Heeeeey! I'm back already! I know I said it would take longer for this chapter to be posted, but it turns out I lied! Our school did this really weird free write day where all we did is write stuff in all of our classes. I'm not sure why we did it, but I took advantage of this opportunity to write the second chapter! I've already got a few reviews for the last chapter, and it looks as though people are interested, so YAAAAY! I really wanted to jump right in and get Natasha involved with the other characters ASAP, so this chapter will be introducing Pepper, Tony, and Bruce. Steve and Thor will most definitely come next chapter, possibly Clint as well. His introduction is gonna be a big thing since him and Natasha parted on not-so-great terms, so I'm still debating whether or not just to give him his own chapter, unless you guys want to tell me what you think I should do and I can just go off of that… I'm probably boring those of you who are actually reading this, so please enjoy Chapter 2!
Chapter 2: A Little Help
**Natasha**
Natasha walked calmly through the doors of Stark Tower. She went right up to the receptionist's desk and waited for the woman, whose name plate read Kelly, to look up.
"Can I help you?" She asked in a perky voice.
"I need to speak with Mr. Stark, please. Is he here?" Kelly frowned and looked at her books.
"I don't have any consultations scheduled for Mr. Stark until 5:00 p.m."
"This isn't a consultation, I just really need to speak with him." Natasha began to tap her foot impatiently. The woman behind the desk gave her an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry m'am, but I'm afraid you need to have scheduled an appointment two weeks in advance in order to see him. The next available time I have is in about four weeks. Would you like me to put you down for then?" Natasha gave an agitated sigh.
"No, I really need to see him now." Her voice was forceful. Kelly didn't understand that four weeks would be too late, because in only one week, Mara would be dead. The poor receptionist leaned back in her chair, surprised at Natasha's sudden intensity. "Can't you just call up and tell him I'm here?"
"I'm sorry m'am, but I can't help you." Kelly went back to whatever she had been working on before Natasha interrupted her, but she persisted.
"What about his wife, Pepper Stark? Is she here? Can't I see her?" Now the receptionist was starting to get angry.
"M'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Natasha didn't move, she just glared at Kelly, who, in return, glared back at her. She had been so caught up in her little exchange with the stubborn receptionist that she hadn't noticed the man who had come in behind her.
"Good afternoon, Kelly." said a familiar voice as the man walked by holding up an ID. Kelly turned her attention away from Natasha to greet the man.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Banner. It's nice to see you." That caught Natasha's attention. She spun around to see the scientist walking towards an elevator.
"Bruce?" she called out. Bruce turned around and Natasha saw his eyes grow wide in shock.
"Natasha?" She couldn't believe her luck. Out of pure joy she rushed over to the man and threw her arms around him, catching him in an awkward hug. He stumbled backwards, surprised by her show of emotion, but gently wrapped one of his arms around her to return the gesture. She wanted to cry. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I need to see Tony, but they won't let me in," she said, nodding to the receptionist. "Can you help me out?" Bruce could see the pleading in her eyes. He looked over at Kelly, who was obviously confused, and nodded.
"It's okay," he said, "she's an old friend." Kelly nodded and continued working. Once they were in the elevator, Natasha began to speak again.
"Thank you." She said quietly. Bruce smiled and nodded. They were both quiet for a moment until Bruce spoke up.
"Is everything alright, Natasha?" She looked up to find him staring at her. The look on her face must have been enough, because his eyes became full of sympathy before he dropped his gaze. They continued their ride in silence.
"Do you know if Stark is busy? I really need to talk to him." Bruce shrugged.
"I know he had a meeting that he probably blew off, so he's probably sitting around doing nothing upstairs. That is, unless Pepper is here." He chuckled before lapsing back in to silence. Natasha tried to keep the conversation alive.
"I'm going to assume that you're still working here." She said. Bruce nodded.
"Yeah, I've been making a lot of breakthroughs in my research working with Tony. It's been great. How about you? Did things ever work out between you and…" Natasha had begun shaking her head before he'd even finished his sentence. Bruce had been one of the few people that knew about her relationship with Mara's father. That wasn't something she wanted to talk about right now. "Have you had any contact with Clint lately?" Natasha responded by shaking her head again. Bruce stopped asking questions after that. That was one of the great things about him. He knew when enough was enough.
Once they'd reached the top floor, the doors of the elevator slid open and Bruce stepped out followed by Natasha.
"Tony?" He called the billionaire's name. A few moments later, Pepper appeared from behind one of the few doors in the penthouse apartment with an angry Tony Stark calling after her. As she walked towards Bruce, Natasha noticed the swollen bump protruding from Pepper's stomach. Right. She had forgotten about Pepper's pregnancy. Natasha had heard about it on the news. It made her wish that she had stayed in touch with Pepper. Before Natasha had found out she herself was pregnant and everything went to fell apart, she and Pepper had gotten really close. She had been her go-to friend for girl time, which had been something she'd desperately needed. It was nice to see her again, but it was just too bad it had to be under these circumstances.
"Sorry, Bruce. Tony is working. For once." She mumbled under her breath. "Is there something I can help you with?" Bruce shook his head.
"No, not me. Her." He said gesturing to Natasha. Pepper's eyes followed Bruce's pointed finger until she finally saw her. She gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from squealing.
"Natasha!" The pregnant woman walked as fast as she could with her swollen belly to where Natasha was standing until they were locked in a friendly embrace. "I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been? What are you doing here?" Pepper began to babble endless questions. Natasha couldn't help but smile. She really had missed her friend. "So what can I do for you?" Pepper asked once she'd calmed down.
"I actually need to speak with Tony." Natasha sighed, remembering her purpose for being there in the first place. Pepper gave her a confused look, but before she could question her they heard the sound of a door slam.
"Pepper, can you please remind why I hired a bunch of idiots to work for me?" Tony said as he entered the room. Pepper, Natasha, and Bruce all looked up in surprise, but none of them were as surprised as Tony when he saw Natasha. "Jesus!" He yelped, pressing his back against the nearest wall trying to stay as far away from her as possible. "I knew it! I knew she'd come back to kill me!" Natasha and Pepper rolled their eyes while Bruce stifled a laugh. "What is she doing here?" Tony asked. Everyone looked at Natasha expectantly, wanting to know what had brought on this surprise visit. Natasha sighed and looked at Tony.
"I need your help." She said in an exhausted tone. Tony looked shocked.
"You need my help?" he said, bewildered. "With what?" The room went quiet and Natasha lowered her head. She could feel warm tears forming in her eyes. Pepper stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Natasha? Is something wrong?" She looked up at Pepper's concerned face and nodded.
"Yes." Natasha said, fighting to contain her emotions. There was another long pause before she spoke again. "I'm in a bit of a situation," she said quietly, "and I'm going to need a little help to get out of it without any innocent people getting hurt."
"Well, let's hear it then." Tony said as he and Bruce walked over to sit on one of the two couches while Pepper sat Natasha down on the other.
"We're willing to help you, no matter what it is." The strawberry blonde smiled sympathetically. She gave her a weak smile in return.
"You may want to hear what it is before you say that."
"Okay, let me get this straight: This Russian guy, Varkov, wants you to take out twenty men that know his deepest darkest secrets, who are most likely scattered all over the world by now, in seven days for only 500 grand?" Tony asked, completely amazed.
"Yeah, pretty much." Natasha said, flopping back in her seat. "Do you know how long it takes to track down and kill just one man? Weeks, sometimes months! There's no possible way I can do it."
"So, you want us to help you do it?" Tony was getting more and more confused by the second.
"No, I don't even want to do it myself. It's a nightmare, and it's so not worth 500 grand." Natasha rubbed her temples. This was exhausting.
Bruce, who had remained quiet throughout most of the conversation, suddenly spoke up. "If you don't want to do it, then why don't you just ignore his offer? It's not like you can't handle yourself if he came after you, and even if you couldn't take him alone, you'd still have us for backup, so why are you still debating whether or not you should do what he says when you obviously don't want to? Just don't do it." Tony, Pepper, and Bruce all looked at Natasha. She had left out the part about Varkov's leverage: Mara. Natasha had never wanted her fellow teammates to know about her daughter, not even Clint, the one person she had ever been close to.
"He's making a good point Natasha." Said Tony. "Why are you straining yourself over this decision when it's not even worth it? Just forget about it."
"It's not that simple." She snapped.
"Then please do explain, because I'm obviously having a hard time understanding your reasoning here." Tony said irritably. Natasha paused. Pepper touched her shoulder encouragingly.
"He has leverage to make sure I go through with it. He took something from me that I have to get back."
"What was it?" Bruce pressed on. Natasha sighed. They were going to find out eventually and they wouldn't be able to effectively help her if they didn't know all the details.
"Natasha?" Pepper said when she didn't respond. "What did he take?" Natasha took a deep breath, hoping her voice wouldn't crack when she spoke.
"My daughter." She said quietly as she lowered her head. "He took my daughter." Silence. After a few awkward moments, Natasha looked up again to find a mixture of emotions strewn across all three of their faces. Tony looked like he had gone into complete shock, Bruce looked extremely surprised, and Pepper looked as though she was about to start crying right along with her. She hoped one of them would say something, but they just sat there with the same look on their faces. Natasha felt a sudden wave of anger overcome her, and she just snapped. "Yes, I have a daughter, okay!? I never wanted any of you to find out about her because I didn't want her to be involved in any of this—ever! She's the only thing I have in this world that I still care about and if anything ever happened to her, I'd never be able to live with myself. And now, she's been kidnapped by a man who, if I don't do as he asks, will kill her without a second thought!" With that, Natasha burst in to tears and buried her face in her hands. She felt Pepper wrap her arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. Once her crying had been reduced to hiccupping and sniffles, Tony spoke again.
"What do you need us to do?" He asked. "We'll do whatever it takes."
"I'm in this too." Bruce piped in. "Whatever you need." Natasha gave them both a small smile.
"What I want to do is find out where Varkov is keeping her. We'll scope the place out, make a plan, then go in and get her." She spoke as if she was planning a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Give me a bit of info, and me and Bruce can find this guy." Tony said, punching Bruce's shoulder.
"I've got this guy's file memorized, so that shouldn't be a problem." Tony nodded and began walking towards his office with Bruce in tow. He stopped and turned before opening the door.
"Anything else you need us to do?"
"Yea," she said. "Could you track down Steve and Clint for me? We're going to need them."
"Want me to call Jane and see if Thor is visiting?" He asked. This caught Natasha by surprise.
"You still keep in touch with Thor?" She asked, genuinely surprised. Tony shrugged.
"Ever since he got the Tesserect back, he's been able to travel freely between worlds. He visits every couple of weeks."
"Well, if he's here, get him. I want all the help we can get." Tony and Bruce went into the office, leaving Natasha and Pepper alone in the living area.
"It doesn't look like there'll be much we can do until the boys find something, so what do you want to do in the meantime?" Pepper asked.
"How about we play a question game? You know, so we can catch up. I'll ask you a question, then you ask me a question. Simple as that. And it'll keep my mind busy until we get any news from Tony and Bruce."
"Okay," Pepper agreed, "why don't you go first." Natasha eyes immediately flashed to Pepper's bulging stomach.
"I want you to tell me all about this baby of yours!"
Tried to keep this chapter a little lighter. I don't want this to be a scary fic, just dramatic. Sorry if it seems too happy for the current situation, but I'm just trying to show how Natasha is coping. So, what did you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Suggestions? Please comment/review! I heart feedback! PS: tell me if you think Clint's introduction should be its own chapter (chapter 4). I'm trying to plan ahead so I know how much to write each day so I can update both my fics ASAP!
Chapter 3 Preview: Tony and Bruce find out where Steve and Clint live and also get ahold of Thor, who agrees to come help. Whole bunch of changes in POV's. Expect to see things from Natasha's, Steve's, Tony's, and Bruce's POV's. Pepper, Clint, and Thor's POV's will come later!
Thanks for reading!