Chapter Ten: Arrival of the Thunderbolt

Silence was not something Tony handled well. Whether it was an awkward silence, or the silence of his bedroom at night. Somehow sitting in the Quinjet with Natasha felt like both. He watched Natasha as she sat with her eyes closed and her arms folded over her chest. "I don't like this," Tony finally broke the silence, knowing that Natasha wasn't truly sleeping. Though she kept up the rouse anyway, which only served to irritate Tony. "We both know damn well you aren't sleeping! Now open your eyes and talk to me!" Tony demanded.

Her eyes opened, but she did not look at Tony. "It doesn't seem like you like anything that has to do with me spending time with Peter." She had told Tony that she'd invited Peter to the fundraiser, where they were both expected to be. It had seemed harmless at the time, but Tony had been adamantly against it for the start.

"Batroc is on the loose somewhere in New York," Natasha rolled her eyes and shook her head. "This is serious, Nat!" Tony affirmed, finding her defiant attitude more than a little annoying. He was doing his best to have an adult conversation about this and Natasha was not making it easy on him.

"Georges Batroc is not what you are afraid of you fucking narcissist." Tony sat back in his seat, shocked by her sudden burst of anger. "You're just worried that-" Natasha stopped herself before she said anything she might regret later. Natasha had her fill of making rash decisions for awhile so she closed her eyes and thought carefully about what to say next.

Too her surprise, Tony didn't fire back with an insult. Or bring up her past as a way to justify an attempt to keep her and Peter apart. He was, for what seemed like the first time in all the years she'd known, quiet. Natasha wasn't sure where to go from there, she had grown so used to their clashing that it felt unnatural to not be caught in an argument.

"He deserves better." Pepper's words echoed in Tony's mind. Tony was afraid of losing Peter, more than afraid. He was absolutely terrified losing him. And he was in fact afraid of Batroc and Peter being in the same city. But Pepper and Happy were right, he didn't have the right keep Natasha from Peter. And he was trying desperately to be the man that the Spiderling deserved.

"You know, I've never spent a Christmas with him." Natasha wore a wry smile as she spoke, and her voice carried a sadness Tony had never heard in it. Natasha didn't believe in anything, and holidays had seemed pointless to her for as long as she could remember. But still the fact that she'd never enjoyed such a simple thing with her only child gnawed at her.
Tony stared at Natasha, wanting to comfort her, but not really knowing how. Natasha had always been of a lone wolf; never one to rely on others.

He opened his mouth to speak, not even sure what was going to come out. But hoping it'd be something encouraging. "We've arrived." Friday came over the speaker, interrupting the pair. Peter was already at the compound, having been flown up the night before so Natasha and Tony's talk was being cut short. Tony was... Disappointed, actually. Their relationship while not exactly where he wanted or needed it to be, was starting to feel far less counterproductive.

"Well, you'll get to this year." Tony smiled at her slightly before getting up from his seat. The Black Widow kept up a front of indifference until the ramp dropped and Tony exited the aircraft. Allowing out an exhale of excitement and a wide smile to spread across her face. Her heart was skipping in her chest.


"This is bad, Georges." Justin paced back and forth in front of Batroc, who did his best to conceal the unbearable headache that had came and never gone away. "This is really fucking bad! Your scrap with spider-boy or whatever the fuck his name is was one thing. Put Captain fucking America is snooping around your allies!?" Batroc let the high strung Hammer rant for what felt like an eternity. He was aware of the seriousness of the situation they found themselves in but wanted to be the voice of reason to his spastic comrade. "What are we going to do!?" Hammer finally prompted him to reply.

"We do what most people do when they see a wanted criminal," He shrugged the response. As if it should have been obvious. "We report it to the FBI, the CIA, whoever else we think might be interested." Batroc smiled slightly.

"You actually think that'll work?" Justin had never considered using the law to his advantage. Considering he was a convicted felon himself and had helped a murderer escape prison it didn't seem the law would ever be in his favor.

"Steve Rogers is one of the most wanted men on the planet, certainly more wanted than me." As absurd as that was, even to him, it was true. The man that had helped beat back Loki and the Chitauri army, and stopped HYDRA from taking over the planet... Was a wanted criminal. Georges almost laughed at the absurdity of it, but he realized Justin was still watching him. Stilling silently begging him to make the situation feel less dire. "One guy getting pinched isn't the end of the world." He tried to reassure him with a light chuckle.

It was almost enough to be reassuring. Almost. "They'll just delay the inevitable." Justin had little faith in the Feds ability to successfully track and capture Rogers and Barton. They'd evaded capture for this long, after all.

"They won't catch us in time," Georges, forever confident in his plan switched out of his previous more playful demeanor. "Thaddeus Ross will slow them down just enough for our plan to be set. And then," He grinned wickedly at the thought. "Their heros will be in the ground and I'll be gone." He'd played this out in his head a hundred times.

"And where does that leave me?" Justin asked the only question that he could think of.

"Everyone that could link you to this will be dead, or a millionaire."


The Quinjet's arrival was something that was practically impossible for Peter to ignore. But he did his best to anyway, busying himself with working on his web shooters at the kitchen counter of the common area. They required constant maintenance, and pulling them apart distracted him from the anxiety of being there with Natasha and Mr. Stark. He figured they'd be at each other's throats before lunch.

"You know we have a workshop, right Mr. Parker?" Tony announced his entrance to the room. Peter's eyes came up to Tony as he went to the cabinet and began his usual search for a snack.

"Yeah." Peter lied. He'd spent all of 5 minutes at the compound last time they were there. How the hell was he supposed to know where anything was? Peter stopped working on the web shooter and began watching Tony. Searching for rigidness in his posture and tensing muscles. Looking for any signs of irritation or anger. Too his surprise, and relief, he saw nothing.

"Is Natasha here?" Peter knew the answer to his own question, but he probed anyway. The teen half expected Tony to make an offhanded remark about Natasha. Something about her spying on them, or plotting against him.

"Sure am." Natasha answered, rounding a corner and entering the kitchen. Peter froze for a moment, noticing she was dressed in workout gear, with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. He forced his eyes back down to the device on the table, and once again began disassembling it. The sound of his heart beating was deafening and he could feel his hands getting clammy. There was a feeling of frustration settling into him while he worked. They'd been fine just a few days before and now he felt sick with anxiety.
Partly because Mr. Stark was there, but mostly because Natasha was there.

A light kick of the chair brought Peter back to reality, and to Natasha who was standing next to him. "Let's go." She nodded her head to the right as she spoke.

"G-Go?" Peter stammered slightly. "Go where?" The nervousness in his voice was impossible to miss.

"Training session. I've been slacking off and you could use the training. No weapons, so leave your little web things." She stated simply, walking away without waiting for Peter to follow her. Peter's eyes instinctively went to Tony, who had been watching them while throwing handfuls of blueberries into his mouth. Tony realized quickly that Peter was looking to him for his approval before following.
Tony smiled warmly, stilling chewing his snack. Peter turned quickly and jogged after Natasha who had already entered the training room.

The room was a large and windowless, the floors covered in blue mats from wall to wall. There were 6 punching bags hanging from the wall to his left, and the room was very hot. Uncomfortably hot, and Peter could already feel his clothes clinging to him. Peter took a tentative step forward. "No shoes on the mat!" Natasha called over to him, and the boy immediately retreated back onto the hardwood floor.

"Sorry." He apologized, removing his shoes and socks before stepping back onto the mats. The mats beneath his feet were cool, and he could feel himself sticking to them.

Natasha watched the boy, with a small smile on her face. "You ready, kiddo?" Peter's head snapped up from his feet at the sound of her voice.

"What are we doing?"

"Like I said, training. Now start running."

The pair spent the next hour and a half alternating between workouts from running, to sit ups, to jumping jacks, to push ups and back to running. And everything in between.
Peter rested on his knee, catching his breath and getting a much needed drink of water. The workout hadn't exactly been rigorous, but even he was coated in a thin layer of sweat.
The alarm went off in his head, sending him scurrying backwards away from the perceived anger. His eyes found Natasha, who had a look of amusement and slight shock on her face. In front of where he'd been sitting there was a pair of martial arts gloves.

"What are these for?" His eyes darted back and forth between Natasha and the gloves.

"Training...?" Natasha gave him a confused look.

"But, we just got done training?"

Natasha stifled a giggle. "No, that was the warm up, kiddo." She wondered silently if Stark had ever actually trained with him. If he'd ever showed how to rely on himself if and when his tech failed. Or if he'd just given him said tech and called it a day. Knowing Tony, she found the latter to be more than likely.

Peter nervously slipped the gloves on and faced Natasha, who bounced from foot to foot.
"Ready?" She asked. Peter nodded, and Natasha snapped a jab forward at Peter, testing him. Peter retreated away from the punch and continued backwards until his shoulders hit the wall. A mistake that Peter instantly regretted as Natasha advanced and backed him further into the corner.

With one last swift step forward she seized him by the collar and the alarm went off in his head again but he was frozen. Natasha had a 2 inch blade pointed directly between his eyes.

He swallowed hard. "Y-you said no weapons..!" Peter was stunned, though he knew he probably shouldn't have been.

"Did I?" She faked a confused look. "I lied!" Natasha's voice was barely above a whisper and her eyes showed no malice or intention of harming him. But still, the knife didn't lower.

"But you-" Peter began to protest, feeling slightly betrayed.

"Your enemies aren't going to be honest with you!" She released his collar and gripped his shoulder. "Assume everyone has a weapon, and assume they all want to use it on you. And you will never be caught off guard by a gun or a knife being drawn on you." Peter didn't like that outlook on the world. That outlook on people. Not one bit. It was so pessimistic... So cold. And so far from his trusting nature that he couldn't fathom it.

Natasha released him and turned away from the boy, putting the knife back into it's holder. Peter pushed off the wall, and was met with a swift back kick into the stomach. Knocking him back against the wall.

"Guard up, kiddo!" She smiled at the teen who glared in response. The kick wasn't hard, and it didn't it. But it was annoying to the spiderling who had never trained like this... Or at all really. "C'mon, center of the mat. Don't pout." She said bouncing away from him and into the center of the room. Peter followed and watched her intently, analyzing her stance and movement.
It was far less rigid than Batroc's had been, and her hands weren't up like a traditional boxer. Instead they stayed low, near her hips. Ready, to evade and counter whatever the spiderling might throw at her. And she bounced on the balls of her feet with far more fluidity. Less hampered down by gravity.

The pair spent the next 2 hours working on all the things Natasha felt Peter should have learned from Tony by now. Not that she wasn't happy to be the one doing it, but it made her skin crawl knowing he'd been out there all this time without knowing how to really throw a punch.

"You okay?" Peter asked, noticing her water break was becoming more of her staring off into space.

Her eyes came back to the boy, a moment of dumbstruck awe washed over her. Her baby was here, and not just in spirit or in her dreams. "Yeah," Natasha smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's get back-" The door opening grabbed her attention.
Tony came through first, his face uncharacteristically stoic. A suited man entered behind him, and it took her minute to process who it was. "Ross!" She instinctively put herself between Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross and Peter.

"Mr. Secretary," Natasha spoke with the formality that was expected of her. Even if they all knew it was a front. "I'm surprised to see you." He ignored her, and glanced behind her to the boy.

"Who's this?" Ross asked, taking a few steps forward.

Natasha froze. The well crafted lie left her brain at the site of the man that had complete and total control of her. It was something about him being an intern...

"He's an intern," Tony came to the rescue, much to Natasha's relief. "A brilliant mind that I stumbled across." Ross didn't loom away from Peter. Eyeing the teen up and down, not buying what Tony was selling.

"Tell me, Stark," He took another few steps towards the boy until he was cut off by Natasha. Who simply just stepped into his path, her arms folded across her chest putting herself between them. He glared at her, angered by the younger woman's defiance. "Do interns usually train with agent Romanoff?"

"I fail to see who I train with is any of your business." Natasha stared straight through The Secretary of State. But he didn't falter, not the way most people would have.

"Everything you do is my business, Agent." Ross snarled and tried to side step her to get to Peter who retreated a step. Again, Natasha stepped in front of him. "Stand down." Ross ordered.

Peter's eyes flicked between the three of them. Natash's face, stoic and emotionless, Ross' face, twisted in anger and beet red. His eyes finally met Tony's, who paid Ross and Natasha no attention. "Don't run." Tony mouthed to the spiderling. Peter did as he was told and didn't run up the stairs and as far as his legs would carry him away from Thaddeus Ross.

"STAND DOWN!" He ordered again.

"Mr. Secretary?" Peter's timid voice drew both their attention. "I'm Peter Parker." He extended his hand to Ross, who shook it but eyed him suspiciously.

"Pleasure to meet you, Peter, now maybe you can explain what they won't." Ross pushed past Natasha, who didn't fight it this time. "Why would an intern be training with Natasha Romanoff? Aren't there more important and less dangerous things for an intern to be doing?" His eyes glance to the small drop of blood on his lower lip. Peter was quick to wipe the blood away.

Natasha watched the two anxiously. Peter had done rather well at concealing his secret identity from the world, but hiding it from Ross was another beast entirely.

"I've been getting picked on, in school." Peter's finger pressed one of the fading bruises on his face. "Natasha offered to teach me how to defend myself." Peter did his best to craft a convincing lie, one that he'd be able to remember if he was questioned again.

Natasha and Tony exchanged a look of relief, but knew this was far from over. And seemingly on queue, Ross turned his attention back to Natasha and Tony. "Do either of you know anything about Captain Rogers location?" Tony tensed at the question. He knew this wasn't a routine inspection, Ross had something.

Natasha shook her head slowly, her cold gaze locking on to Ross'. "How about you?" He turned attention fully to Tony. He knew Natasha well enough to know he'd get nowhere with her in this setting. "Do you know anything about Captain Rogers being spotted IN New York?" Ross began to inch closer to the reason behind his visit to the compound, a place he rarely ventured.

"Nothing." Tony kept his response short.

"Hm," Ross strolled around behind Natasha. Ross was a shark, and he smelled blood in the water. "Funny that you get spotted with 2 known accomplices of yours and your boss knows nothing about it." The interrogation continued. "Tell me where he is, Romanoff." He ordered in a low voice. Ross wanted all of the Avengers that remained on Earth locked up, but he'd settle for Cap and Natasha.

She shook her head slightly, kicking herself mentally for the mess she'd made. "You're guess is as good as mine, Mr. Secretary."

"I will have you thrown in a cell for the rest of your miserable life if you don't tell me where Rogers is right now." It was less of a threat and more of a promise. Ross had been looking for an excuse to have her arrested since she'd been pardoned.

"Do you have evidence?" Peter's timid voice drew Ross' attention; and his rage.

"What..?"

Peter swallowed hard. "Do you have evidence of the crimes you are accusing her of?" Peter had done hours and hours of research into American law when he started his vigilante work. Enough to not incriminate himself or be led into a trap by law enforcement, had they decided to come after him.

"Evidence?" Ross repeated. "I don't need evidence." He moved towards the teen, yanking his arm free from Natasha when she attempted to stop him.

"That's not how the law works."

"I AM the law."

"Nixon thought that too." Peter countered. "And look what happened to him." Ross leered over the much smaller teen. He was enraged by the boy's defiance and lack of respect of his position. But Peter wasn't backing down. "If there's nothing else, Mr. Secretary, I'd like to get back to training."

A small laugh escaped from Natasha, earning her a glare from Ross. Natasha bit down on her lip to hold back a prideful smirk, and shrugged her shoulders at him. Unlike Tony and herself, Ross had no jurisdiction over Peter, and he couldn't intimidate him into submission.

"I'll walk you out." Tony offered as Ross headed for the door.

Ross stopped as he passed Natasha and looked down at her; there wasn't anger in his eyes when he looked at her. Only a look of determination. Natasha was wise enough to keep her eyes down though. She was failing miserably to hide her smile and the last thing they needed was for Ross to see it. "I'll figure out who that boy is. Sooner or Later, Romanoff."

The door clicked shut behind Tony and Ross and Natasha couldn't hold her excitement for another second. "What was that?" She gripped his shoulders and stared into his dark brown eyes. Peter was quiet and timid, certainly not the type to stand up to one of the most powerful men on the planet. At least not without his suit and a mask concealing his identity. Peter smiled and shook his head, even he was amazed by what had just happened.

Natasha wrapped her arms around his thin shoulders and held him as close as she could. To her delight, Peter hugged her back.

His Uncle Ben had told him hundreds of times to stand up for himself, and for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. But that didn't always mean fighting, sometimes it meant just speaking out against something that was fundamentally wrong.
"He never got to see it." The adrenaline rush wore off, and Peter crashed back to reality. Peter released Natasha, and she did the same, feeling the change in the boy.

"I should shower." Peter backed away from her. His mind now solely on his Uncle Ben. "Thank you, for the training."

Natasha was confused, and slightly hurt. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask if she'd done something wrong. "A hug too much to ask for?" She thought back on him recoiling from her touch, and now pulling himself away from her embrace. She watched her son leave the room, and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She was frustrated, even if she knew she shouldn't be.

"It's not his fault that YOU left." Natasha reminded herself.


Bucky had a memory of the Tavern on the Green, or parts of a memory. Before the war, there was a man and woman with him, but he couldn't recall who they were. His parents, perhaps? He tried to grasp the memory, to bring it out of obscurity, the way Shuri had taught him. "You will not rid yourself of Hydra's brainwashing if you do not remember the man you were before it." The young genius' words echoed in his mind.

"Are you so sure that Batroc is going to go after them here?" Clint asked the Winter Soldier, still not trusting him the way Cap did. Or at all, really.

Bucky sighed and looked through his binoculars as people went about their business, blissfully unaware of their presence. "I would." He answered honestly. Silently picturing how he would carry out an attack on the upscale venue. For a solo operation, he'd almost certainly pick a high powered rifle and pick off his target from long range. But getting somebody in a crowded event from afar would be difficult on it's own. Not accounting for the panic and chaos that would surely ensue.

"An attack on the event itself then. This is going to get bloody..." Bucky lowered the binoculars knelt down behind the bushes. "Does Batroc have any known accomplices?"

"Dead or in prison." Steve sighed, they'd already been down that road and it didn't lead anywhere. "What is it, Buck?"

"What's the security at this thing like?"

"NYPD, mostly, and a few dozen private security guards." Steve paused. "And us." Steve wasn't sure that Batroc would attack his friends at the Fundraiser. But he'd be there to stop him if he did.

Bucky almost protested being present. He was one of the most wanted men on the planet, and still hadn't entirely rid himself of HYDRAS' brainwashing. Something that made him weary of crowds, and the public.
But Bucky fought off his impulse, and tried to remember the man he was before and what he would have wanted. He would want to stop Batroc. To protect the people who were going to be caught in the crossfire. To protect Tony Stark, and Natasha Romanoff.


Author's Note: Hey guys! First things first, I am really sorry for the wait and for making any of you guys worry that I wasn't going to be coming back. My life has been a bit hectic since the last update, so again I apologize!
So Natasha and Peter training together is something I visualized a lot and I was going to go more detailed but I felt it'd eat up a lot of time and not take the story anywhere so I left the majority of it on the cutting room floor. But I do still think it's important to show some of it. And I'm slowly moving Natasha and Tony's relationship forward to more level ground.
Also I want to clarify in case it wasn't clear Peter was trying to protect Natasha and Tony from Ross.

Ill try to update faster, and thank you everybody for being patient with me!
And rest in peace Stan Lee, who passed away 1 day after my last update.