Chapter 24: Family Interruption
-The Raft, Atlantic Ocean-
-January 28, 2007, 1100h local-
"Damn." Clint exclaimed when they got inside Fury's office. That one word can summarize everything they have just experienced.
Coulson is still out there, a little shell shocked from the revelations, explaining to the administration of the prison that the lockdown was necessary since Fury noticed that the one inside the cell is just a fake. Of course, everything he's saying is a bunch of bullshit since they don't know who else might be spying on them.
Fury is walking around the room with his checking every corner for anything out of place. Naruto's gimmick with the folder and revelations further increased Fury's already sky-high paranoia.
Natasha, on the other hand, is sitting at the corner with a contemplative look on her face while fingering the piece of paper in her hands. Clint only noticed the paper when they got out of the room. He surmised that it must've come from Naruto.
Clint is still a little irked that Naruto, the invulnerable super-soldier, got a date with Natasha. It's just trouble waiting to happen. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, he's glad that she finally did something 'normal' that she can enjoy.
Clint was thinking about the possibility of Nat finally finding someone to settle down with when he heard the door open. He looked back behind him and saw Coulson walking in.
Fury sat back down when he is finally sure enough that there's no one else in the room or someone listening in. This signaled everyone to stand in attention in front of Fury.
"Did they buy it?" Fury asked Coulson.
"Yup. They're just really pissed off about it." Phil answered with a shrug.
"Good..." Fury said with a nod. "This goes without saying. No one would discuss anything about what happened here unless I explicitly and personally give the go-ahead. Is that clear?"
They all nodded in confirmation. The aftermath that would happen if any of the information said today gets out haphazardly would be catastrophic. Who knows how many Hydra agents are still around, or worse yet, in SHIELD. They need to plan every step of the way by themselves with minimal involvement outside of their group. Maria Hill would also need to be informed about this development since she's Fury's closest right-hand woman. The logistics of setting everything up would be a nightmare without her.
"Boss. I would like to follow up on some leads he gave us." Coulson requested.
"Which one? Cause there is a whole bunch of shit we would need to go through." Fury inquired.
"The one about Rogers and Barnes."
"Why?" Fury urged Coulson to explain his reasoning.
"The crisis looming over our heads would not only affect SHIELD, sir. It would disrupt some fundamental beliefs held by everyone. When the inevitable shakeup happens, a new symbol needs to be placed for everyone to rally behind. Who better for it to be The Captain himself." Coulson reasoned with conviction.
"Are you sure it's not because you just want to find the Captain?" Fury asked slightly in jest.
"That's just a bonus, sir." Coulson defended himself with a smile.
"Ok. You have clearance. I want you to compile everything about Rogers and Barnes in a remote network. Make sure it can't be hacked or copied. When you have everything, we'll talk about a search party..." Fury laid out the plan he wanted Coulson to follow. Security and anonymity is their friend as long as they haven't flushed out the rats in the division. "How long have you've been preparing for that speech of yours?"
"Half an hour." Phil answered with a shrug.
"Now that's out of the way. It's time to talk about the next pressing issue..." Fury said before facing Natasha. "Romanoff's date with a teleporting super-soldier with sociopathic tendencies."
Clint perked up, hearing the next topic of conversation while Coulson was pulled out of his thought about how to approach the problem with the Captain. Natasha saw the reaction of her co-workers and immediately knew she would loathe the next few minutes.
"We need to prepare a strike team and an air support package." Clint said seriously.
"We should probably also place a quick response team and two surveillance teams to follow." Coulson added. Phil believes that Natasha could take care of herself in most situations. So if something happens during their outing, she can take care of herself, and if in case the problem is Naruto himself, they can't do anything about it. So, in summary, he just said his suggestion to rile up Romanoff.
Natasha can't believe at the two's audacity. Are they saying that she's incompetent or incapable? Besides, the whole thing is private. Why the hell would they make it into a high stakes mission scenario? She gets it that Naruto is a huge question mark, and nobody likes an unknown. She also understands that he's still a national security threat but for the love of God! They're just going on a date! The only thing stopping her from an outburst is because Fury is in the room.
Phil is looking at Natasha in the corner of his vision. He's enjoying the play by play of emotions that can be seen on her face. It's a rarity that he can mess with the infamous Black Widow.
Clint, on the other hand, is utterly oblivious to the peril he's placing himself in. He somehow decided to take on the role of the overprotective brother while disregarding Natasha's opinion.
Although amused with the play by play, Fury would like to get on with the conversation without losing two of his agents in the process.
"You're suggestions have some merit..." Natasha was about to interject, but Fury continued effectively cutting her off. "Romanoff can take care of herself, and in case something goes wrong that is out of her league, she would take with her an emergency band and her phone. Is that acceptable?"
The emergency band is a watch designed by SHIELD for tracking high profile protectees during a mission. It can transmit and receive data from almost anywhere on the surface of the Earth. The location and vitals are continuously sent to command while messages and orders can be sent back and read through the watch face. The user can also send a distress call that would immediately alert that something went wrong.
Everyone naturally agreed to Fury's decision, although Natasha is still miffed about her being tracked, it would be a lot better than being listened to. What Fury didn't say to Romanoff is that the band she is going to wear would have the capabilities to listen in and has a live video feed.
"Coulson, prepare the jet. The earlier we get back, the better." Fury ordered before walking out of the room.
Coulson followed and walked out of the room to execute Fury's orders. It can take them from 1 hour to 7 hours to get back to Washington, depending on where The Raft is currently.
Barton walked over to a locker at the corner of the room to retrieve his bow and quiver since the Raft policy state that only handguns are allowed for anyone who is not a member of the Raft's security team.
"Fuck! I'm going to kill him!" Barton suddenly shouted.
Natasha already knew through experience what might've happened, and she was not disappointed when she saw what's inside. Instead of Clint's black carbon nanotube composite bow and high tech quiver, it was replaced by a set of colorful toy bow and suction tipped arrows. A message is taped at the back wall of the locker.
'Told you we aren't done yet ;p.
P.S. You'll get it back after the Date.'
-Stark Mansion, Los Angeles, California-
-January 28, 2007, 0800h local-
Tony, Happy, and Rhodey was roped in another one of Pepper's crazy house rules. If you're not a guest and present inside the house early in the morning, you would have to help out in making breakfast. And not just simple toast, it has to be an English Breakfast because 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day.' On top of all that, Pepper is such a control freak. She just hides it well.
That's why it Happy and Rhodey rarely came to the Stark household so early in the morning. They were present that morning was because Tony texted them that he needed help. The son of a bitch just wanted someone to suffer with him.
Tony was assigned to cooking the beans, Happy is frying the meat and eggs, Rhodey is squeezing some oranges, and finally, Pepper is preparing the salad.
They were all doing the jobs when JARVIS's voice was heard from the speaker.
"Sir. Miss Morgan is finally awake. She looks like she requires diaper change." JARVIS informed them.
Tony and Pepper stared at each other. They were silently debating who's going to change Morgan's diaper. Rhodey and Happy are still amused by how great the two of them together.
After a few more seconds, Pepper finally stood up. It looks like she lost the debate. She washed her hands before starting to walk out of the room, but before she could leave the kitchen, JARVIS's voice was heard again.
"Miss Potts. It looks like Miss Morgan is already being tended to."
"Oh. Thank you, Jarvis." Pepper replied before walking back to finish the salad preparation. It's still a little weird for her to talk with someone who only exists as 1s and 0s, but she's slowly coming around on that idea.
She just sat back down and prepared the salad when she realized something. There were supposed to be only four people inside the house, excluding Morgan. If all of them are now preparing breakfast, who the hell is with Morgan. At the same time, the others with her also realized the situation.
They all stood up simultaneously and ran up the stairs while making sure they individually brought some kind of weapon. Tony brought a spatula, Happy dumped the food here cooking on a plate and carried the pan, and Pepper brought a wooden spoon. Only Rhodey brought a real weapon, which is his service firearm.
As they were reaching the door, Rhodey and Happy pulled Tony and Pepper to the back. It's better if someone with experience handles the first encounter.
Happy signaled that he would open the door while Rhodey would storm inside Morgan's room. Tony is holding Pepper back who's on the verge of a panic attack.
Rhodey raised three fingers and counted down. As soon as it reached zero, Happy quickly opened the door while Rhodey rushed in.
"Turn around with your hands up!" Rhodey shouted while pointing the gun at the man standing with his back facing them.
Morgan's cry suddenly reverberated inside the darkened room. Tony and Pepper took a peek inside the room, trying to see if their baby girl is okay.
The tension was rising at an exponential rate until it abruptly crashed back down.
"Great! You just made her cry! Happy now!?" A voice can be heard even for the people outside the room.
Happy decided to end the mystery and open the light. What they saw relieved and annoyed Pepper at the same time. Naruto is carrying Morgan while feeding her. Rhodey, on the other hand, is still tensed since he hasn't met Naruto personally yet. Only snippets from conversations.
Tony, visibly more relaxed, strolled in between Rhodey and Naruto.
"Rhodey, Naruto. Naruto, Rhodey..." Tony introduced them. "Now, put the gun down before you accidentally shoot someone..." Tony then gave Naruto a hard stare. "You! When did you get back!?"
"30 mins ago. Why?" Naruto asked.
Before Tony could answer, Pepper interjected in the conversation. The intensity of her glare was enough to scare Naruto and making him step back.
"Why didn't you say you're already here, and how did you get in!? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Pepper shouted straight to Naruto's face. The loud sound made Morgan cry again.
Naruto involuntarily gulped in fear. He started to sway a little to calm down Morgan, who's been fuzzing around.
"I thought you already know since JARVIS is installed into your security system, as for the entrance, I used the window. Some guys are keeping an eye on your house, and I don't want to cause some problems." Naruto defended himself, lacking his usual energetic personality.
"What guys? Paparazzi?" Happy asked. As the Head of Security, he should deal with some possibly unsavory entities looking into the family's personal life.
"I don't know, but it doesn't look like it. They wore suits and have guns. If you think about it, they might be some government spooks. They've been there even before I arrived." Naruto said with a shrug.
Happy's internal alarms started ringing. Who the hell gave anyone the authority to survey the Stark's.
"Excuse me. I got to look into it." Happy said before walking out of the room. Presumably, to call some of his contacts.
When Pepper calmed down considerably, she finally pulled Naruto out of the room while still carrying Morgan. Tony and Rhodey just followed behind them. Naruto can't even resist since he might justle Morgan.
When they got to the entrance of the kitchen, Pepper took Morgan and pushed Naruto into the kitchen.
"You're going to finish preparing everyone's breakfast. You got 20 mins..." Pepper said in an authoritative tone. "And. No. Ramen." She added before walking away.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone