If Pepper thought that she was going to be up from her bed in the morning before Natasha, she found herself clearly mistaken when she stepped out of her room with her luggage at five a.m.
The red-head looked tired, almost resigned to waiting before she can go after her...what was it she had called Agent Barton? Oh yes, her partner. It sounded provisional, like the title given to anyone who worked closely with another person, but Pepper didn't think it really was. She had slowly gotten to know all of the Avengers over the six months since the Battle of New York.
Steve Rogers had been first, being such a sweet man that tried at every opportunity to make her feel included in "Avenger" activities. He had opened up a little to her, mostly using her as a sounding board for things...making sure he wasn't going to come across to anyone as being out-dated.
Next was actually Natasha. They passed a quiet moment where Pepper got the awkwardness of having a SHIELD agent once be her assistant out in the open. Said agent simply had blinked and told Pepper that it had been actually one of the nicest jobs she had ever had. After that it only seemed logical to bond together as the only women in a sea of men. Pepper ranted about Tony and Natasha followed in kind with Clint.
Bruce and Thor had come almost like a packaged deal. By the time Thor got back, Bruce was finally allowing other people into his isolated world. Surprisingly, the two men actually balanced each other in some ways. Thor kept most of the focus off the good doctor and in return, Bruce seemed to trust having the demigod hang around. Pepper wasn't sure either of them truly understood the other, but they were developing a solid friendship. At the very base was their shared appreciation of having Pepper around. Thor because he doted on everyone he meet, and Bruce simply put because she was a calming force...his words not hers.
Clint, on the other hand, had been the hardest to even get two words out of. He seemed wary of Pepper, the reason for which she could never figure out. Sometimes he would go out of his way to avoid talking to her, sending notes via Natasha or Tony or Coulson in order to not have to speak to her directly. Aggravating as it all was, she would forgive all of it if he brought Tony back safely.
As if reading her mind, Natasha's first words to Pepper that morning were simple and direct, the method they both liked best.
"Clint may come across as irresponsible and carefree, Pepper, but he will die to protect Tony. Of that you should have no doubt."
Still feeling shaken from everything the past day or so had brought, Pepper frowned and asked, "How can you know?"
"One," Natasha said, smiling gently, "he signed up for this baby-sitting trip of his own free will, even though this should have been easier than a cake-walk." She paused and shook her head.
"And two, I'm pretty sure Clint is a bit in love with Tony and that's a better guarantee he'll get out safe than any other promise I could make."
"Oh," Pepper says, and blinks at her friend. Well, she thinks, that actually explains a lot.
"Barton, seriously, are you sure you know where the fuck you're going?" Tony asks, for probably the tenth time since they had found the little dusty trail that lead down from the mountain containing their cave.
"It's a trail, Stark. You kinda either go one way or the other, and since the one end was the cave, the other must lead to somewhere not cave like," Clint explains, throwing a look over his shoulder. It was still dark, but Tony just knew it was a sarcastic look.
"I know, but isn't it, like, a rookie move to follow the very obviously marked trail?" Tony wasn't even going to mention them wandering around at night. The glow of his arc reactor seemed to be all the archer required, well that and the overhead light of the moon.
"Well, unless you have a map hidden in your well-cut designer pants, or see a major highway, this trail obviously leads somewhere. So, we might as well follow," Clint's glad it's dark so no one sees him wince when he mentions Tony's pants. He may have been a little focused on them when they had been at the hotel the previous day...and maybe all of the past month.
"But in the dark?! What if there are wild animals out here?" Okay, so he hadn't been planning mentioning the dark bit. He was Iron Man. He would not be scared of the dark.
"Oh, most certainly, but I'd be more worried about what happens when the bad guys come looking for us and find that cave empty. They'll be tracking us by dawn so we need to use the time we have," Clint sums up.
Tony stops, as the pit of his stomach drops out. "You think they're going to come back?" He wasn't panicking, he wasn't, but maybe it hit him how bad their situation was.
Alone in the desert?...Wandering for days?...No food or water? Air seemed harder and harder to drag into his lungs. Distantly Tony is aware of being lowered to the ground, a body wedging itself next to him and rough voice demanding that he breathe, damnit.
Several moment passed while he gasped for air, unaware of what was going on for the time. Finally the panic settled and he realized that Barton was holding him, crooning some French song in his ear. Two thoughts settled quickly over Tony's mind. One, this is probably the first time someone's held me when I've panicked like this. This was followed up by: Jesus H. Christ, he has a sexy fucking voice.
"I'm-I'm all right," Tony says, interrupting the song.
"I know, maybe I just wanted to cop a feel," Barton deadpanned.
It was a crude thing to say, but Tony had to laugh. Yeah, he thinks, it's been a while since that happened either.
"Ready to start again?" The archer's voice is soft now, warm against Tony's ear.
"I-"" He really didn't know, part of him distracted by realizing how close they were.
"I know how it looks, but we have better odds out here than back in that cave. We still have time to get ahead of them, okay?"
"How are we going to get word to Agent Romanoff or Coulson?" That part was still a mystery to Tony. During his capture it had been one he had never been able to solve.
"I don't know yet, okay? But we have time. Right now we need to get off this stupid mountain. We'll actually be getting somewhere once we're in this valley stretch below us."
"What about water?" He had to ask.
"Do you see a bar around here?" Barton huffed and then sighed.
"I don't know, Stark, but if we're not down off this mountain trail when the men who took us come to check on us, it won't really matter. I know last time you managed to stay alive by bluffing, but it won't work this time. Whoever took us didn't care if we survived in that cave." Barton took a breath and continued. "Look, Pepper or Rhodey probably gave your speech. By then those men know people have started looking for us. They don' have operations here. We saw that when we didn't find a guard. They must have drugged us and used contacts to find somewhere to stash us."
"Why would they come back?" Tony asks.
"Because they didn't get what they wanted...your speech was probably still given. That failed, but they still have you. They can use you to leverage money or force you to give them Stark Industries information or whatever they want. In the end it will come with the cost of either my life or both of our pain and suffering-and I'm not in the mood to be tortured today, okay?"
Smiling, the genius nodded, then cleared his throat best he could before wincing as he muttered, "Sorry bout all that."
"No problem, just stay with me okay? I don't want to have to drag your ass through the desert, but I will if I have to. I'm not facing down Coulson's wrath over this cluster-fuck alone, okay?" The archer's eyes are earnest, and a tiny bit beautiful if Tony admitted those kinds of things to himself.
"Got it," he said, chuckling a bit. "I'm ready."
"Good, because you're buying the first round at the hotel bar when we get back." Clint grins as he helps Tony to his feet. Tony has to wonder if Barton's hand has always felt this good or if he was just suffering some sort of desert hallucination.
Not having a retort, Tony followed after the mad archer, who was starting to ponder out loud if the hotel bar would serve hot wings-or better yet, nachos.