Hey! New chapter, to answer some questions, yeah Clint and Nat will be best friends! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story, it always makes me so happy to know that! Enjoy :)
The next morning was spent with Tony and she thought that she had been right to disapprove of him. Everything he did was fast and he talked so very quickly. But she liked him. He was charming in his own way and intelligent. He never said uninteresting things and she learned when she was with him. He deputized her as his lab assistant for the day and she spent the morning running around the lb getting him things and then later they are lunch at an Italian restaurant in town with a very pretty woman.
She had been nervous to go to the restaurant. It was fancy and nice. She had had to put on a dress, not that she minded. She liked pretty clothes. She liked looking pretty and feeling pretty.
As They left the car which Tony insisted on driving himself. Something she had not expected, they headed in. The restaurant was hugely upscale and beautiful to look at. She had never seen such a place except in pictures.
Tony guided her through the sea of tables. "They have really great food here. The sauces are the best. Really great. It's like you can taste them just by looking." She looked at him curiously, not quite understanding.
Tony stopped at a table set for three. "I'm meeting my girlfriend here." He said. "Her name's Pepper. You'll like her. She's great." They sat down and Natasha used all of her might to remember the manners lessons she had had. She sat still with her back straight and her legs crossed primly.
Tony was less poised but she felt content to sit properly in such a nice restaurant. The people around her were dressed up in nice clothes and she payed special attention to the clothes the women wore. It made her wonder what she looked like as an adult. She hoped she was very beautiful. She thought she might ask to see a picture.
Whatever the case she was distracted from her thoughts by the arrival of Pepper. A pretty red haired woman greeted them and kissed Tony on his cheek. Natasha looked up at her seriously, watching what she did. The woman smiled at her and held out her hand and Natasha shook it delicately.
"Pepper, Natasha. I told you she would be here. Natasha this is Pepper Potts."
"A pleasure." Natasha said quietly.
Pepper smiled again and sat down. "How was China, Tony?"
He shrugged. "Boring. But they agreed to but some of our tech." Natasha looked up at him quizzically.
"Shipping company. They want to use my tech to transport goods. It's a long story but it's another overseas investment."
"You make things?"
Tony nodded. "I do and she sells them. Pepper runs the company."
Natasha nodded, trying to understand. She thought she did. "Is it a successful company?"
"Very and Pepper makes it better every day."
Pepper smiled quietly but looked as though she was enjoying the praise. "So Natasha," She said. "How do you like the tower? Is everything okay there?"
Natasha nodded. "It is very nice."
Just then the waiter came and took their drink orders. Natasha did not know what to ask for and Tony ordered her lemonade. She liked the drink. In the Red Room they mostly got water and milk. There wasn't a lot of food for fun. Or even a lot of food.
Food was the same. She did not understand the different kinds. She had never eaten Italian food before. But Tony ordered for her and she liked what he ordered immensely. As it turned out she also liked Pepper very much. It was nice to have a woman to talk to who didn't seem cold and distant. The matrons in the Red Room always were. They looked at the girls knowing what they would become and resenting them. Some of them were even from earlier experiments in the Red Room who resented being called failures. They were the cruelest. They were harsh and in a way punished the new girls. They drove them hard and were wicked people. She had always thought that was unfair.
Pepper was intelligent and gentle but sharp enough not to be a foreign creature. Still, she was compassionate and kind. Natasha liked her a lot. It was nice to have a woman to talk to. Especially one like Pepper. Tony and Bruce were geniuses and Clint was a little average to her.
For the most part Tony had to fight to keep from dominating the conversation as per his usual way. He didn't want to annoy Natasha as he sometimes thought he did the adult version. Still, it was hard to keep his mouth shut.
As lunch wore on he watched the two women talk. Natasha was curious about what Pepper did in the company and eventually talked turned to stories of the Avengers. She was thrilled to hear about how they saved the day and the different adventures they had had.
They were just about to leave and Tony was thrilled with the hit Pepper had made when they were stopped by a loud explosion down the street. He swore violently and raced out the door. People in the restaurant were yelling and Pepper ran to the door to watch, Natasha hurried after her. "Where did he go?" She asked.
Pepper grabbed her shoulder. "Tony went to see what's wrong." She looked worried.
There were sudden cries all around as Iron Man flew up into the air, red and gold suit gleaming. Pepper put a hand to her mouth as he ordered the crowd back. "Bank robbery next door. Should be an easy stop." He shouted.
Natasha stood on the curb with Pepper. Who was watching fearfully as several men with guns vacated the bank next door. One of them Shot at Tony in the sky and took off running, shoving people on the street aside. He was running towards them. At the same time Two others were shooting up into the sky at Tony. Natasha watched them with a level head. She had been in a combat zone before and this was nothing but Pepper looked worried.
As soon as the running man was in reach she dropped him. It was harder to do on an adult than a girl her own age but she managed it. She dropped him and wrestled his gun out of her hands, eventually pinning him at gun point. Up in the sky Tony had disarmed the two other shooters and the remaining men had thrown their guns down.
Pepper had fallen back in shock.
Tony removed the weapons and came to stand where Natasha stood. He looked at the small girl holding an assault rifle. It looked so natural it was creepy. He removed his visor. "Natasha. . ." He almost told her to get back. Instead he thanked her. "Good job. I'll take the gun. Thanks."
She ejected the magazine and handed both it and the gun over. She smiled at him. He was still stunned. The man on the ground looked stunned too. He had been taken down by a first grader. Well, Tony wouldn't hold it against him, this was a no ordinary first grader.
Pepper put her arms around Natasha and drew her back, she sounded winded and Natasha, calm as ever and immensely pleased with herself helped her back into the restaurant and got her water.
Pepper sat at a table and calmed down. She looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry." She said. "I get so worried when he does these things. I can't help it."
Natasha shook her head. "It's fine. I think it means you really care."
Pepper glanced at her over her glass, thinking that she had never seen a more grown up child in the world. "Thank you. You know, you were amazing out there."
Natasha smiled proudly. "I wanted to help." She paused. "Do I help as a grown up?"
Pepper who had relaxed nodded. "You help a lot. You do a lot of stuff. I'm not really sure I know all the details but you sort of have your own nitch in the team. You do a lot of the low key stuff. At least that's how Tony described it to me. He and Thor and the Hulk do most of the big flashy stuff but you tend to run things in the back ground. He says it's pretty amazing."
Natasha narrowed her eyes in thought. "So I am a spy?"
Pepper paused. "In way but you do so much more than just that."
Natasha nodded, then something occurred to her. "Who is the Hulk?"
This brought a pause. "Dr. Banner isn't always so calm. I hope you don't meet him like that."
She left it hanging and Natasha looked curious and confused. The child tried to figure out what she meant and she thought she might have some idea. She had always felt something under the surface when she talked to Bruce but she still couldn't peg what it was.
A few moments later Tony extracted himself from a crowd of people wanting his autograph and came to join them. His clothes were rumpled and his hair was a mess. He glanced down at Natasha with a kind of hesitation. "Well, um. . . thanks for the back up out there."
She smiled. "You're welcome."
He nodded and put an arm around Pepper. "Well, food should be done soon and nothing works up an appetite like a bank robbery."
They returned to their seats with all hope of an inconspicuous lunch ruined. People around the restaurant kept shooting them looks and they ended up getting their meals free which Pepper said was ridiculous as they were perfectly capable of paying.
Natasha didn't mind, she liked eating with Them and she was proud of herself. The only thing she couldn't shake was the feeling that Tony wasn't all the way thrilled with her. He didn't say anything and he had thanked her several times but she thought he was a little uneasy. Often soldiers were uneasy around her and her sisters. They didn't like the thought that children, little girls were so much better, that so much more respect would be given to them when they grew up. Some of them just didn't like that it was little girls fighting. One man had said to her that he pitied her because she would never be a real child. That had stuck with her and really sunk in. a teacher had said again that her sacrifice allowed many other children to have wonderful childhoods and that made her a hero.
She was distracted from her thoughts by the arrival of their desert. As it turned out it was delicious. She decided that she quite liked Italian food and would have to eat more of it.
When they left they all returned to the tower together and Natasha went to get her doll to show Pepper. Pepper had red hair too and she thought she might like it. Pepper took the doll with grace and played with her until Tony came back with drinks for all of them and sat down seriously.
"Natasha, um I'd like to talk to you about this afternoon at the bank."
She looked up at him carefully.
"You did a remarkable thing and not many girls your age could stop a grown man."
Natasha nodded seriously.
"Natasha, if something like that happens again, could you please promise me that you won't try and help?"
This puzzled her. She had thought that he would have been grateful to have her help. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, nothing like that." Pepper said, scratching her back affectionately. "But we worry."
"Did you think that I would not be able to stop him?"
"Well, we didn't know." Tony said seriously. "Like I said, not many girls could do what you did."
She looked at him with the simplest expression of confusion. "But I am different from other girls."
The very fact that she knew this bothered him. It would have been normal for her to be shocked that she wasn't like other girls it would have been better if she was just a little upset but she wasn't. She looked perfectly calm.
Not knowing what to do, Tony excused her and sat back with his arm around Pepper. "I'm gonna have to tell the others." He said.
She glanced at him. "I know. Do you know what you're going to say to them?"
"Guess I'll just tell them what happened. Group decision."
Pepper squeezed his arm. "It scared me when she did that but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course she could do that. She's amazing as an adult. I guess they trained her from childhood."
Tony clenched his fist. "That's not right."
"I know."
They sat for a while before moving to get back to work. At the present there was nothing they could do.
So I know some people have been waiting for a heart to heart conversation between the team and Natasha about her past and the reason I waited so long is because I wanted not only for her to trust them enough but also to have a good reason so look forward to that next chapter, I hope you guys liked this one!
Thanks for reading!