Sooo, you guys are probably wondering where I've been, right (or you really just don't care and want to get to the story, which I totally understand)? Naturally, I've got another lame excuse to get myself out of trouble! My English II teacher thought it would be cool to give us a research paper to finish over Thanksgiving break. I'm still really pissed about it. Who does that? I was sitting at my grandma's house after Thanksgiving lunch (yea, we do lunch instead of dinner cuz we're awesome!) writing a goddamn paper on the Indian-Chinese Border War of 1962! Ugh. High school. Well, that's enough of my crappy life, let's get to Natasha's crappy life! Her's is much more interesting than mine, I guarantee it! Oh, and since Thanksgiving was this past week, I'd like to say that I'm thankful for all my awesome fans and followers out there who have reviewed and favorited this story! You guys are the best and I love you all! Enjoy chapter 10! PS: When dialogue is written in italics, it means Natasha and Clint are doing their whole eye conversation thingy.
Chapter 10: The Plan
**Natasha**
When Natasha opened her eyes there was a faint light coming through her window. She checked her alarm clock to see that it read 6:30 AM. She sat up and stretched before climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom. Last night she had decided to pack her bag early so she could spend the rest of the day planning for tomorrow.
Natasha packed her dress first. She placed a protective cover over it and hung it on the door while she continued gathering other things she would need. Once she'd gathered enough items to fill her duffel bag, she placed it by the door with her dress and exited the bathroom. Natasha wandered into the kitchen on her floor and decided to make some coffee. By then it was almost 7:30.
"Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.?" She called out as the coffee started to brew.
"Yes, Ms. Romanoff. How may I be of assistance?" The AI replied politely.
"Is anyone else awake yet?" Natasha asked.
"Yes, Mr. Barton is in the kitchen of the top floor. Everyone else is asleep. Would you like me to wake them?"
"Yes, please do. Tell them to meet upstairs. We've got a lot of work to do." She said with a smirk, imagining how Tony would react to a wake-up call he didn't want from the artificial intelligence he'd created.
"As you wish." And with that, the British accented voice disappeared. Natasha poured herself a cup of freshly brewed coffee before getting in the elevator and pressing the button for the top floor. When the elevator dinged she stepped out and headed for the kitchen. She may as well get the awkward confrontation with Clint out of the way before the others get here.
When Natasha entered the kitchen she saw him sitting at the table with his laptop and a bowl of Cheerios. She sat down in the chair next to him and sipped one her coffee.
"Good morning." She greeted him quietly.
""Morning." He said with a quick nod in her direction. Well, at least they were on speaking terms.
"So, uh… Stark should be up here with the floor plan soon." Natasha said, trying to keep a conversation going. Clint closed his laptop and turned all his attention to her.
"Okay, great. How do you want to do this?" He asked. She paused, appreciating how cooperative he was being. After what had gone down last night, she had expected him to be a little more ornery. He must have worked things out with himself so they wouldn't be fighting during the whole planning process.
"Well, I guess we just do things like we would if we were planning a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D.. We both input our ideas and come to an agreement on what would be best." She said simply.
"Okay, sounds good." Clint said agreeably. After that they lapsed back into an awkward silence. Natasha quietly sipped on her coffee while Clint sat staring out the window. Finally he sighed and turned his gaze to her as she set her mug down on the table. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. She looked at him, confused.
"Sorry for what? I should be the one that's..." Clint raised a hand to cut her off.
"Last night, the way I acted. It wasn't fair to you. I should have let you explain yourself before I freaked out like that. So, for that, I'm sorry." He raised his hand again when Natasha opened her mouth to protest. "Don't argue with me. Just leave it at that." She slowly closed her mouth and nodded, not wanting to ruin his cooperative mood.
"Clint," Natasha said after another short silence. He turned and looked at her curiously. "I'm sorry I slapped you." She said, trying to keep herself from smiling. Clint grinned and laughed.
"It's okay." He chuckled. They smiled at each other when the ding of the elevator caught their attention.
"Ugh, Romanoff! I swear to God, if you ever tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to wake me up again, I will reprogram him so that he never listens to you!" Tony groaned tiredly as he and three other exhausted looking Avengers filed out of the elevator and into the kitchen. Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Oh, grow up, Stark." She muttered. Clint looked down as he tried to hide his smirk. A period of awkward silence followed the brief conversation and Natasha glanced at her fellow teammates to see them uncomfortably glancing back and forth between the two ex-assassins. She tensed and looked at Clint accusingly.
"Did you tell them?" Her eyes obviously questioned him. He looked down guiltily.
"I only told Steve," Clint told her with a quick glance at the captain. "I'm guessing he told everyone else." Natasha gave an irritated huff. "They have a right to know."
"I know," She softened her hard gaze. "I just didn't want everyone to find out like that." Clint's eyes were full of understanding.
"Sorry." He lowered his eyes again and she looked at him angrily.
"Stop that! You have nothing to be sorry for!" Her eyes screamed. Clint sighed and glanced at the rest of the team, reminding Natasha that they weren't the only two people in the room. He looked back at her, his eyes questioning what they should do. "I've got this." She told him as she cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention.
"Okay, so you all obviously know that Clint is Mara's father. I should have told you as soon as I came to you all for help, but I didn't and I'm sorry." Natasha looked at each of her teammates apologetically. "I understand if you don't want to help anymore."
"What!?" Tony exclaimed. "What makes you think we don't want to help? If anything we want to help more! Not only is Mara your daughter but she's Clint's daughter too. That makes her a full on Avengers family member, and family takes care of family. We're still in this." Everyone nodded in agreement. Natasha smiled at them gratefully.
"Well alright then. Let's get to work." The four standing Avengers all took a seat around the large kitchen table. "Tony, do you have the floor plan?" She asked. Tony nodded and pulled out a large, rolled up piece of paper. Natasha spread it out across the table and she and Clint stood up to get a better look at it.
From what she could see, the building was large. There were multiple balconies overlooking a huge ballroom, making it ideal for snipers. Other than that, though, there didn't appear to be anything else that would give Varkov an advantage.
"Stark, what all do you know about the building?" Natasha asked without even looking up.
"Well, it's a pretty straight-forward layout. The ballroom is the main room in the building. There are three back rooms used for storage, four bathrooms, and a kitchen. Six stairwells to get from the first floor to the balconies, and three exits: one in the kitchen, the main entrance, and a door in one of the back rooms. That's pretty much it." Said Tony.
"He'll most definitely have snipers here, here, and here." Clint said, pointing to the three main balconies. "They'll probably be guarding the stairwells to keep people from going upstairs, so someone is going to have to get past security and take out the snipers as discreetly as possible." Natasha looked at Steve who was intently listening to what Clint was saying.
"Steve," she said. "You have military training and you're pretty stealthy. You think you could handle it?" The captain nodded.
"Absolutely, just tell me what I need to do." He said obediently.
"Well, you're not going to want to draw any attention to yourself." Clint said as he turned to look at Natasha. "What do you think, Natasha, tranq-gun?" She thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"These guys will probably have radios, so if they're tranquilized they'll have a few moments to try and contact someone. It's too big of a risk." Clint nodded in agreement.
"Right… How about a high powered long range tazer gun?" He suggested. " The electricity will paralyze them, knock them out, maybe even short out the radio."
"Yea, that sounds perfect." Natasha said enthusiastically before turning to Steve. "You know how to work a tazer gun?"
"Yea, I've used one before." He said with a nod.
"Great, that'll simplify things. Now, to actually get you upstairs." She glanced around the table before settling her gaze on Tony, who was sitting there looking bored. "Tony!" She said loudly, causing the billionaire to jump. "Pay attention." He nodded rigorously. "You're going to be the big distraction at this party, so it'll be your job to ensure that the security isn't paying attention while Steve goes upstairs."
"Alright, got it… How exactly do I do that?" Tony asked. Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose while Clint rolled his eyes.
"You're world renowned billionaire, Stark, use your imagination." She huffed. Tony nodded and turned away from her cold glare. "Okay, moving on. Thor, you're going to be the muscle in all this, so if this comes down to a fight, that's when you'll step in. Got it?" The thunder god nodded and grinned.
"I shall do whatever is needed of me." He boomed.
"Okay, that leaves Bruce." Clint said, nodding to the doctor.
"Bruce, you'll be on standby in case of any medical emergencies. All you really need to do is hang out at the party until or if you're needed. So, you may want to pack a first-aid kit." Natasha told him. Bruce nodded.
"Kay, got it."
"So, what do we do?" Clint asked, realizing they were the only two without a 'job'.
"Our job is simple. We'll show up at the party together and confront Varkov. He'll think I'm there to renegotiate the terms of our deal and that you're helping me take out the men he wants dead. We'll play him up until he tells us where Mara is. Thor and Steve will be listening to the conversation through the comm. links, so when he gives up her location, they can move in, take out whatever security is guarding her, then get her out of there." When she finished describing her plan Clint gave her a questioning look.
"What if he insists on taking us to Mara and we can't get a location out of him?" He asked.
"Then we'll just take Steve and Thor's place and get her ourselves." Natasha replied simply. "Does my plan have your approval?" She asked him, remembering what he had told her the night before about having to agree on the plan. Clint thought for a moment before giving a small nod.
"Yea, it's solid. Straightforward. I like it." He gave her a quick smile before becoming serious once again. "I just have one question." Natasha raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to continue. "What happens to Varkov?" Her face went stern.
"We do the exact thing we should have done on that mission six years ago. We kill him."
**Clint**
Clint grabbed a bag from the closet in his room and began stuffing it full of necessities for the trip ahead. As he rummaged through his bathroom for toiletries he suddenly realized that he'd left his suit in Natasha's room last night. As he was heading for the door three knocks occurred from the opposite side. Clint opened the door to see Natasha standing there holding his suit.
"You left this in my room last night." She said, handing it to him.
"Yea, I was just coming to get it, actually. Thanks." As he took the suit from her he couldn't help but notice her hands shaking slightly.
"I fitted all the sheathes and holsters in it for you. They shouldn't be visible, but if they are I can make adjustments." She said quickly. "I was about to go down to the shooting range and pick out the guns and knives I'm going to take, if you want to come."
"Um, yea, sure." He said as he placed his suit on the chair next to the door.
"Okay, let's go." Natasha turned and began walking down the hall.
"Natasha, wait." Clint called after her. He ran up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face him. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking her in the eyes. She took a deep, shaky breath and began nodding rigorously.
"Yea, I'm fine." She said unconvincingly. He shook his head.
"No, you're not." Natasha stood there for a moment, just staring at him, when suddenly her chin began to tremble slightly and two tears silently slid down her cheeks. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay." Clint tried to soothe her but she only began to cry harder. He pulled her into his arms and she buried her face into his chest, trying to muffle her loud sobs. "Shhhh, it's okay, Natasha, everything's going to be fine." He said as he stroked her hair.
"You can't be sure of that." She sniffled once she'd calmed down a bit, pushing away from him. "Clint, what if I screw this up? I can't keep it together much longer, I'm not as strong as I used to be." Fresh tears began to spill out of her eyes and Clint grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes.
"Natasha Romanoff, you are the strongest person I have ever met, and I know if anyone can pull this off, it's you. You never doubted yourself before and things always worked out in the end, so don't doubt yourself now, and I guarantee everything will be just fine." He said sternly, meaning every word of it. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"Okay." Natasha whispered. Clint smiled at her and released his grip on her shoulders.
"Alright then. Let's go get some guns."
**Tony**
A few hours later…
"C'mon, guys! We need to leave in the next thirty minutes if we want to make it to Paris by 7:00!" Tony shouted down the hall of Thor and Steve's floor. Suddenly, both their doors opened on opposite sides of the hall, and the two muscular Avengers rushed down the hall and hopped into the elevator with Tony.
"Where's everyone else?" Steve asked as Tony pressed the button for the garage.
"Downstairs waiting. You two took too long so they went to put their stuff in the car." He told them. When they reached the parking garage below Stark Tower Steve and Thor rushed off towards one of the two sports cars they were taking to the airport. Clint and Natasha were standing by the car they'd put their bags in and were talking to Pepper. The strawberry blonde turned when she heard the sound of the elevator and immediately broke off her conversation when she saw Tony. She ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close.
"Now don't you go and get yourself killed. I will not be raising our son on my own." She warned. Tony pulled away from her and cupped her face in his hands.
"Don't worry, we'll be back in two days." He said softly, pulling her towards him and kissing her gently.
"Stark, we need to go!" Natasha called to him as she climbed into the back seat of their car. Tony sighed and leaned over to kiss Pepper's belly.
"Be good to your mama." He whispered to the large bulge. Pepper smiled and shoved him off towards the car.
"You better get going." She called after him.
"I'll call you." Tony told her before climbing into the driver's seat of Clint and Natasha's car. He buckled his seatbelt and started the engine before backing out of the space he was parked in and driving out of the garage. Bruce followed closely behind him as they pulled into the busy Manhattan streets and headed in the direction of the airport.
"How long is a flight to Paris?" Natasha asked Tony from the back seat.
"Seven hours, give or take. Maybe faster since we'll be on a private jet." He said, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
Fifteen minutes later they pulled into the airport parking lot. Tony drove the car around to the back of the airport and pulled into a private garage that had room for at least six cars. Bruce pulled in next to him and everyone climbed out. They all grabbed their bags and Tony led them through a door at the back of the garage. Past the door was a jetway that steadily inclined upward, leading them right onto the plane.
As soon as everyone was on board, Tony went to the cockpit and addressed the pilot.
"We're ready to go when you are." He told the airman, who nodded and began pressing multiple buttons and flipping switches. Tony returned to the rest of the team as they began to get settled in for the long flight. "Where's Natasha?" He wondered out loud when he noticed the redhead was missing.
"Tony!" A voice called from the back of the plane. The billionaire pulled back the curtain that was separating the two halves of the plane to find Natasha standing in the middle of the makeshift infirmary he'd had set up. "What the hell is this?" She asked him, gesturing to the medical supplies that surrounded her.
"What's it look like?" Tony said obviously. By then the rest of the team had come up behind him and were observing the infirmary.
"This is a little extreme, Stark." Clint spoke up. Tony opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Natasha's sudden intake of breath.
"Oh my God, are these blood bags?" She asked as he turned back around to see her staring into the refrigerated box containing the multiple bags of blood. Everyone stared at Tony with wide eyes.
"Dude, why are you bringing blood?" Steve asked confusedly.
"It's like you're willing something to go wrong." Natasha chimed in. Tony threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Jesus Christ, people, it's just a precaution!" He exclaimed.
"Still, it's a bit much." Clint criticized. Tony snorted and turned around, walking through the curtain back towards the front of the plane.
"You'll thank me when one of you is dying from blood loss." He muttered as he took a seat in one of the comfortable leather chairs.
"Attention all passengers, please take your seats. We will be taking off in three minutes." The pilot came on over the intercom, signaling the rest of the team to make their way back to their seats. Tony checked his watch to find that it was almost midnight. They were leaving right on schedule. As soon as everyone had sat down and strapped themselves in, the plane took off.
"It'd probably be wise for us all to get some sleep." Natasha announced once they were safely in the air. "We'll need to be well rested for tomorrow." The rest of the Avengers mumbled in agreement, and, one by one, they drifted to sleep as the plane flew towards Paris.
So, nothing too eventful happening here. Mainly just plot development. I got a lot of complaints about how Clint overreacted when he heard the news about Mara, so I decided to patch things up between him and Natasha… AGAIN! Good lord, it seems all they're doing is fighting then apologizing for it! Anyways, tell me what you thought of this chapter! I 3 reviews! Again, I'm sorry for the delay! I received quite a few PM's complaining that I hadn't updated in a while so I warmed up the coffee machine and finished this for you guys! Now, I am in high school, which means I have homework. A lot of it. So if I don't update for a while, please don't be angry! I probably just have a lot of crap to do, so please be patient with me! I do my best to update every week!
Preview for Chapter 11: The Avengers attend Varkov's party to "renegotiate" the terms of his and Natasha's agreement. Let's just say things don't go quite according to plan…
Well, there you have it folks! Thanks for reading, and make sure you come back for the next installment, cuz the real action is about to begin! Until next time, see ya :)