Chapter 4
"Two hours, Stark" said Natasha. "I was gone for two hours and you managed to lose the ghoul."
Tony pursed his lips and glanced at his newly jarred friend. It couldn't get him out of this one. With a strained smile, he tried to plead his case.
"I didn't know he blew a hole in the wall! Besides, he couldn't have gotten far even if he got into a different section of the complex. It'll take him at least a few more hours to even find a passage to the surface, so he's still in here. Somewhere."
She grabbed his arm a bit more forcefully than necessary.
"Find him," she ordered.
Tony didn't need to be told twice. He settled into a seat in front of the computer and skimmed through the security footage. However, Kaneki could have gone in a number of directions and there were a lot of video feeds to go through. This building had been designed to have dozens of people watching for security, as well as patrols going through at regular intervals. Since it was abandoned, there were no patrols and there was no one to back him up besides Natasha who had already taken a seat at another computer station in the security room, trying, just like Tony, to find Kaneki.
Despite the amount of security footage available, a solid percentage of it was out of order and there were many areas that were dangerous or compromised. Some sections of the complex had collapsed and were now completely inaccessible due to neglect. Now, some of Fury's people came by from time to time to do checkups on the rest of the building since Fury liked keeping places like these handy. Just in case. But there were major repairs that needed to be done for the building to ever be considered as a center where people were actually employed and be able to function as it was supposed to. That meant that there a lot of blind spots that Tony couldn't check at all because the security cameras were damaged or buried under rubble and soil.
Fortunately, the minor maintenance done by Fury's people ensured that the parts of the building they were using were perfectly safe. And all the collapsed passages were hundreds of feet underground with no other way out. He knew as well as Natasha that there was no way out through the collapsed tunnels. Kaneki would need to use the elevator to get out.
After a few minutes of mind-numbing clicking through of video, he finally found him. Kaneki was wandering through the hallways, absently trying to find the exit. He was remarkably close and if the building had been properly maintained it would have been just a few corridors down from where they were. However, the path was blocked. The only way to have gotten there would have been through by going around the entire floor. And it was huge. This guy was really fast.
"I've got him, Nat," he told her, "He's not that far from here, but the access is blocked. We'll have to take the long way around. Otherwise, we could try to clear out some of the rubble to get through. Either should take about 45 minutes."
After a moment of thought, Natasha came to a decision.
"We'll go around. He'll need to turn back once he hits the dead end. If he passes the shortcut before we're done clearing the rubble, we might lose him again."
With that decided, Natasha went after Kaneki while Tony stayed in the surveillance room to keep an eye on the video feed. If anything happened, he could alert her through her earpiece.
Tony groaned. The reason he made a metal suit that could shoot beams of energy wasn't to get benched as a watchman. It was to be in the middle of the action! But right now Natasha wasn't happy with him and he had messed up...
So, for now, Natasha was the boss. And the boss had decided to bench him.
He watched Kaneki wandering down the halls. He must have gone quite fast to have gotten as far as he did, but now he was walking, carefully looking for an exit.
On a different screen, Natasha walked quickly through hallway after hallway. After a few minutes, she slowed at an intersection, face blank.
"To your left," said Tony through the earpiece, map of the floor in hand.
"Thanks, Tony," she said.
Yes, thought Tony, I think that means I'm out of the doghouse!
After minute after minute of agonizing boredom, Natasha finally reached Kaneki who hadn't yet reached the dead end.
She snuck up to him quietly, but something must have given her away because he moved out of her reach and spun into a kick that sent her flying into the wall.
He was fast. Faster than her and maybe faster than Cap. She thought one of her ribs was broken. Now she knew for sure that she had only managed to capture him by catching him by surprise. Coughing up blood, she made to stand up.
He was on her in an instant, wild and vicious. He grabbed her by the throat, cutting off Natasha's air. She struggled against him and managed to bring up her knee between them. She tried to kick him off, but only managed to stun him long enough to slacken his grip. She pushed herself up away from him as he lunged for her again.
"Stop this," she said, redirecting his blow.
He threw another.
She deflected it again and spun out of the way, bracing herself for his next attack.
"We can help each other," she said, "I have something you want."
Kaneki hesitated then.
"What..." he said in a harsh whisper, "do you think I could possibly want from you?"
"Information," said Natasha, "I have information on Dr Kanou. I believe you've met?"
Kaneki sucked in a breath. Natasha could tell he was really listening to her now. He relaxed his stance a bit.
"What do you want?" he asked.
And wasn't that question just music to Natasha's ears?
"Your cooperation. I'm from an organization called SHIELD who protects the earth from threats to humanity. We could use your help. Help us with our enemies and we'll help you with yours."
For a second, she thought he would agree. For just a fraction of a second he looked tempted. But when he looked her in the eye, all steel, she knew she had lost him.
"Hilarious," he said.
Then he walked away from her and back down the hallway for the exit.
Natasha followed after him down the hall, trying not to trip over any loose tiles or look at the stains on the walls too closely.
"I wasn't joking," she said, trying to get him to turn around to talk to her again. He kept walking.
"Go away. Before I change my mind about letting you live."
"You're telling me you don't want the information I have on Kanou?"
"I'm saying I don't want to work with someone who has hurt me."
There was really no getting around that, was there?
It seemed Natasha was to have to, and she mentally gagged at the thought, apologize.
"Look, I was a bit... hasty, alright? I didn't know what or who you were and I was..." she hesitated, "...afraid. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I still think we could work together."
Kaneki actually stopped then and turned to her.
"I've developed some terrible habits in the pas few months," he told her, "Cannibalism, for one. A terrible dependency on caffeine, for another. But perhaps my worst habit is forgiving those who have tried to hurt me."
Natasha was dancing internally.
"I have some conditions," he said. "You are going to let me out of here. You will share all of your information on Kanou with me. And, you will not hurt my friends. Understood? In exchange, I can help you with your own enemies."
"You have yourself a deal, Mr Kaneki," she said.
The comm in her ear buzzed to life.
"What are you doing?!" hissed Tony's voice, finally having lost patience. She muted her comm.
Meanwhile, Kaneki continued down the hall.
"Please do come along, Romanova-san. It'll be much easier to get out with your pass than by punching my way passed the doors. To that freedom you promised me just now."
Shit. She did promise that, didn't she? But what would stop him from just leaving? No one in their right mind would come back to help someone who had tortured them. And she was hardly the only person who knew about Dr Kanou. She had only just gotten to Tokyo and the information they had was still sparse. Doubtless, there were other sources of information he could turn to.
Fury wouldn't like this at all.
But... all of them had had a chance to walk away. Every one of the Avengers could have turned away, but when the time had come they had chosen the Avengers.
Kaneki needed to have the chance to walk away too.
Even if he was a monster.
And well, the rest of them were monsters too, each in their own way. Even Natasha...
Especially Natasha.
She took the pass in her jacket and a copy of the map she had kept and gave them to Kaneki.
"We'll be waiting for you," she said.
He gave her a thin smile, took the items from her, and walked away from her.
This time, she didn't follow him.
When he disappeared around the bend, she went back to Tony.
