Avengers: Altruism [N. Romanoff]

22. A New Era

CHAPTER 22

A new era

"Who's SHIELD?" he whispered back to her, putting his arms over her shoulders to hear her better.

"No one really..." she decided to reply, this was a conversation for another day... and for him, it was probably best to have that conversation with someone else.

At that sudden disruption to the conversation, Happy pulled back but still held onto his curiosity. He went ahead of the women to open the door, having to drag a few unconscious bodies who were blocking the entrance out of their way.

Claire's amber eyes were transfixed on the eagle emblem that was embroidered onto Natalie's shoulder, it looked like it was about to fly right from the catsuit when she moved quickly.

"You weren't supposed to find out this way," Natalie's attempt of an apology broke Claire's concentration.

"I'm sorry, you planned on telling me?" She sarcastically replied, rushing to build up her walls before she was caught off-guard again.

"I had to pose as a notary to get closer to Stark," her justifications continued, ignoring the sarcastic tone.

"And who put you up to this? Phil?"

"Fury."

Claire's head flashed red in confusion. The director had set Natalie on this mission.

"Why would Fury do that, when he had me here already?"

"You're not an infiltration, and I specialise in it. I'm here on the terms to evaluate Stark's competency to work alongside SHIELD, is he an asset or is he just smart?" This felt like the biggest betrayal of all. Natalie was sent straight out into this operation to do the job Claire had lost focus on.

"Then what was I doing here, still?" Worse off, Claire was doubting her significance and value to SHIELD.

"A powerfully rich man in a killing suit of armour? And you want to know why you were here," Natalie almost looked like she felt sorry for Claire.

"So...its... its not Natalie?" Claire trailed off, trying to detangle the lie.

"Romanoff, Agent Natasha Romanoff," she introduced her reality.

"And.... You work for SHIELD. I suppose when they pulled me into an office and asked me to run the psych ward, they expected that I would and should just accept this and my duty?"

"Natalie Rushman was just an alias to help build me an umbrella to hide under," Romanoff shrugged her shoulder, oversimplifying the story.

"So, you're like William? I assume you know who that is; I assume you know every little detail about me because of them." Claire spun to look at her accusingly.