Tony's POV

Tony was tired. He had been up all night in his lab working on updating his suits. Right now he was tinkering with the repulsors. The stun blast needed to be a little stronger, but not using up a lot of power at the same time. He was so engrossed in his work he didn't see Rhodey come in. And the music was blaring at full volume, so he didn't hear him either.

"Tony!" yelled Rhodey. He kept working on the repulsors. Rhodey grabbed his shoulder.

"Tony!" he said.

"Go away Rhodes. I'm in the middle of something," Tony said.

"You need to see this."

He held his phone up to Tony to show him a video.

CNN

"This is Anderson Cooper with CNN bringing you breaking news from the Netherlands. Last night in Amsterdam, an apartment complex was bombed killing at least 57 people inside. This comes in the wake of a cafe employee, Isabella Locke, being kidnapped by ex-Avenger Natasha Romanoff who is the believed to have locked Locke in one of the apartments and detonated the bomb from there. Ms. Romanoff was confirmed to be living in the apartment and working at the same cafe as Locke by their employer Anika Stovostein under the name Lotte Smitt. Authorities identified her with a sample from a bloody handprint on the wall of the cafe. Let's hear a statement from Ms. Stovostein. Hello Ms. Stovostein. I know that this is a shock to you and the city of Amsterdam. Please, tell us about Ms. Romanoff." said Anderson.

"Thank you Anderson. Lotte, erh I mean Ms. Romanoff came into my cafe three months ago after seeing my sign on the window about a job. She told me that she was fired from an old job because she was in a workers union that protested a new contract for her job. She said that the contract limited their labor rights and if they didn't sign it, they'd be fired. She said that she signed it but because she was in the union they fired her. I see now that she was referring to the Accords. She was a hard worker. She didn't really talk to the other employees that much, maybe in fear of getting too close to them," Isabella said.

"Did you see any hostility towards you are any of your employees from her?" Anderson asked.

"No. When she did address us, she seemed to, um, I don't know how to explain it, but it wasn't unfriendly. She treated us with respect. I just thought that she wasn't a social butterfly."

"Did she ever give off any hints, any clues, about who she was? Any changes in her demeanor? Something off about her? I know that she's a world renowned spy and all, but was there a point that she may have slipped up."

"No. She's apparently really good at her job. Keeping her cover and…" she hesitated, her voice cracking. A tear slipped down her face. "And killing. Spreading destruction. What she did to Isabella. What she did to those people in that apartment building. It's just horrible what she did. What she does. Killing innocent people and not even batting an eye."

"This must be hard for you to imagine, especially since you were personally affected. After all this, are you still going to be operating your cafe? I know you are two employees short now because of this. And the popularity of places after a crime happens seems to drop."

"Yes, but not because of the employee or business drop. I'm afraid that it will bring back memories. Haunt me like a ghost. I just can't be around it anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, thank you for your time Ms. Stovostein," said Anderson.

"Your welcome, sir. Have a good day."

"Well that was Anika Stovostein. After the break, we will have a statement from the US Secretary of State Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. This is Anderson Cooper with CNN. See you after the break."

Tony's POV

The lab was silent as Tony and Rhodey looked at the screen. Rhodey looked at Tony expecting him to say something about it.

"Nat's in some real deep shit now," said Tony. He kept looking at the screen. "Is this live?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised we haven't heard anything from Ross yet," Rhodey said.

"Sir, you have an incoming video call from Secretary Ross," said FRIDAY.

"Answer it FRIDAY," said Tony.

"Not gonna put him on hold."

Tony laughed "Nah. Not today."

Ross' appeared on a hologram screen. He looked a little flushed.

"You look a little annoyed, Secretary Ross. Having Avengers problems?" asked Tony.

"Mr. Stark. Colonel Rhodes. I take it you know about the situation with Ms. Romanoff," said Secretary Ross.

"Um, yeah. It's kinda the number one news at the moment. We also know that you're giving a statement to the press. Nice suit by the way. Can you please explain to me on why didn't you call us earlier?" Tony asked.

"I was occupied at the moment," Ross said annoyed.

"Yeah, government stuff," said Tony.

"What are we going to do about Romanoff," Rhodey seriously asked. Unlike Tony, he was more capable of being serious without inserting jokes between the banter. Most the time.

"The UN is placing a kill order on her. She's to be dead on sight. We're not having another repeat of Barnes," Ross said.

"Do you have any idea where she is?" asked Rhodey.

"No."

"Then you're probably not going to find her," Tony said smugly. "You'll only find Natasha is she wants to be found. And at the moment, she doesn't."

"There's only so long she can hide before someone spots her. They'll either call the police or kill her," said Ross.

"Try to kill her. They might end up dead. Trust me you're never going to catch her."

"Why do you think I'm calling you, Tony?" asked Ross.

"To inform him of the situation." said Rhodey.

"No, for Tony to use his tech to find her. Possibly take her down too."

"Me? Why do I have to do it?"

"Because the UN told you to. And because you signed the Sokovia Accords, you have to do it. And I figured you didn't want anyone else using your tech."

Tony looked at Rhodey for support.

"He's right, Tony," Rhodey said.

"Fine."

"Thank you Tony. Have a nice day." The hologram disappeared.

"FRIDAY, play Ross' statement on CNN," Tony said.

"Yes, sir."

A hologram displayed itself from the box on the table.

CNN

"Welcome to CNN. This is Anderson Cooper following up with Secretary of State Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross to talk about Natasha Romanoff following the bombing at an apartment complex in Amsterdam killing 57 people. Welcome Secretary Ross, how are you?" Anderson asked him.

"Honestly I'm a little frustrated today, courtesy of Ms. Romanoff."

"I believe a lot of people are at the moment. Tell me, what was your reaction to the news because no one saw it coming."

"It was quite unexpected. This woman was in hiding for three months, and then I suddenly get the news that she's in Amsterdam and is behind not only a bombing, but a kidnapping as well. "

"Now you've met Ms. Romanoff. Is there anything about her personality that you can see leading her to this attack."

"She tries to test the rules. Finding loopholes. Interpreting them in her own way. Getting her to follow orders is a struggle. She's stubborn and headstrong. Ms. Romanoff also intimidates her teammates, threatening them with knives, guns, anything around her. She has trust issues. She doesn't trust her team, and they don't trust her back. Even the man that brought her in, Clint Barton, doesn't trust her. It's such a shame. She has secrets on top of secrets. A web of lies. And let's not even get started on that shady past of hers."

"That is the true Natasha Romanoff, wow. As we know because of the data dump Ms. Romanoff herself orchestrated a few years ago, she used to work for the KGB. Her missions with them including killing not only targets but innocent people. She set a whole children's ward on fire in a hospital to kill a target while making it look like an accident. She not only killed the target but 47 children, 53 visitors, and 19 nurses and doctors. She killed children. Then one of her targets named Dreykov, a rich Russian property owner working in the black market on the side, he was playing with his six year-old daughter, Lada, outside in their garden. Romanoff pounced on Dreykov, shot him in the head. His daughter watched in horror. She didn't leave witnesses. Romanoff snapped the girl's neck as she pleaded for her not to kill her. São Paulo. Natasha set off a dirty bomb in a office building were a man who had stolen information from the Red Room worked. Killed 219 people and injured 102 more. You see, this woman is very capable of killing a large amount of people and innocents with batting an eye. It isn't hard to think about how she could do this."

"Wow, from those three attacks 340 deaths and 442 casualties in all from them. There are other missions that increase her kill count. One last question before I let you go. What actions will be taken to find Ms. Romanoff?"

"From what I can tell you, she is currently wanted by 117 countries in the UN who will be sending operatives to take her down and to track her location."

"Thank you for your time Secretary Ross."

"My pleasure. Have a good day Mr. Cooper."

"You too. This is CNN and I'm Anderson Cooper. I'll see you after the break with more news on Natasha Roma-"

Tony's POV

Tony turned the hologram off. He turned and looked at Rhodey.

"Well that couldn't have gone worse," Rhodey said.

"Ya think."

"What else was I supposed to say. He just destroyed her reputation. Threw her under the bus."

"He twisted everything," Tony said.

"Ross hates her."

"You don't think I don't know that. I mean he just raked her name through the mud. Sure the missions were true, but does he know how many times I find her making a late night cup of coffee in the kitchen because if she goes to sleep, nightmares plague her mind. Or if they're really bad how many bottles of vodka I've seen her go through in one sitting because sometimes she just wants to drink so much that she can forget for a few hours."

Flashback

The tower was quiet. It was about two-thirty in the morning. Only Tony, Bruce, and Natasha were in the tower tonight. Tony was working on a project with Bruce in the lab. He decided to go on a snack run for them. He walked in the kitchen to get a granola bar from the pantry where he found Natasha sitting on a bar stool surrounded by vodka bottles. There were about 3 empty bottles of vodka and one was in the process of being chugged by Natasha. He was walking towards her to make sure she was okay when she threw an empty vodka bottle at him. It ended up landing by his feet hitting the floor instead, shattering. Glass was all over the ground in front of him.

"You're cleaning that up," Tony said.

He walked around the glass and pulled out a stool by Natasha. She looked up at him, giving him a killer look. Except Tony noticed that her eyes looked sad and fearful. They were like as if she was crying, along with tear streaks down her face. He had never seen her like this before. Or seen her drink so much. It was four bottles of vodka. He noticed the broken seals on the bottles, showing that they were new bottles. I know Russians know how to handle their alcohol, but this was too much.

"Hey, you okay," he asked concerned.

She nodded. "I'm fine." Her voice was raspy.

He laughed. "Bullshit Nat and you know that. Tell me the truth."

Natasha looked away to examine one of the empty vodka bottles. She reached for another bottle, but Tony grabbed her arm. She gave him a look, which he challenged with one of disapproval. Then worry clouded his eyes. This wasn't normal for her.

"Nightmares," she said quietly. "I can't go back to sleep. They're to real."

She looked down at the ground in shame. To her, being so vulnerable, it was a weakness. Tony lifted her head with his hand.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"My past."

"You're trying to forget," Tony said. "I do this too sometimes."

Natasha smiled.

"Drinking makes it worse," he said.

She chuckled. "I know. But it makes me feel like I'm doing something."

Tony embraced her in a hug. She didn't return it, but sunk in his body a little more. "Hey, the team and I are here to help you. I don't want one of us to find you dead on the floor one morning because of alcohol poisoning."

"My body can take it."

"Keep telling yourself that," he said sarcastically. "Don't let your guilt fester in your mind. It'll slowly drive you insane. Believe me, I've seen it happen to the best of us."

"Okay."

He grabbed her hand and led her off the stool.

"Come with me down to the lab. You can hang out with me and Bruce, so you won't be alone. Find you something to do. JARVIS can help you improve your hacking skills."

"What's wrong with my current hacking skills."

"Nothing. They're adequate, but everything can improve. And I need to make sure you're doing something productive," Tony said.

"I guess I have nothing better to do. We're out of vodka in this kitchen," Natasha said.

"And you don't need anymore. I'm surprised that you're not drunk. Grab some granola bars though. Bruce is hungry."

Natasha grabbed the box of granola bars from the pantry, so Bruce could choose which flavor he wanted since she didn't know. Tony took some bottles of water to take down with them.

"You good," Tony asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." She smiled.

"Sir, Dr. Banner, and a quote,"Where is my frickin granola bar?" said JARVIS.

"Tell him we're on our way down," Tony said.

"Are we just gonna leave glass on the floor?" Natasha asked him as they passed it on the way out of the kitchen. They boarded the elevator to go to the lab.

"I'll make Dummy clean it."

End of Flashback

"And with the rules thing. I would be questioning too authority after all she's been through. I may not know her as well as you do Tony, but from what I've heard about her past I can see why she doesn't want to talk about it," Rhodey said.

"He was kind of right on the trusting thing. Natasha was hard to trust after she spied on me. And hard to trust her now after the Steve and Bucky fiasco."

"She saved your life though."

"Yeah, I guess."

Rhodey laughed. "Guess that's not a big deal."

"The web of lies and secrets argument isn't going to hold up though. I mean she's a spy. You can't exactly tell everyone everything."

"The press and the people are dumb enough to believe it so it'll hold up."

"Do you think she deserves this?"

"Part of me does, part of me doesn't."

"Tony!" Rhodey scolded. He was in disbelief

"Sorry it's true. I mean if she stopped Steve and Bucky from getting on the quinjet instead of shooting T'Challa, you wouldn't of had to fly after it and get shot out the sky."

"Oh my God you're unbelievable. That was not completely her fault. You vouch for her one second then say she deserves this a second later."

"Forget it how about we just get started on trying to find her."

"We're actually gonna do this?"

"Yeah. I mean do you want the UN even further up our asses?"

"No."

"Okay then, let's get started."

"Fine."

"And drinks."

"No. We're working sober."

"Okay." Tony pulled out a bottle of scotch from a drawer anyway.

"I just said no."

He ignored him. I need it more than you think, Rhodes. "Name a random place to start with."

"Natasha's originally from Russia. Maybe she went there," Rhodey said. "I mean it makes the most sense."

"She hates Russia."

"It's a start Tony. Besides, we can get the biggest country out the way."

"Russia it is." Tony raised his bottle of scotch. Why are we starting with the biggest country in the world?

Author's Note: Hey another filler chapter, look at that. Sorry I just keep adding things in the middle of story. I hope most of y'all read this chapter and aren't confused later on the story. Anyway, this is the other chapter from today's two chapter update so enjoy! Thanks for sticking with me while I sort this story and my life out. :)