The Unknown Variable
HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS!? I OWN NOTHING!
Tony was angry.
He wasn't angry at a person per-say, he's just angry at the world.
I had awoken this morning to a thirty minuet coughing fit, and the horrible, excruciating pain in my chest. My screams and coughs had woken Dad up and he was horrified at my state of health.
It had taken almost an hour before the pain faded to almost manageable, and Tony held me the entire time. But by the end, he looked murderous.
To keep Tony from doing anything self-destructive, I tried to get Tony to spar with me, however, after he saw that I could dodge everything…and he wasn't willing to hit me…he called Happy and they have been boxing for the past three hours.
I was sitting in the corner of the gym that Tony had built about four months ago, sipping on the blue drink Mortem had finally gotten me, the Holo-balls hiding my presence.
"Tony, can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" Pepper asked as she entered the room.
"I'm on Happy's time," Tony called back over the loud music.
I was playing on my Tablet. Tony and I had, last night, come up with a plan for our wills. When I died, (most likely before Tony) everything I owned would be split between Tony, a few charities, and Selvig's research lab.
Tony told me that if he died before I did then I would get everything, however because that was unlikely, his will was rigged so everything was final. There were instructions for Stark Industries, a good sized inheritance for Pepper, most of the money would be given to the charity under my grandmother's name, and also, there would be a report and legal documents sent to the Media revealing my existence.
I looked up at I heard Dad say "Sorry" and Happy reply with "What was that?"
"Mixed martial arts….it's been around for…three weeks…" Tony stated, and I rolled my eyes at his excuse.
I had actually taught him that earlier that morning; he just was covering for me.
"No, that's called dirty boxing." Happy corrected him with a look, "There's nothing new about it."
My attention was drawn away from Tony's and Happy's argument when a new woman walked in. She had long, dark red hair and a good tan. She was wearing a white blouse and although her stance was perfectly at ease, her eyes held an emotion that made them sharp. My own eyes narrowed as my instincts flared; something wasn't right with her.
"Dad, new girl at one o'clock. Be careful around her…something's not right…" I told my father quietly through my com.
We had decided to wear them even when we were in the house. We wanted to be able to stay together, even when we couldn't see one another.
The girl distracted Happy, I saw Dad give me a half a glance in acknowledgment and then turn his attention to the dark red head.
What was with Tony and red heads? Seriously, it was weird.
"I promise you, this will be the only time I ask you to sign over your company." Pepper stated as the new girl, who moved just a bit too well…if that makes sense, opened up her folder and showed Pepper some paperwork.
"I need you to initial here," She stated as Happy tried to get Tony's attention back into the ring.
He was staring at the new girl, but not for the reasons that Happy and Pepper thought. The slight narrow of his eyes meant that he was trying to figure her out, and it was annoying him; and when he got annoyed with something, he worked on it till he could figure it out.
Tony finally turned back towards Happy when he knocked him on the head with his glove. "Leason one. Never take you eye off the…"
Happy didn't get to finish because Dad gave him a swift kick to the gut that caused him to go flying back into the corner.
"That's it. I'm done." Tony said to Happy before turning towards the new chick. "What's your name lady?"
"Rushman, Natalie Rushman." She replied instantly, and my eyes narrowed. Something about her just put me off…I would have to did around. Not to mention that something about her just seamed…familiar…
"Front and center. Into the church." Tony said, motioning to the ring. So I wasn't the only one that noticed that calculative gleam in her eye when she saw Tony kick Happy.
"Careful there Dad." I whispered softly, and even though I knew that it would hurt like hell, I sent out an EMP pulse to find any bugs.
My chest instantly exploded in pain, but my eyes widen in surprised. Since Natalie entered the house, there were three new bugs, not to mention that Rushman herself was bugged, and was wearing a wire.
"SHIELD…" I muttered, recognizing the bugs' energy signatures. I took a sip of the drink to ease the pain and then turned my attention back towards my father.
"No, you're not serious." Pepper stated, looking at her old boss like he was insane. "She's not going to…"
"If it pleases the court?" Tony stated, ignoring Pepper. He was playing with her, and I was pretty sure that she knew it. "Which it does…"
"It's no problem." Rushman replied, a barely concealed smug smile on her face.
"I'm sorry," Pepper stated, "He's very eccentric."
Tony lifted up the rope wall and let Rushman slide into the ring. There was an awkward moment of silence as Tony and Rushman stared at each other, Tony drinking his green thing trying to evaluate her, while she was doing the same.
"what?" Tony said after a moment, he looked over to me, then back at her before giving her a small nervous smile and saying to Happy, "Would you give her a lesson?"
Happy complied and Tony left the ring.
"What?" Pepper asked as Tony sat next to her in the chair.
"Who is she?" Tony asked, and I instantly started pulling up all information I could find under her name. After a moment of searching, my eyes widened. It was a cover, a very good…almost perfect…cover, but a cover none the less.
"She is from legal and she is potentially every expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep …" Pepper responded, giving Tony a warning look.
"I have no intentions toward her." Tony replied. That was another thing that Pepper hadn't seen. Tony really wasn't the playboy he had been before.
"…ogling her like that. Yes, sure, now I have three excellent potential candidates they are lined up and ready to meet you." Pepper stated.
"I don't have time to meet them." Tony stated tiredly, staring at the lying girl.
My attention was drawn back to my Tablet as my worm pinged onto the screen, it found something.
I had searched all of my known files using a picture of her I had snapped when she walked in.
My eyes widened as I read the information. Not only was she lying…but she was SHIELD's best assassin and spy. Natasha Romanoff, now of-course she looked different, a bit, but what did I expect from someone under cover? No wonder she looked familiar.
"Dad, SHIELD leak. I repeat. SHIELD operative." I whispered quietly into the com. I saw Tony's eyebrow twitch at that information, but I sighed knowing he understood.
I quickly got into Jarvis' mainframe and the other systems in the house and did a full systems check and recalibration. I found three different worms working on Dad's…my…firewalls and quickly fried them, while appearing to be the systems' protection.
No one was hacking my family, not if I had anything to say about it.
"I…I need someone now." Tony took a deep breath, which I knew was against a chest flare, and added, "It's her."
"No, it's not." Pepper replied.
Apparently, Dad was going with the strategy; keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and spies the closest.
The two fell silent as Happy attempted to give the agent lessons. I knew this could go either way, she could pretend she stunk, or pretend to be below her actual level.
I could tell she was annoyed when Happy started listing off armature fighting rings, and Tony was quick to step in. "How do you spell you name, Natalie?"
"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." She instantly replied, and regained her cold demeanor. Tony clapped and brought up a screen, and appeared to search her, but actually, I just connected the screen to the information on my tablet; excluding the spy Intel, since Pepper was looking over his shoulder.
"What, are you going to Google her now?" Pepper asked as my information appeared.
"I thought I was ogling her?" Tony replied instantly. "Oh, wow, she's a very impressive individual. She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin…who speaks Latin?"
"I'd been learning." I stated quietly. It was true. Mortem's name was Latin, and so I had been trying to learn the language with Mortem's help, but it was pointless now.
"No one speaks Latin, it's a dead language." Pepper stated, as Tony viewed 'Rushman's modeling photos…which were probably done just to entice Tony.
"You can read Latin, or write Latin…" Pepper continued but Tony interrupted her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said distractedly glancing over the photo.
"You know those were planted just for you, right?" I stated with an eye roll.
"Did you model in Tokyo? 'Cause she modeled in Tokyo." Tony stated, deliberately cutting Pepper off and distracting her.
"Well…" Pepper stated.
"I need her, she's more than qualified and has everything I need." Tony told his old PA. I watched carefully as Romanoff eavesdropped, ignoring the instructions that Happy was trying to give her.
"Rule #1, never take you eye off your opponent." Happy stated, bringing his arm out to lightly tap her head.
Seeing that her cover had apparently enticed Tony, she whirled around; grabbed Happy's glove twisted his arm sharply so he fell forward, then flipped her legs around his neck and flipped him over onto the ground. All within like…three seconds.
"Wow!" Tony exclaimed wide eyed. "Believe you now." He whispered into the com.
"Oh my God!" Pepper exclaimed jumping to her feet.
Happy was struggling to get up, but Romanoff's legs were still wrapped around his neck, and she was lying on top of his right arm; effectively stopping him from getting up or out of her grip.
That was until she said, "Ha," and let him up.
"What happened?!" Pepper exclaimed as she climbed into the ring. "Happy!"
"That is what I am talking about." Tony stated calmly as the dark red head cleared her throat.
"I just slipped." Happy stated, as he tried to stand up.
"You did?" Tony responded flippantly, keeping his eye on the spy.
"Yeah." Happy said as Tony rang the bell.
"It looks like TKO to me." Dad stated and finally taking off his gloves.
"Oh, just um…" Romanoff stated before continuing her sentence. "I need your impression."
"Step carefully Dad. It could have multiple meanings." I stated, as I swept our systems and Jarvis' mainframe again; destroying another five bugs. 'Damn, their persistent.' I thought to myself.
"Well, you have a quiet reserve, I don't know…and old soul…" Tony stated trying to figure out what she meant.
"No, I mean I need your figure print." She stated.
I rolled my eyes; she did that on purpose…well, actually everything she did was on purpose. Oh well.
Tony took care of the paper work, signing Stark Industries over to Pepper, as she walked over and said, "So, how are we doing?"
"Great, just finishing up 'kay." Tony replied with a small grin "You're the boss."
Pepper tried to hide her joy as 'Natalie' snapped the binder closed loudly, interrupting the personal moment.
"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Romanoff asked, and my eyes narrowed. That was Pepper's and Tony's thing.
"Damn, she wants that job." I stated through the com. I saw Dad's eyes flash in response.
"No." he stated at the same time Pepper said,
"Yes, that will be all Miss Rushman. Thank you very much."
Apparently, nothing could ruin her good mood.
"I want one." Tony stated completely (as far as Pepper could tell) serious.
"No." Pepper replied, giving Tony a look.
She was not going to win that one.
And Enter the Black Widow.
Anyway, yup, her cover didn't stay a cover for long, but they are going to play along… hey I rhymed.
Just so you know, I update about once a day (even though today was a double update) (my time) though the specific times varies. So…yeah…just wanted to point that out, sometimes, times zones mess things up…well…sorta.
Thanks to everyone, and Expecto Prongs, my Beta.
Cp