So, it's Thanksgiving break here in the United States. I know a lot of my readers are from here but there are still many who aren't so I felt that it needed to be said. And I'm feeling generous. Luckily, I'm a few chapters ahead in my writing and so I can easily post this and not worry. Too bad my last chapter had just a good cliffhanger...
I've been asked to post a little faster and I feel this needs to be addressed. I wish I could. I have, in the past, written for and would post as soon as a chapter was done. And it worked out great. I would end up posting about once every few days or so. But then life would get in the way and I'd lose any idea of where I wanted to go with the story. So I started slowing down. Posting about once a week, giving people time to find my story and review makes it much easier for me to keep up with everything. I'll go as fast as I can but I can at least promise, once a week updates until I'm done.
Anyways... Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy this new chapter!
"So, let me get this straight... We are about to go into S.H.I.E.L.D HQ and accuse their boss of taking our friend, who is in fact on their pay roll?" Tony questioned as they began to start making plans to leave Miami and go see Fury. Their plan had been to have Tony don the Iron Man suit and have the others board a Quinjet that Tony had previously taken and fly to the Helicarrier. Once on the carrier, Tony would use the suit to clear a path straight to Fury. Steve and Bruce would hold the Director down while Natasha would interrogate him. Tony, of course, would defend their position until they were done. But now, as he thought about it more, Tony began to see they were being stupidly insane. Natasha, Steve and Bruce froze, staring at Tony as though he either grew a second head or suddenly changed into Loki. They hadn't even left Clint's room when they went to make plans for fear of bringing Pepper in on the action. But now, staring at the billionaire, processing his words, the group began to see sense. "I don't mean to make it sound like I don't care for him, but going after Fury may actually be crazier than we first thought."
"What the hell was I thinking?" Natasha growled at herself before kicking a piece of trash in anger. Steve raised an eyebrow at the display of emotion but no one else made any other action toward it. No one dared tried. With Clint missing, Natasha was seeming to fall apart at the seams. It was not only dangerous to watch but it was now becoming dangerous to be around her. "I know better than this! I was trained better then this!"
"Natasha, we all aren't thinking clearly," Steve muttered. Natasha ignored him as she went off deeper into the room. The three heard a loud crash and a guttural scream. No one moved to investigate.
"Well, if that lead is gone, then what are we going to do?" Bruce asked when he figured Natasha was done with her emotional rant. He only hoped that Tony had a new suggestion or Natasha was likely to kill him. And at this point, he didn't think Steve or he could stop her.
"Actually. I was thinking we could-" Tony began when suddenly Natasha returned to the room. She looked slightly crazed but more in control then seconds before.
"Clint has a tracker!"
"What?" Steve, Bruce and Tony called.
"Coulson made us get one. We'd only have it get activated after two days of being taken to be certain that we had been checked for trackers. And even then it would only get turned on for short blips. Only Coulson, Clint and I had the radio frequency that the tracker was kept on!" Natasha declared with almost such joy that she was nearly smiling at the guys. The three traded a glance. They were unsure if they wanted to trust her judgment right now.
"Uh, that's great and all. But don't the Council know about this thing?" Tony mentioned. Natasha shook her head. Tony frowned. He almost wanted to ask if Fury knew about it but figured that if their handler was the one who made them get it, Fury must know. "Okay. That solves that problem."
"Can it be activated before the two days?" Steve questioned in his confusion of technology. Tony rolled his eyes. Bruce smiled at Steve's innocence. Natasha nodded.
"Of course. Coulson made a control for it. We each have a certain code that we enter for each of us and the tracker starts with these blips. Just turning on for a few seconds to send some info and then shutting off. After about ten blips or so, we'll have a location. Unless they are jamming the frequencies. Then, depending on how good the tech is, the blips could be eleven or up to over a hundred. Sometimes more."
"What was the longest one?" Steve muttered. Natasha sobered and looked away.
"One thousand two hundred fifty seven blips. Clint and I were in Budapest." With that said, Natasha left the room.
"I really have got to learn about Budapest," Tony whined. Bruce smirked as Tony left the room after the spy. He looked to the super soldier. Steve focused on the scientist with a confused look.
"You know. It'd be fun to learn that Budapest was just a vacation," Bruce joked. Steve laughed lightly as the two then took off after their comrades.
"So, Clint is gone?" Pepper parroted once again as she stared at Tony in shock. She had stopped the four when she saw them round the corner. They had been intent on leaving without saying a word to the woman but when she questioned Tony, he just opened up. Tony nodded. "Clint was taken. In a house full of super... Heroes? People? What do I even call you?"
"I'd go for heroes," Tony said.
"Freak, for me," Bruce muttered. Steve frowned. Bruce noticed but before he could speak, Natasha said something.
"I'm an assassin and a spy, not a hero," Natasha snapped at Tony. "And Clint is an assassin and sniper."
"We're the Avengers now," Tony fought back. Natasha snarled at the name. She remembered filling out the file for Coulson.
"Avengers. Okay. House full of Avengers. Great. Can't even protect themselves," Pepper distantly mumbled. Not that any of them really heard her. They were now too busy fighting themselves. Steve mentioned something to Bruce but only the scientist caught it and it made him sigh deeply.
"Clint and I still work for S.H.I.E.L.D! We are not heroes!" Natasha snarled at Tony. He stepped toward her, almost daring her to attack.
"Come on Steve. You see me during the fight. I was big and green and hardly in control," Bruce argued. Steve's frown deepened. His original statement having been lost in Pepper's little rant.
"You saved Tony's life!" Steve pointed out. Bruce rolled his eyes. His thoughts clearly showing how much he enjoyed that statement.
"Not heroes? What do you call Manhattan then? That was pretty damned heroic?" Tony shouted at Natasha. Natasha scoffed. She so wanted to just punch Tony in the face.
"After nearly breaking his back!" Bruce cried. "I saw the footage!"
"Doing our jobs!" Natasha growled. Tony make a choking laugh sound.
"He was falling too fast for Thor to go catch him! Hulk knew what he was doing!" Steve defended. Bruce laughed.
"Your jobs? So a spy and sniper now go after aliens trying to take over the world?" Tony attacked.
"Hu... The other guy could have crushed Tony just as easily as crushing an egg if he squeezed too hard when he caught him!" Steve winced as he imaged what Bruce was describing.
"We were the few unharmed enough to fight, so we did. Fury would have ordered us too sooner or later anyways." Tony outright laughed at this.
"But he didn't. And Hulk's cry helped wake Tony back up! It's thanks to him that we have him still here!"
"Sure. Just like Fury sent us back up that wasn't a freaking nuke!" Natasha raised her arm as though she was going to punch Tony. Someone cleared their throat and she paused but didn't look just yet.
"Um, guys. How is this helping Clint?" Pepper suddenly cut in. The four stopped fighting and looked to the woman in surprise. She stood in a hallway to their right, her eyes red rimmed but curious. Tony was first to break eye contact with the CEO of his company. Natasha and Steve were next, the soldier hiding an embarrassing blush forming on his cheeks. Bruce was last with only a thankful nod being sent her way. "I guess you guys should get going?"
"Yeah," Tony whispered, pausing as he looked back at Natasha with a sheepish look. She barely looked at him. "You should head to Malibu ASAP. Call Rhodey and let him know you are there. I want him with you at all times."
"I will," Pepper promised. Tony smirked in a way that was reserved for only her. Bruce, Steve, Natasha and Tony began to file out of the room. Pepper watched as they headed for the hallway leading to the launch bay where the Quinjet and an Iron Man suit were currently stored. "Tony!"
The four paused to look back at her.
"Don't come back without him." They all smiled at her. No one knew just how close they all had become to each other. But Pepper knew. They were a family. The Avengers, family.
Alright now! Hope everyone here in the US enjoyed their holidays! Please review. And I'll talk to you all when I update next. ^_^