Ms. America

Chapter Thirteen

Fury asked Rose to continue to keep an eye on Tony after the trial, so she was off to Malibu faster than expected. To say she was excited was an understatement. The only travel she did was to and from New York and the war, so she had never seen the West Coast. Natasha was in tow as well, posing as an assistant for Pepper, who recently became CEO of Stark Industries.

"I'm going to miss having my assistant around," pouted Rose, looking at Nat from across the plane. The two girls had grown close over the research, and Rose had moved in with Nat until further living arrangements could be made back in DC.

"Don't worry Rose, I'll still be able to help you with all your technological troubles," teased Nat over a cup of coffee.

The girls landed at the airport and then were picked up by Happy, Tony's security detail. Their cover had been that Nat was flying in from Stark's New York location, making more sense to have one plane ride instead of two. Once the girls arrived at Stark's house, Rose was blown away by its architecture. Pepper introduced them to Jarvis, the AI of the house, who showed them to their rooms. Once unpacked, they were prompted to meet Tony, Happy, and Pepper in the gym.

"Rose and," starts Tony, looking at Nat, "what's your name lady?"

"Rushman, Natalie Rushman," responds Nat, maintaining an innocent air. Rose had to maintain her cool, as this was certainly not the boisterous Natasha she knew.

"Well, front and center," Tony yelled, opening the edge of the boxing ring for Nat to step through.

"Oh Ms. Rushman you don't," started Pepper, before Tony interrupted.

"If it pleases the court, which it does," Tony egged on, looking at Nat with a stern look. Nat smiled, then quickly entered the ring as Tony stepped out. He left Happy to teach Nat some moves, even though she certainly didn't need the pointers. Tony meandered over, trying to give Rose a hug. She quickly circled away from the sweaty man, laughing at his antics. Pepper and Tony began to bicker back and forth, Pepper became annoyed, but both smiling. Rose smiled at the two from where she stood, they reminded her of Howard and Peggy and how they used to interact.

"Natalie, how do you spell your name?" asked Tony. This caused Nat to turn her attention to Tony, away from Happy, which caused Happy to get a mischievous smile on his face.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N," spelled Nat, her face still turned from Happy.

"Rule number one, never take your eye off you opp-"

Before Happy could finish his quick jab towards Nat, she spun around. Gracefully, she blocked his hand before climbing over his shoulders. Her bodyweight dropped the surprised man, as she eloquently pinned him to the ground. Pepper and Tony gasped in shock, while Rose tried to cover her smile and laughter. She had been training with Nat for the past few weeks since she was brought out of the ice, and knew the skills the redhead possessed. Nat simply excused herself to return to her room.

"I want one Pep," begged Tony like a toddler, "Rose can you do that? You work for Shield now, they must have taught you something."

"I can do something like that," Rose smiled, before moving to leave as well. Fury had told her to limit the use of her powers. While Rose was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, she was still working on becoming like Natasha.

"Rose, if you could just make sure Ms. Rushman knows to be ready to go by six tomorrow morning, we need to be at the airport by seven," asked Pepper kindly, seeing as the two were across the hall from each other.

"Of course Pepper," responded Rose, and with that, she left. She heard Pepper scolding Tony, sending a smile to Rose's face.