May 2012, Russia

George Luchkov was feeling rather please with herself. Not only had he managed to reveal his date for the evening as a spy, he had managed to capture the Black Widow.

No one knew for sure who the Black Widow was, just her reputation for being the deadliest assassin in the world, discounting the ghost that was the Winter Soldier. That she was female was reason to dismiss her (if you were stupid) or to fear her even more (if you weren't).

However the beautiful redhead currently tied to a chair in the dilapidated factory he used for his operations was something of a disappointment.

Unless, of course, she had managed to fool whoever had hired her into thinking she was the Black Widow.

"This is not how I wanted the evening to go," he told her in Russian.

"I know how you wanted the evening to go," she replied in kind. "Trust me. This is better."

"Who are you woking for?" He demanded. "Lermetov, yes? Does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo?"

Her eyes travelled to the cache of weapons peeking out from dust-sheets, and she didn't respond.

One of his men grasped the chair and tipped it backwards, towards the gaping hole in the floor behind her, and she struggled to keep her feet on the ground. "I thought General Solohob was in charge of the export business."

Ah. She had come to him to get information on Solohob, not realising she had walked right into the lion's den. "Solohob." He exchanged a smile with his lackeys, who seemed just as amused. "A bagman. A front. Your outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow … and she tuns out to be simply another pretty face."

The chair was lowered back into place and she gave an obvious sigh of relief. "You think I'm pretty?"

She was, and apparently very attached to her looks.

That was an easy way to send a message.

With a nod, one of his men grabbed her face, holding her mouth open.

"Tel Lermetov we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he is out. Well …" He perused the selection of tools he had ready and selected a pair of pliers, switching to English. "You may have to write it down."

Her eyes widened with fear and he stepped towards her, but they were interrupted by his second flunky's phone ringing.

He answered it curtly, but immediately held it out to Luchkov with a confused expression. "It's for her."

Luchkov took it, expecting Lermetov to be on the other end. "You listen carefully …"

"You are at 114 Silensky Plaza, third floor," a cool American voice said. "We have an F-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone, or I will blow up the block before you make the lobby."

Suddenly not so confident about her origins, he held out the phone and she tucked it between her ear and her shoulder.

Natasha Romanov disliked unexpected interruptions, and she knew that Coulson knew that. She also knew that he was one of only two people who would interrupt and Agent Carter was on her own op, so she wasn't surprised to hear his voice.

"We need you to come in."

"Are you kidding?" Natasha asked. "I'm working."

"This takes precedence."

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation," Natasha said. "This moron is giving me everything."

"I don't … give everything," he muttered in English.

Natasha gave him a sceptical look, but turned her attention back to the phone. "Look, you can't pull me out of this right now."

"Natasha," Coulson said, and didn't that catch her attention.

Coulson never used her first name on the job.

Ever.

"Barton's been compromised."

Three words and the world seemed to stop spinning.

Only years of experience kept Natasha from reacting outwardly, other than a slight intake of breath.

Clint was the only person - man or woman - she had ever completely trusted to watch her back, and the first person she had ever trusted at all.

He was her partner, her best friend, the most loyal, dedicated person she knew … and he'd been compromised?

"Let me put you on hold," she said coolly, glancing at Luchkov. He stepped forwards to take the phone from her, and she took the opportunity to slam her foot into his knee and her head into his chest, knocking him to the floor.

Back at SHIELD, Coulson listened to the fight with little interest. He didn't feel too concerned about pulling Natasha back in - even less than he had when he had picked up the phone.

If Natasha was in 'interrogation', then she probably had the information she wanted and was just playing with her targets, which everyone who knew her knew was her favourite part of the mission.

Aside from being a viable candidate for the Avengers Initiative (and the council were not going to be happy about that), Natasha knew Clint better than anyone, even Phil, who had been the man's handler for years, and Peggy, who had practically adopted him; hopefully, she could break through whatever mind control Loki had invoked.

At the very least, she might be able to track him down.

Strike Team Delta had been the basis of the Avengers Initiative, along with Lady Liberty. Natasha's conditioning in the Red Room may have created a perfect assassin, but she was sometimes wasted in the field, even as special operative.

Clint had not undergone such conditioning, but he still had just as much potential.

Alone, they were deadly.

Together, they were impossible.

Natasha got to her feet, leaving both lackeys unconscious on the ground. As Luchkov began to struggle to his feet, she knocked him off balance, wrapped a loose chain around his ankle, and pushed him through the hole in the floor, leaving him hanging there for her clean-up team to find.

Scooping up her heels on the way out of the warehouse, she returned to Coulson. "Where is Barton now?"

"We don't know."

"But he's alive?" Natasha asked, relief filling her.

"We think so," Coulson said tentatively. "We need you to pull Carter out, then talk to the big guy."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Coulson, you know Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me."

"Oh, I've got Stark," Coulson said. "You get the Big Guy."

Natasha paused, realising who he meant, and muttered a Russian curse under her breath. "Phil, is that necessary?"

"Yes. The F-22 will fly you to Tibet, then Calcutta, and there'll be a briefing packet waiting for you so you can fill them in."

Natasha sighed. "Great."

May 2012, Tibet

In a few moments, the monsters running the trafficking ring would realise that something had gone wrong, that they should not all be at the shipping yard at the same time.

By that point, it would be too late for any of them.

At times like this, Peggy's state of awareness was sky high, but even she flinched when Natasha appeared silently beside her.

The two women didn't speak, despite Peggy's curiosity, but then they didn't exactly have time to.

With timing so perfect that Natasha could have planned it (and maybe she had, one could never be sure), the eight men caught sight of each other and began to panic.

The two women didn't so much as glance at each other before springing into action; in a matter of minutes, their targets were lying motionless on the ground.

"Thank you for the help," Peggy said casually.

"You didn't need it," Natasha said. "But I was in the neighbourhood; figured I'd drop in."

"Yes, why are you in the neighbourhood?" Peggy asked. "You're supposed to be in Russia."

Natasha sighed. "There's been a … snag with PEGASUS."

Peggy's heart sank into her stomach and she gestured for Natasha to follow her away from the unconscious traffickers, to a place where they could talk privately but still keep an eye on them.

The SHIELD ground team would be by soon to clean up, but she wasn't taking any chances. "What kind of snag?"

"The kind that leaves the base in a crater, kills forty-eight agents, and leaves the Tesseract in Loki's hands," Natasha said flatly.

Peggy cursed loudly, and Natasha waited patiently for her to tell her exactly what they should have told the Council when the idea was first suggested, made several speculations about Loki's background and parentage, and described in great detail what she'd like to do to him.

By the time she'd finished, Natasha was looking mildly impressed. "Was that last part anatomically possible?"

"I'll make it possible," Peggy muttered. "What aren't you telling me? Are Phil and Clint alright?"

Natasha's composure slipped a little. "They're both alive. But from what I can gather, Loki has some kind of sceptre and he used it to … recruit Clint and Erik Selvig."

"Recruit?" Peggy repeated, her heart sinking. "What do you mean, recruit?"

"I'm not sure," Natasha said. "The way Fury described it, it's like they've been … possessed. They're working for him now."

That, she could work with.

It was better than dead.

"You're my extraction?" Peggy asked.

"Not exactly," Natasha said. "There's a quinjet coming in half an hour with a debriefing packet, but Coulson thought you'd take it better coming from me. I'm heading for Calcutta to find Dr Banner, but if you want to talk to Captain Rogers before the shit hits the fan, you'll want to get straight back to New York. I have to go."

Peggy caught her hand before she could leave. "Nat. We're going to get him back."

"I know," Natasha said, but she didn't meet Peggy's eyes.

"Hey," Peggy said softly, touching her cheek to regain her attention. "We are going to get him back."

Natasha managed a small smile. "I know," she repeated. "I know we'll get him back. It's what state he'll be in when we do that's worrying me."

Peggy's own heart ached at the thought, but she kept her face blank (even though Natasha probably read it in the set of her shoulders) and pressed a soft kiss to Natasha's forehead. "We'll get him back and we'll work with him. We got you back; we'll get him back."

Natasha nodded, and Peggy released her, stepping back to allow her to leave.

"Oh, Nat?"

Natasha stopped a few feet away, turning back to face her, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"How'd the op go?" Peggy asked.

Natasha's lips quirked in a more genuine smile. "Got them."

Peggy grinned. "That's my girl."

May 2012, Calcutta

"Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that, and the Other Guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha?"

Natasha lowered her weapon, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

Banner didn't move, and she switched on her comm. "Stand down. We're good here."

No one responded, but she knew that the team of agents and soldiers outside had released their weapons at her order.

Banner gave her a smile. "Just you and me?"

Slowly she took a seat once more. "Technically, they're here for me, not you."

His smile became a little more genuine. "I don't blame you for being afraid. It scares me too."

"They gave me a variation of the serum," Natasha said bluntly. "In many ways, you remind me of how lucky I am."

It wasn't something she would normally admit to, but she could appreciate Bruce Banner's fears. He clearly had an excellent sense for half-truths, even if they weren't outright lies.

"And for the record," she added, remembering his earlier question, "I gave that little girl a decent amount of money and asked her to go and get you. I didn't threaten her, and she isn't a spy."

Banner nodded, sitting down opposite her. "But you started that young?"

Natasha met his eyes. "I'm used to my past. Most people get angry when I tell them about it."

"That bad, huh?"

"It's taken me time to come to terms with that," Natasha admitted. "Look, Doctor, you're right. Fury doesn't tell me everything. What I do know is that he has fought your corner since your accident, even if you're not aware of it. We just need to find that Cube."

"There's still something you're not telling me," Banner said, his voice even.

Natasha sighed. "There is," she admitted softly, removing her earpiece. "It's … delicate."

"I can keep a secret," Banner said.

Natasha hesitated a second more, then picked up her phone again and flicked to her photos. There was only one picture of her and Clint, because they weren't dating, but he had stolen her phone, told her to smile and taken a picture of the two of them.

Natasha should have deleted it by now, but she had never actually done so.

Now, she found herself grateful for it.

"This is my partner, Clint Barton," she said, pushing the phone across the table to him. "He's been … taken by Loki. Possessed in some way. We find the Tesseract, we find him. If I can get to him, I might be able to get him back. Others won't be so concerned."

Banner nodded. "You love him, don't you?"

"Love is for children," Natasha said immediately.

Banner raised an eyebrow. "Is that what they taught you?"

"He's my best friend," Natasha said. "He's the first person I ever trusted. That I could ever trust."

Banner gave another nod, passing her the phone back. "I don't want to get the Other Guy involved."

"If it does come to that," Natasha said, "I will personally get you out of there, orders be damned."

"In that case," Banner said, "when do we leave?"

May 2012, New York City

"War isn't won by sentiment, Director."

"No, it's won by soldiers."

With his last words to the World Security Council ringing in his ears, there was really only one place Nick Fury could go.

Despite the late hour, he knew from the unobtrusive tail that Steve Rogers was not at his SHIELD-issued apartment, but at the local gym, and he arrived just in time to see the super-soldier knock the punching bag right across the room.

This was clearly not a new problem, given the way the man sighed and merely hung up a new one and started again.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury asked.

Steve glanced up. "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating," Fury said. "Seeing the world."

Steve shook his head, abandoning the punching bag in favour of unwrapping the bandages around his hands. "When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

He didn't say that his situation would be easier with Peggy in New York and Fury didn't acknowledge it.

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury conceded. "Some very recently."

"Are you here with a mission, sir?" Steve asked.

"I am."

Steve smiled slightly. "Trying to get me back in the world."

"Trying to save it," Fury said, handing him the folder in his hands.

Steve opened it curiously, his breath catching at the picture of the electric blue cube. "HYDRA's secret weapon."

"Howard Stark fished that out of the water when he was looking for you," Fury said. "He thought what we think - the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

Steve frowned. "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki. He's …" Fury hesitated, just long enough to catch Steve's attention. "Not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything could surprise me," Steve muttered.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury said flatly.

Steve didn't respond, hoisting one of the punching bags on to his shoulder.

"There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment," Fury called after him. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

"You should have left it in the ocean," Steve said tersely.

Fury shook his head. That had gone fairly well, but then Rogers was the one he had been expecting to agree to help without any real trouble.

They had Carter and Romanov on board anyway; Romanov had convinced Banner to come and help them; and now all Coulson had to do was talk Tony Stark round.

It was unlikely to be easy, but if Coulson had any sense, he'd join forces with Pepper Potts.

God knew she was the one in charge around there.

May 2012, New York City

Much as Peggy had anticipated, once the adrenaline of the events of the Stark Expo had worn off, Pepper had chosen to remain at Stark Industries as CEO.

"With one condition," she had said firmly, "that you tell me everything - and I do mean everything - that's going on, so I know what to expect and what fires I need to put out."

After a killer first few weeks, things settled back to normal, and she found herself genuinely enjoying her new role.

Admittedly, she had already been partly running the company as Tony's PA, given the amount of time she spent making him go to meetings, summarising contracts, and filtering him over the years.

But now she actually had a say over decisions, and it was a few months before she made a suggestion she had been thinking about for a while.

People wanted the arc reactor technology and they weren't going to stop trying to get it.

So why not give it to them in a controlled manner?

Tony was completely behind the idea, and the construction of Stark Tower started in the middle of Manhattan, a ninety-three story triumph of modern architecture, which would hopefully (if all went according to plan) be powered solely by its own arc reactor.

Pepper already had a number of businesses lined up wanting to rent office space in the lowest ten floors, the next thirty floors were devoted to Stark Industries, the top ten were R&D, and the floors in the middle were private.

What Tony wanted with over forty private floors she didn't know, but she did know that there was a swimming pool, a gym, a spa (because she had once commented that she never had time to get a decent massage), and a lavish penthouse apartment that covered several floors and that he was pretending wasn't 'theirs' because "that would mean us actually living together, Pep, and we both know I'm not built for that kind of responsibility".

For the time being, however, she was watching about three different screens at once, keeping an eye on the various energy levels, waiting for Tony to finish his work at the bottom of the harbour, because if this didn't work, all other future plans were meaningless.

"Good to go on this end," he said over the headset. "The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transmission lines?" Pepper asked. "Are we off the grid?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

Pepper smirked. "Assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?"

"I assume," he responded, but she could hear him humouring her. "Light her up."

Pepper turned on the power again, shielding her eyes as the lights turned on. The computer in front of her had been running on battery power, but the rest of the room had been almost pitch black, lit only by the lights of the city outside the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

Now, as well as the interior lights, the electric blue glow of the sign adorning the Tower could be seen through the windows, and she smiled. "How does it look?"

"Like Christmas," Tony answered. "Only with more … me."

Pepper laughed. "We've gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign; you need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow, working on the zoning for the next three buildings …"

"Pepper, you're killing me here," he groaned, landing outside the tower. "The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Get in here and I will," she purred, ending the call.

"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line," JARVIS announced as Tony sauntered along the balcony, robotic arms reaching up from the floor to dismantle his armour.

"Tell him I'm not in," Tony said, as the helmet disappeared. "I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting …"

"Grow a spine, JARVIS," Tony said, stepping out of the boots. "I've got a date."

Pepper glanced up as he entered. "Power levels are holding steady," she said, chewing on her lower lip. "I think."

"Of course they are," Tony said dismissively, removing his earpiece and tossing it on to the desk. "I was directly involved. Speaking of which, how does it feel to be a genius."

Pepper laughed again, this time quiet and self-deprecating. "Well, I really wouldn't know, would I?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked. "All this came from you."

Pepper shook her head with a smile. "No. All of this came from that." She tapped the arc reactor in his chest and he caught her hand, kissing her fingertips.

"Give yourself some credit," Tony told her. "Please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself … twelve percent of the credit."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "Twelve percent?"

"An argument could be made for fifteen," Tony said hastily.

"Twelve percent?! Of my baby?!"

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting," Tony said, following her across the living room. "Literally. I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

Pepper shook her head with a fond smile, too used to Tony's foot-in-mouth habits to maintain her anger, pouring them both a glass of champagne.

"My private elevator."

"Our elevator," Pepper said.

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen." Tony paused, his words catching up with him. "I'm gonna pay for that percentage comment in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

Pepper handed him a glass with a sweet smile. "It's not gonna be that subtle."

"Tell you what," Tony said. "The next building is gonna say Potts on the tower."

"On the lease," Pepper said.

Tony sucked in a breath. "Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

Pepper laughed, but her response was drowned out by JARVIS.

"Sir, the telephone … I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden."

"Mr Stark, we need to talk!"

Tony sighed, grabbing his cell phone. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark," he said flatly, causing Pepper to almost snort her champagne. "Please leave a message."

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently …" Tony began, trailing off as the elevator doors opened. "Security breach! It's on you," he added to his girlfriend, who ignored him.

"Mr Stark," Coulson greeted.

"Phil!" Pepper said warmly. "Come in!"

"Phil?" Tony repeated.

"I can't stay," Coulson told her apologetically, stepping out into the living room.

"His first name is 'Agent," Tony said, following Pepper over to the elevator.

"Come on in," Pepper repeated. "We're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony muttered.

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible," Coulson told him, holding out a tablet.

Tony eyed it with no shortage of trepidation. "I don't like to be handed things."

"That's fine," Pepper said, "because I love to be handed things, so let's trade." She took the tablet, handing Coulson her champagne, and took Tony's drink from him instead, pushing the computer into his hands. "Thank you."

Tony rolled his eyes as Pepper gave Coulson a conspiring smile. "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

"It's not a consultation," Coulson said grimly.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked. "Which I know nothing about," she added hastily.

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought," Tony said, taking the tablet over to his computer "And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper said, honestly this time.

Tony snorted. "Apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others?"

"That I did know," Pepper said, expecting to get a smile from Phil. She did, but a rather preoccupied one, and her sense of concern grew a little more.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson said.

"Whatever," Tony muttered. "Ms Potts, got a second?"

Pepper sighed. "Half a mo," she said, crossing the floor to join Tony.

"I thought we were having a moment," he murmured.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment," Pepper said flatly. "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

"How would you know if it's … Why is he Phil?"

"What is all this?" Pepper asked.

"This is …" Tony heaved a sigh. "This." With a quick gesture, various screens formed holographs in the air, information about the Avengers Initiative, Loki, and a strange glowing cube that seemed far too important to be missing.

"I'm gonna take the jet to DC tonight," Pepper whispered.

"Tomorrow," Tony said.

Pepper shook her head. "You have homework. You have a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony asked.

"If you didn't?" Pepper repeated. "You mean when you've finished? Well …" she leaned in closer, her lips just brushing his ear. "I'll have much more than twelve percent of a moment, in a black and lacy number I'm sure you'll approve of."

As she pulled back, he swallowed hard and nodded. "Square deal; fly safe."

Pepper gave him a knowing smile and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Will that be all, Mr Stark?"

I love you.

Tony nodded. "That will be all, Miss Potts."

I love you too.