[7thMay 2012.]
It had been two days since Eddard had foolishly given in to his desires. Natasha had immediately left even before he had woken up and he hadn't heard anything from her since.
Eddard had been worried about what he had done. So, he found Draco and asked him for advice.
Draco drawled in his silky voice, "The question is how do you see this going?"
"I think I screwed up by having sex with her."
"Oh yes, you screwed up. SHIELD most probably has started cloning you. You should start preparing to fight your evil twin." Draco mocked Eddard.
"That is something easily corrected, Draco. Creating something to wipe DNA out is not that difficult."
"Then what are you afraid of? That you committed coitus with a woman that has the moniker of 'Black Widow', a spider that kills its mate and if she did had a weapon capable of ending you, you would be dead even before you properly experienced post-nut clarity." Eddard winced at the eloquently put and insulting reply.
"She isn't evil, Draco. She was raised as an assassin."
"A person doesn't have to be evil, they just have to believe they are doing the right thing, mate."
"Her motive for wanting me dead?" Eddard snapped back.
Draco simply threw a magazine at Eddard's face.
"Power. Eddard, you refused orders from the senate mate, DC won't be friendly with us anytime soon. Her being a Russian ex-spy means you are on the same side." Draco said.
Eddard was about to say something when Draco continued, "Look Eddard, what do you want me to say? That she is a misunderstood person who hasn't killed hundreds directly and hundreds of thousands indirectly because the cold fact is she is a murderer, don't let your judgement be clouded by your fucking hormones, I am your friend and that is all I will say. Think over what I have said and seek her out only when you are sure you aren't biased due to them. As I promised you, I won't tell anybody in the order about it."
' The woman died in endgame to protect the bloody universe, how can anybody like that be evil.' Eddard thought desperately but a darker part of Eddard's mind whispered, ' Thanos also believed he was helping the world.' The thought brought a chill to his spine.
Eddard shook his head and thought that, since food distribution was at an all-time low due to most people leaving the place, he could dwell on thoughts that fueled his anxiety or just forget about them.
Eddard was about to walk out of the mansion's main door when it opened and Romanoff walked in.
"Who gave you the key to the mansion?" Eddard asked as his eyes narrowed.
She smiled, "Your friend Sophie did."
"Does she know? That we-uh?" Eddard grimaced at her positive nod.
"She doesn't but she knows I am the liaison for SHIELD. Look, I am here to explain."
"Ok?" Eddard was unsure what was going to happen next.
"What we did was wrong, Eddard, I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that. I am a decade older than you, it wasn't a great moment." Natasha said slowly and carefully as if expecting him to explode.
"I agree, it was a stupid thing, Natasha. Not because you are older but because I don't do things like that. We were two consulting adults, you have done no wrong as far as I am concerned." She grimaced at Eddard's reply.
"No, Eddard, you don't understand. I was here to ask you to do me a favour and when you initiated the encounter, I did not stop you because I thought you would be more willing to do it." Her head hung low after her confession.
Eddard was confused by her words at first, but then he realized the implication. ' The sex was a transactional thing for her. I got what I wanted and now she wants her favour,' Eddard felt as if he had committed a crime, the guilt washed over him.
' It was as good as blackmailing her for sex in return for a favour. She must have thought that I wouldn't do it if she didn't agree.' he thought, as the taste of the bitterness spread in his mouth.
"Let's not talk in the corridor." He moved slowly, feeling nausea from what he had just stumbled upon.
His footsteps rang loudly in the awfully quiet mansion as he walked to the second-floor bedroom he used.
She walked into his room first and he followed. He lay on the bed. His back against the wall. She sat on the armchair he used for drinking tea in the evenings while reading a novel or book that caught his fancy.
Eddard sat there for some time, digesting the words he had heard.
When he spoke, his voice was scratchy but calm, "Does anybody else know about what happened?"
"Barton does." She said slowly.
At her answer, he sighed knowing that he had lost all respect he had held with the archer previously.
"Eddard." he jerked at her voice realizing he had started thinking about the explanation he would have to give Barton.
"What do you want me to say, Natasha? I didn't know you were here for a favour. I had thought it was a simple one-time thing. Now I feel like a piece of shit who forced your hand into having sex with me."
"You didn't. I was stressed, Eddard. All the things that happened with Barton then the battle, Stark nearly dying. It gave me perspective and you gave me hope."
"What do you mean?"
"You can heal people with fatal injuries. I was recruited by what is called the Red Room Programat a young age. They trained spies for the soviets during the cold war, Barton recruited me into SHIELD during a mission in which he was tasked to kill me. He spared me." There was a haunted look in her eyes that made Eddard's stomach drop.
"What does it have to do with anything?" Eddard's confused voice rang through the room.
"The Red Room manufactured perfect spies Eddard. A perfect spy doesn't have any liabilities." She said hinting at something which Eddard could not grasp.
"What did they do to you?" He asked afraid of the answer.
"They removed my ovaries, I can't be a mother. I can't have a family." Blood rushed through Eddard's head, and a cold rage settled on it.
"Who led it?" His voice was not of a naive boy but of a God, a vengeful one.
"All of them are dead." She said gently, but Eddard was sure she was sobbing softly.
"That's good, I hope their souls do not find rest even in Death. So that is what the favour was Natasha? Such a small favour?" he asked gently.
He called upon his light and created a ring out of gold. As it materialised into his hand, he etched the word, ' Family' on its surface.
He then permeated the concept of 'Healing, 'Family', 'Fertility' and ' Miracle'. Eddard had functionally used his divine energy to add those concepts passively and added a conditional clause where the child would be blessed by the Clover engine upon birth with the same power as a citywide miracle.
He gave her the ring which glowed in ethereal golden light.
Eddard said gently seeing her mesmerized look, "There, that should solve your problem. And Natasha, I have packed a gift in there for your child when you decide to have one, as a friend, I hope you will accept."
She had started sobbing and said in a strangled voice, "T-thank you, Eddard, I will always be grateful."
"I hope you don't, after all, you are an Avenger, this much should be nothing between teammates." Eddard walked out of the room to let her recollect himself.
' My room doesn't have anything important anyway.' he shrugged as he remembered he had left a spy in it.
[December 23rd, 2012.]
Eddard was in his lab along with Jayden as he worked on the many projects he had begun after the Battle Of NY. Simply because Eddard had realized that the upcoming years would be more damaging and lead up to the Endgame since this was just the beginning move played by foreign forces on the planet, it ought to be the least damaging, right?
As he worked on Project Bridgewhich had been in works for some time, along with Project Domain and Project War-angel, all of which had been started by Eddard after the battle. He understood his shortcomings well. Eddard was not a physical fighter, his capabilities did not lie in hand-to-hand combat. He was the second worst fighter in the Avengers and in the Order he was the worst among the fighters.
Eddard was closer to a ranged combatant than a melee one and thus leading to a wardrobe change that he had been working on after the battle.
His thoughts were interrupted when Harry came into the room.
"You have a call from our SHIELD Liaison." Harry handed him the secure line that he and Nathan had created under Project Blindsights.
Eddard put the phone to his ear and said, "Hello, Ms Romanoff, how can I help you?" SHIELD was not aware of their personal affairs.
"Mr Clarke, There has been an incident at Los Angeles Mercy Hospital."
"Natasha, what happened?" The tone was worrying Eddard.
"You should check out the news. Stark has pulled another stunt." Eddard sighed at the words, ' Fucking Stark.'
"I will."
Eddard moved to the meeting hall and tuned into the WHiH news channel.
The headline made Eddard nearly pop his head's blood vessels, " Tony Stark, the Former CEO of Stark Industries, has just challenged the Mandarin, the de-facto leader of the Ten Rings, an organisation that has been deemed responsible for several bombings across the US and its allies, this is also the very same organisation that was responsible for Mr Stark's abduction back when the Iron Man armour made its first appearance.
Mr Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, said this, 'There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door unlocked.' as a challenge to the notorious organisation and man."
There were more headlines about Stark. Questioning his sanity for challenging terrorists, whether the other Avengers will get involved, etc.
Eddard asked Harry who had been standing there to fetch him more details about the Ten Rings, Mandarin, the bombings and anything he relevant.
' How stupid and impulsive can a person be.' Eddard grimaced after reading the literature Harry could scour on the internet, ' He has no idea who he is fighting, the Mandarin's bombings don't leave any traces, either biological or technological. Stark has just provoked an ambush predator that he can't see.'
"Let's see how this goes since this might need intervention, keep me updated on anything you can find Harry, and send Sophie to me, tell her I want updates on Project Rebirth 2.0 and how much more time will she need with all those samples."
After Harry left the room, Eddard sighed out, "Fucking Stark."
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