A/N: Ok so another short chapter and a little bit boring but very important to the storyline. Phoenix's upcoming attack will occur soon but you need to wait a couple more chapters I'm afraid, something to look forward to. Also I intend to have this story completed before the 7th of December as there is only a few more chapters to go. As always, read, review and enjoy.
As if it wasn't humiliating enough that she had twice been a victim of Phoenix's attacks, Natasha had to keep her mouth shut while she had her arms wrapped around Clint's neck as he carried her towards Stark Tower's infirmary. Not only was she aware that Clint's was carrying her bridal style, she was reminded of when he had kissed her, having him that close to her face was not encouraging. Yet again Natasha's heart rate began to quicken.
Natasha fought back another scream of pain as she paid attention to her dislocated ankle. At least she hoped it was dislocated, if Natasha broke any part of her legs that meant bed rest, which was basically the epitome of torture for the assassin. The same pain was present in her left shoulder, though slightly more extreme. Hopefully it was just dislocation, and not anything worse.
She knew how to put everything back into place of course but everyone else in the room had been adamant that they needed to get her under a medical scanner to make sure she wasn't dying. The problem was that none of the guys were keen about carrying Natasha, so that left Clint.
"You ok Nat?" Clint asked as Dr Banner opened the door to the infirmary and directed them inside.
"I'll live," she muttered, biting down another sound of pain as Clint placed her on one of the beds. He was trying to be gentle, Natasha knew that, but even breathing was causing her pain at that moment. "Make sure you hurry it up Dr Banner, I'd like to put everything back into place."
"I have to make sure that there was no other damage done," he told her as he ran a medical scanner up and down her body. "Like for example, broken bones or internal bleeding." The scanner made a beeping noise and flashed red. He tapped a few buttons on a screen and began to search for any other serious injuries.
"Is no one else here wondering what the hell was up with Phoenix?" Tony asked as he made himself comfortable by sitting on the bed across from Natasha. "She came, she talked and then walked out. There was no grand bonfire display or even some extra commentary. What did she gain by breaking in, saying about three lines and then pulling Lara Croft apart like a jigsaw?"
"I'm a highly skilled spy. Not a female Indiana Jones," Natasha sighed and let her shoulders drop, which was a bad idea, seeing as how even touching them was painful.
"What about the fact that she put Natasha in a corner and proceeded to ignore her, only to give her minor injuries after a short conversation." Steve nodded to Natasha respectfully. "If she really wanted to harm her I don't think Phoenix would've hesitated to break bone, or even attempt a kill."
"That's twice now she's had a chance to kill you Natasha," Thor added. "I don't think she means you any harm."
"Also the whole mysterious darkness thing, what the hell was that?" Tony asked. "It goes dark they appear out of nowhere, then it goes dark again and they vanish. Not even JARVIS could see through it, I've got no idea how they got in or out, all systems got knocked down, but we didn't even notice."
"The other girl, the small one with the dark-hair, we're not quite sure how her ability works but it has something to do with darkness," Clint told them. "Also one of the boys can control electricity or something like that. We never exactly had a chance to get them under a scanner."
Bruce finally finished reviewing the results of Natasha's medical scan and spun on his heels to face her. "You have a dislocated shoulder and ankle, but no other damage. You're all safe to pop everything back in so to speak," Bruce shut down the screen and put away the scanner. "However I would be careful with her left shoulder. Probably one of the worst anterior dislocations I've ever seen. The humerus has been so badly separated from the scapula it's lucky her arm didn't fall off or shatter."
Natasha didn't need the whole speech, she was just anxious to get herself back together. "Alright then. I need something to bite down on," Natasha looked around and saw nothing that was safe to put in her mouth to bite down on. So she took off her jacket and bit down on the sleeve of that.
"Who's wants to help me put everything back?" Natasha tried her best to mumble past the leather material in her mouth.
Every single man in the room took a step back and Natasha rolled her eyes. Eventually someone pushed Clint forward and he seemed hesitant at first, put walked forward. She was grateful it was him though because she doubted that any of the others knew how to put a dislocated shoulder back into place. Except for maybe Doctor Banner, but after her past experiences with the Hulk it wasn't exactly the best idea.
"What I don't get is why dislocation?" Steve continued their earlier conversation as Clint got down on his knees to reach Natasha's dislocated ankle. "Obviously it was intentional seeing as how they did it to you so many times. Seriously though it's weird."
"Not really," Natasha mumbled. "It's a good way to slow your enemy down but keep them ready for a fight. It's not like this is the first time this has happened to me. Once I had to crawl my way three miles with a dislocated knee because genius over here thought it was a good idea to split up."
She pointed to Clint who laughed under his breath. It had been a mission in the Netherlands where Clint had gotten stuck in a tunnel collapse and then drugged. The after effects of the drug had spouted many long running and private jokes between the assassins.
Natasha's ankle went back into place and she gratefully moved it around once the pain had mostly subsided. Clint stood up and put his hands on Natasha's left shoulder, the one that had the worst injury. She winced as she prepared for the upcoming pain.
"One thing's for sure is that Phoenix had no intention of permanently harming me," Natasha added. "But that puts things into an even more confusing perspective." Barely a second had gone by after she spoke when Clint jammed her shoulder back into place and, acting on a reflex, she slapped him as hard as she could across his right cheek.
The next morning arrived with a bright sunrise, the calming sounds of New York traffic and Fury storming into Stark Tower and shouting, "Agent Barton! Agent Romanoff! Report!"
"Sir we're right here," Natasha made a small hand notion to direct Fury's attention towards herself and Clint who stood in the kitchen as the Director had rushed in. Clint was making pancakes at the demand of practically everyone in the tower and Natasha was doing her best to help.
"JARVIS gather the rest of the Avengers," it was evident by Nick Fury's tone of voice that he was not happy. He pointed at Natasha angrily, but she wasn't prepared to crack just because her boss was in a bad mood. "You have got a lot of explaining to do and I suggest you don't skip around any questions because you're already in deeper water than you can handle."
Natasha and Clint put down the cutlery they were holding and moved into the sitting area to face Fury's anger. Soon they were joined by the rest of the Avengers, Tony looking particularly satisfied with himself which set off a lot of warning bells. They all took a seat with Fury standing where they all could see him, but his focus was directed at Natasha. Until his line of vision moved towards Tony.
"Didn't I tell you to secure this tower two days ago?" he demanded. "How did she get in?"
"I honestly cannot answer that question," Tony decided to be upfront. "They shut us down which was supposed to be impossible with the amount of encryption that was put in the system."
Fury growled and turned back to Natasha. "You are one of our most competent and reliable agents. I trust you with this case but if you can't convince Phoenix to stand down then we will have to take her down using any amount of firepower necessary."
"Like you did on the Pier, or when she broke into SHIELD?" Steve demanded. Clearly he didn't know SHIELD that well and suspected them to tell him everything. "You made no attempt to take her down then so why are you threatening to do it now? How come none of our guys ever even aimed a gun at her?"
The answer Steve received was both predictable but surprising at the same time. "You don't have the clearance for that knowledge Captain Rogers. That information is only for those with Level 8 clearance."
So there was more to Phoenix then SHIELD was letting on. Natasha knew better than to pry though, neither she nor Clint had any right to be asking questions. They were only Level 6 and the rest of the Avengers were only about Level 1. Fury was the only one in the room that had the clearance for that knowledge.
"Well I don't want any part in another SHIELD conspiracy theory," Bruce shook his head. "Last time that happened things got broken."
"What's so secretive about Phoenix anyway?" Tony questioned. "Is she an alien in disguise? A robot? We just don't know because the big bad men in black are running a covert operation and are refusing to share the information."
Fury ignored Stark and turned to Natasha once again. "You've got one more chance to bring her in. If she makes one more attack and she's not in chains by the end of it then I'm pulling you off the case and dropping a bomb on top of Phoenix the next time she resurfaces. This is her last chance, so don't waste it Agent Romanoff."
"I won't Sir," Natasha nodded. "I'll need access to the security mainframe of New York city and the surrounding areas. They'll be nearby and if they surface then I want to know straight away. She said she'll be back and she will, I want to be ready for that. It'll be her biggest attack yet."
"Done," Fury agreed. "Stark can I rely on you to create some gadgets that can help defend against these kids and their abilities?"
"Sure thing," Tony agreed. "I can make a giant water pistol and maybe line all of your uniforms with fire resistant material. As for the other kids I can put some infrared glasses together for the Invisible one and also the one that makes everything go black. No sure how we'll deal with super speed but I'll figure something out."
"Good, then do it," Fury nodded. "Doctor Banner I assume you will be joining him?"
"Yes sir," Bruce nodded.
"Agent Barton start preparing for possible scenarios, Captain Rogers you can help him," Fury turned to them next and allocated their duties. "Phoenix is coming back, that much was obvious from her little attack. If you ask me she was showing off. Trying to make you fear her and if you ask me you probably should be scared."
"How may I assist?" Thor asked.
"Your buddy back on Asgard that can see everything, do you think maybe we could get his help?" Clint asked.
"Heimdall is not permitted to leave his post and if he was allowed to leave I doubt that he would wish to get involved with Earth matters anyhow," Thor replied.
"That's ok Strongman, I could use your help anyway lifting the heavy stuff for our giant water gun," Tony said brightly as Thor turned down Clint's idea.
"May I remind you Mr Stark that you are not doing this for fun," Fury sighed.
"Doesn't mean I can't make it fun," Tony responded with a smirk.