slowly.
Maybe it was still hope then. Maybe they could finally catch the woman.
The rest of the weekend went to trying to locate the woman. To search every single corner of New York and using every single face recondition program in history to try to find the redhead. To try in every humanly possible way to find her. They knew she might have left the city or state already. Maybe even the country, but at least they had a chance now. At least they knew she had been here.
Laura was leaning back in her chair closing her eyes for a second. She and Pepper had been looking at one of the monitors for hours now. A face reconditions program that was going through all of the security cameras that were available. They knew Friday would alert them if they hit a target, but they had both chosen to watch it personally as well.
She let out a small yawn as she rubbed her eyes. This was the second day they had been doing this and she had been up way too late last night just to do this.
Pepper sitting on the opposing side of the table with her coffee between her hands. She too looked tired. But at least they had the company between the two of them.
"Target located."
Laura had barely had the time to shake her head and lean forwards to look at the screen closer before Maria slammed the door open. She had no idea where the woman came from, but her eyes were wide as she fell down beside Laura.
On the screen, they had a clear picture. Natasha was standing on a corner of a street leaning on a wall. What really caught Laura by surprise was her blond hair. It was quite short. Just over her shoulders in a messy beach wavy like style. It was very different from anything else she had done before and definitely different from her normal vibrant red hair.
"Is she… blond?" Pepper walked around to their side of the table leaning forwards to look at her closer.
"Friday when was this?" Maria said as she moved the cursor around to look for more clips.
"About five minutes ago. It seems like she is waiting for somebody." Friday replied. Maria looked at the screen for another minute jumping between a couple of different cameras before saying.
"I'm going after her," Maria said turning to them.
"I'm coming with."
"Then I'm coming with you."
Laura turned surprised to Pepper when she said the same thing. They both looked at Maria for a second before she smiled softly at the CEO. She watched as Pepper smiled back, but Maria did not seem as impressed with them. She looked at them with a firm look, but Laura did want to go after her too. She wanted to at least try.
"I don't think you should, I mean we don't even know where…" Maria started. She stopped quickly when Pepper gave her a strict look.
"I'm just saying we don't know what to expect." Maria tried again looking at Laura for support as if she was getting anything like that from her.
The woman looked between the two of them before rolling her eyes in defeat. "Fine" she only mumbled.
Laura ended up exchanging a few words with Clint before heading out to meet Pepper and Maria. She felt nervous for some reason. This was the first time they actually had a shot at this. What if she wasn't there when they arrived? What if she didn't want to talk with them? What if she was in danger? What if it was a trap?
Maria was standing by an SUV with Pepper waiting for her as she got outside to the garage. She slipped into the car behind Maria before they slowly pulled out of the lot and headed for the city.
The drive to Manhattan was just over two hours. Had while that really wasn't that much, they knew the chance of her already being gone when they got there was quite high.
They ended up just outside of a café in south Manhattan. She had no idea how Maria found parking in this city, but somehow, she did. The café was small. And while New York always was busy this was a quieter corner. It seemed very nice actually.
Maria jumped out of the car followed by Pepper. She nodded at Laura to go out as well. And the second she stepped out the back the seat shifted. The whole row of the three seats turned around 180 degrees turning the other way. And when Laura stepped into the car again, she could see the whole back was covered in monitors and other fancy equipment.
"Okay let's see if you're still here Nat," Maria mumbled as she entered the car again with Pepper. They watched as the screen turned on and started showing various pictures of different things. Laura had no idea what the woman was doing but she was now moving around between different cameras it seemed like.
"Is that the security cameras?" Pepper asked as Maria switched between another shot.
"Yeah, form the buildings around us," Maria answered still only looking at the screens in front of them. Pepper only nodded before turning her attention back to the screen.
"There you are." Maria finally said after switched between what felt like a hundred cameras.
Laura could feel herself tense up when two different angles of the inside of the café popped up on two screens. One of them showed Natasha sitting by a table and the other one was pointed behind the counter only giving them a view of the barista and her workspace.
Maria zoomed in slowly on Natasha before she stopped completely and leaned back to watch in silence.
Natasha was sitting in a booth in the back of the café. Beside her she had a big man squeezed up against her. On the table, she had a plate with more or less an untouched croissant and a cup of tea.
They were the only guests in the small place, and Laura had a feeling that was the reason they were there and not anywhere else.
Laura could now clearly see the woman's tired face. She had bags under her eyes and Laura could tell she was absolutely destroyed. Her hair was messy, a complete opposite of what usually was a well-brushed head of hair. She was dressed in all black with a brown plaid scarf around her neck even when she was inside.
The man beside her was big. Like really big. The kind of big that would make Laura stressed if she ever met him. He had a grin on his face as he moved around. And at this point, he was more or less on top of her.
Laura could see Natasha move uncomfortably around as the man continued to move around beside her. At one point she turned her head around and Laura's heart broke when she watched the woman bite her lips pressing herself impossible close up against the wall.
Laura turned to Maria with wide eyes. Surely, they should do something. Instead, the woman shook her head slowly. Making Laura let out a frustrated sigh.
Thankfully they got stopped when a young woman walked up to them. She watched as the barista looked at the pair at the table before she started to talk. Even when she could only see the woman's back Laura could tell the woman was flustered. She talked to them for a good 30 seconds and the whole time Natasha refused to meet her eyes. When she finished the man stood up and switched seat to the opposing side of the table.
Laura could see Natasha let out a small breath of relief as the man moved away. But she didn't have much time before the man started to talk to her and she was forced to pay attention again.
They spent a good 15 minutes watching the man speak to the redhead and not once the girl replied. She only looked at him with big tired eyes nodding a few times.
The woman seemed to only get more tired as the conversation went on. At one point the woman leaned her head on the wall and continued to only look at him before her eyes closed slowly. She had barely closed her eyes when the woman shot up from her position looking at him with wide eyes as he connected his kick with her leg.
The woman's eyes were wide as she leaned back in her seat trying to process what just had happened clearly in a huge amount of pain. Still, the man gave her no room to recover as he stood up. He was leaning over the table now clearly yelling at her. The woman only slid down in her seat trying to make herself small as he continued to scream.
Laura almost screamed herself when she watched the man grab the plate in front of Natasha before throwing it at full force at her, barely giving her a second to dodge the plate before it connected with the wall making it explode over her head making the croissant fly across the room.
Natasha's eyes widened. And while Laura knew normally, she probably would have fired back at some sort, the woman only looked at still covering her head in case he was to do with it half-empty teacup.
For the second time, the young barista jumped in. This time she seemed stressed as she looked between them. She was clearly not in any shape to actually take down that man. But he didn't seem interested in doing something like that either. He only looked at her as she was stupid, before grabbing Natasha's scarf yanking her forwards by it making the girl yelp. He looked at her mumbling something in her face before he violently pushed her away from him. Then he turned to the small barista staring at her before he finally turned around and left the room.
It was like Laura could actually see the barista lower her shoulders as the man left. The woman turned to Natasha sinking down beside the couch she was on as she spoke softly to Natasha. Natasha's eyes were filled with pain, but she only shook her head when the barista talked. Laura could see the forced smile on her lips as she slowly listened to the woman talk.
It was no hiding how she was definitely hurting, and in the corner of her eyes, Laura could see Pepper noticing it too. With pain and worry filling her own eyes as they watched the interaction.
Natasha didn't seem to give her much. Only a small smile and a few sentences. And after that the barista didn't get anything more, she could only nod at the woman before she walked back to the bar to get some cleaning supplies.
In the meantime, they watched as Natasha slowly started to collect herself. She slowly started to brush off the glass from her scarf before standing up. She looked over to the bar before slowly taking something out of her pocket putting it on the table before she slowly left the café.
Laura turned to Maria and Pepper for a second time when Natasha left. They were both looking blankly at the screen clearly both lost for words.
"What just happened?" Pepper eventually said with a low voice. Maria continued to look at nothing for a while before she slowly said.
"I think we should ask." She pushed the car door open exciting slowly looking around carefully. After a moment she stepped out of the way letting the two of them step out.
The first thing Laura did was to try and spot Natasha. Of course, she was nowhere in sight. She wasn't surprised by this, but part of her wished she was.
Laura ended up just following Maria into the café not thinking about how they were supposed to get any information like this.
The café was even smaller in real life. The barista was behind the counter and lifted her head when she watched them enter. Her eyes were wide and almost worried. But she still gave them a small smile before walking over to them.
"Hi. Welcome. So sorry for the mess. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask I just need to clean up everything." The woman said with a happy voice. It was very clearly forced but none of them commented on it. They could see the booth Natasha had been at behind the woman. It was shattered glass everywhere and Laura felt really bad for the young woman.
"We are working for the Avengers and were wondering if you could tell us anything about the woman and the man that was just here," Maria said softly. Her voice was kind and calm as she pulled out some sort of badge. The woman didn't even look at the badge in front of her. Instead, her eyes only widened as she eyes the three of them. She looked between all of them before she landed on Pepper
"You are Pepper Potts." She whispered looking at Pepper with big eyes.
"Yes, I am. Could you be so kind and tell us what they were talking about." Pepper answered softly as she spoke to the younger woman.
"I don't know what they talked about. They didn't speak English. I think maybe Russian or something else eastern European." The woman stuttered looking at them confused. Laura felt bad for her. She really did. She seemed so confused and scared. She needed to talk her down.
"That's okay." This time it was Laura who spoke up. She could already tell this woman was very stressed and they didn't need to make it worse now.
"We don't want to harm you. We just need to know what you observed. I promise you are not in any trouble. If anything, we are very thankful you stopped him in his tracks." She added softly. She watched as the woman took a deep breath before nodding.
"I had to. At first, it seemed like. Like he was… touching her." Laura felt her heart clench as the woman said it.
"But then when he started to scream at her too. And then throwing plates. It was dangerous. I just know I needed to do something. When I asked if she was okay, she only said yes. She didn't want me to call anyone or let me help her. She told me she was fine." The woman finished. She was looking at Maria now, who was taking notes on her phone.
"How long were they here? Was it only the two of them or anyone else?" Maria continued to as she wrote.
"First it was only the blond woman. She spent around 15 minutes waiting outside before she moved inside and ordered some food. She was here for just over two hours doing almost nothing. She spent some time on her phone. The other half she seemed to almost be sleeping. She didn't have any earphones or anything just resting by the table. Then she got a phone call she answered. Didn't speak English then either. And finally, after like two and a half hours the man joined her." The waiter looked at them, clearly confused about what they wanted with the information. And to her defense, Laura didn't know exactly what Maria wanted either.
"But she spoke English to you right?" Pepper asked. Her tone was almost curios Laura noticed.
"Yeah, she did." The waiter looked almost confused but continued slowly. "She was easy to understand. I couldn't pick really pick up any accents. She seemed very comfortable in both languages… considering the circumstances." The woman finished before turning to Maria with a small look.
"Thank you," Maria said looking at the woman with a small smile putting away her phone.
"You're welcome, I guess. I don't know if was of any help. But if you want anything else. Or just a snack I am more than happy to help." The woman said giving them a small grimace.
"Actually. Why not. I will gladly take a late." Maria said with a small smile, and Laura watched as the woman's face lit up.
They ended up ordering some coffee and some pastries. They were sitting by a window table watching the outside and at the same time the young woman cleaned up after the mess the mystery man had made.
Maria was sitting staring into nothing while Pepper and Laura kept throwing glances at her. The woman was clearly thinking about something. But Laura wasn't entirely sure what.
"He knows we are going after him. He even wore gloves not to leave fingerprints." Maria mumbled before turning to the two of them. Laura only looked at her. She had a feeling she was more talking to herself and not really them.
"I mean for all we know this can be some really good tech and not Natasha at all," Maria said this time a lot more serious, looking at them to see if they were following.
"You can do that?" Laura said looking at her confused, unsure if she caught that sentence correctly.
"Yeah. Shield had a mask that took the shape of another's face and voice. It was called a Photostatic Veil. Natasha was the last one to use it." She paused for a second before adding. "or at least that I know of." Maria mumbled before looking down at her notes.
"I can put on a full search now. I can close this café and get everyone we have here in 15 minutes."
"But you don't want to" Pepper jumped in looking at her with a small smile. Maria shook her head slowly before she let Pepper continue.
"I might not be a former world-class spy, but it is a reason you didn't interfere with her when it went down. Because you knew she let him do it. You are playing the long game." Pepper said carefully.
Maria only nodded before letting out another sigh. "Maybe it's wrong, but we never interfered with Natasha. We always let her do whatever she needed." Maria's only said before turning her head to look into the café again.
The young barista was slowly picking up the glass when she stopped and looked at something. Laura could feel Maria tens up as well. Clearly curious about what she found.
They watched as the woman picked up something before walking over to them. In her hand, she had a small envelope. It was plain white with nothing on it. Laura looked at Maria carefully as Maria accepted the envelope from the young woman.
"It was on top of the table under the broken glass." The woman said carefully before turning around to leave.
"Wait," Maria said stopping her by grabbing her arm. The young woman's eyes widened, but she stayed looking at Laura with a helpless almost scared look. Laura only smiles softly back. She had a feeling she knew why Maria had stopped the woman but decided not to say anything.
Maria grabbed a rubber glove from her bag before she opened the envelope carefully peaking in. She smiled softly before picking out a small card from the envelope before putting it on the table.
Laura jumped closer to the woman to look at the card at the same time Pepper too leaned over to look at it. It was a business card. A clean red front with an arrow on it. On the back, it was one simple headshot of Natasha. Still with blond hair and a soft kind smile.
Natalia Alianovna
Laura smiled softly as she looked at the card. She could tell, and she knew the two others too, could tell this was her actual handwriting on it as well giving them an even stronger attachment, proving already she was at least involved in this.
Laura turned to see the barista looking at them confused. Laura laughed softly before picking up the envelope. She already knew what was inside. She could feel it between her fingers. But just to make sure she peeked inside. She was right. A small stack of some 20-dollar bills. Fast math told her it was at least 200 dollars there if it wasn't any bigger bills hiding inside it.
She turned her attention to the young woman before handing her the envelope.
"The rest is for you." She said with a small smile. The other woman looked at her confused before taking the envelope slowly. She gave them one last look before turning around and walking back to her counter not even opening the envelope around them.
When Laura turned back to Maria, she had placed the card on some kind of scanner and was watching the scanner as it scanned the card. She gave Pepper a small look, but the blond only shrugged back with a small smile.
After 30 seconds the machine let out a small beep and Maria picked up a tablet. Laura watched as a fingerprint popped up on the screen and Maria smiled.
"It's Natasha." She said before picking up the card putting it in a sealed bag.
"How can you possibly know that without checking the fingerprint up to any data," Pepper said with a small almost relieved laugh.
"Learned hers long ago. Seen it enough times. She can do the same with me" Maria said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Laura could only roll her eyes before she followed Maria's lead finishing her drink and getting ready to leave. Still, she didn't leave before she made sure to slip another 20-dollar bill under her plate followed by Pepper doing another fifty.