Natasha landed the quinjet with a small bump and hopped out, leaving the disgruntled pilot in charge of his craft once more, He hadn't been pleased when instead of sitting in the back of like a good agent she had insisted on flying the jet herself. Knowing the Black Widow's reputation he had wisely given up his seat. Then after an eventful trip across the States she had flown directly to the Avengers Tower, ignoring orders to go back to HQ.
"Mrs Barton has just landed on the roof. She will be here in 5 minutes." JARVIS informed the occupants of the living room.
Checking his watch Bruce said, astonished, "She really did make back in time for dinner." Natasha had left late that morning to attend the garden party of a drug lord in Nevada, cursing Fury for his last minute missions and bad timing.
"Where's the sundress?" Thor asked teasing as Natasha arrived, bruised but not broken, dressed in sweats and a vest top. With nothing to do but wait for her return they had started a game of monopoly. Much to everyone's amusement, Tony had gone bankrupt first and was now out of the game along with his teammate, Max, Thor and Jane who was staying for the weekend and had been teaching the game to Thor.
"Ruined." Natasha confirmed their suspicions. "Don't do drugs, children." She told the younger generation seriously. "It makes your blood go runny and leaves an awful mess for your killer to clean up." They laughed at her unique add-on to the well-known phrase.
"How did you kill him?" Clint asked and held out a hand to Bruce and Steve who tried to subtly land on Oxford Street. Pip took the offered money and after carefully counting it gave them a disapproving look until they handed over more.
"Broke his neck." Natasha blew on Pip's waiting fist to give the dice good luck. "But the stupid man tried to shoot me first and hit himself in the leg. He would not stop bleeding. Nearly soaked through the fu- floor," She smoothly corrected before continuing. "Before I got him in the bathtub." Though the Avengers had agreed there was no point trying to hide their day jobs from the children they did refrain from swearing- at least in English.
"It's not like you to let a mark know of your intentions." Steve commented.
"yeah, well, I cut off the seduction as soon as we were alone- I think it might have given something away. Getting him to bed would have taken too long. And Fury wants a mission report tonight because I didn't go to base." She sighed. "God, I'm looking forward to this holiday."
Tony then yelled from the kitchen that dinner was ready . The game was paused and Philippa asked JARVIS to make sure it wasn't tampered with in her absence.
Dinner was a serviceable macaroni but nobody complained since Tony has made it himself from scratch for once. Natasha was bombarded with questions throughout the meal since she had left without having the chance to share the details of her mission.
"So what did the man do to warrant your attention?" Pepper asked, removing Emily's hand from her pasta. "I'm guessing it wasn't just cannabis he was selling."
"No." Natasha smiled ruefully. "That would be a job for the police. The party was a premiere for a new drug he was releasing. Designed to give the user the same high without the crash and undetectable once in the system. Unknown to him it had the ability to cause serious mutations. With the problems those people already had we were looking at a small army of super villains." That explained why Fury wanted Natasha. There was no room for error. If that drug had been sold The Avengers would be cleaning up the mess for the next year.
"Who made the drug?" Steve wanted to know. He was halfway through his massive bowl, needing a large quality to fuel his enhanced body.
"He did." Natasha expected their surprise. "The man was a chemist before he turned to drugs. S.H.I.E.L.D. secured his lab. They want you to look at it." She tossed a clear plastic pocket full of black and gold pills across the table to Bruce and Tony.
They were like little boys at Christmas. "Snazzy." Tony commented as he pulled a tiny capsule out of the packet.
"No work on the table!" Pepper reminded. "And you're not staying up late in the lab tonight. You can work on them when we get back." She quickly confiscated the capsules, giving Jane a tired smile to show that this was a regular occurrence.
The monopoly game finally ended later that evening with Pepper and Emily as victors. It wasn't a surprising outcome since the game was a simpler version of the job Pepper did successfully every day.
"The Stark name has been upheld." Tony proclaimed grandly.
"Thanks for your help." Pepper said sarcastically.
"You took our money!" Max defended his Dad.
"Yeah," Tony agreed. "You were the one who bankrupted us."
Natasha lent down to Clint and Pip. "How often did you cheat?" Often the couple played cards and poker (another useful skill) with both cheating extensively. They even banned the easier cheats like a second deck to make it more entertaining.
"Every single time." Clint replied. "Pepper's just too good at this game."
"I stole Max's 500's and he didn't even notice." Pip boasted.
"Well done." Natasha congratulated her and they followed the still- arguing Stark to the elevators and bade the rest of the adults goodnight.
Sorry this took so long an that it's a filler. My next update will be a continuation of this one. I have future posts ready though so it should be quicker soon. I'm just having some problems with the time gap. I think Thor and Jane should be together but should they get married? Can they get married? Anyway, I don't know enough about Jane to wrote about her so she will stay a girlfriend in this story. Bruce and Steve will not have girlfriends/get married purely because I don't have they brainpower to come up with completely new characters or write about that many people at once.