Give Life Meaning...

Tony's Plan

"We think they tracked you from the tower to the house," Tony said, tossing the deactivated tracker on the table. "This is just a theory but I think they thought you had the twins with you. They don't know you're moving in, you two just left." 

"So a Hydra agent breaks into our home for the twins alone?" Steve sounded rather unimpressed by the theory and Natasha didn't blame him but Tony had a point. 

"We're not exactly subtle where we're at. The news reports on us every other day and where the tower is. It would make sense if they bugged our vehicles and then waited until we left the group. They have a much better chance of getting what they want," Natasha spoke softly, as a group they were deadly, and while they could hold their own separately it was a lot harder. Natasha knew this was hard for Steve. They had arrived back to the tower looking a little worse than wear and had to answer questions. The security system was already up and active, which meant Steve demanded to see the recording, and stopped JARVIS as soon as the man left. He refused to let Tony look through the recording inside the house after the fact. 

"Which is why he didn't break the house like he did the yard. It was a smash-and-grab while it was only you two," Tony said folding his arms as he sat back in a chair. "I think he was called back because it was a lost cause and no one really knows why you're there. When he found you guys outside getting ready to go back outside." Tony went to the shot where it looked like the man had gone still and pointed. 

"Stone man here is listening to something, must have been an order. The house and property are still safe. I've covered the trail about who actually owns the house. That does mean, however, that they'll be striking the tower soon I think," Tony frowned harder as he tried to come up with a solution that didn't include rushing them out of the tower. 

"We'll have to leave soon," Steve said, sitting forward to try and comprehend all of the information and theories that they had been bouncing around. "We haven't even prepared the kids yet. The child psychologist told us to always talk to them and prepare them for what's about to happen. I thought we had months yet before this was a necessity." 

"Hydra didn't give us a choice. They'll adapt, it'll be hard but they'll have an entire house to run around in," Natasha was trying to be comforting but found her heart dropping into her stomach. She wasn't ready to leave the place she had managed to call home thanks to the Avengers. They were a family as dysfunctional as they were. 

"Moving doesn't mean that you'll have to stop seeing the doctor either, in fact, that would be the worst thing to do for the kids," Tony stated, standing up as if he had anxious energy he didn't know where to place it. "You'll still have access to the speech therapist and all of that can still happen here. The tower is safe but I think getting you guys moved into the house is the best move we've got." 

"We're isolated! How are we safer there? It'll take too long for you guys to come to our aid," Steve argued, and suddenly the man who wanted to start a life away from the tower was less than eager to leave. Natasha and himself barely held their own against the assassin and if they would have had the twins there it would have been worse. 

"Not completely true. You do own all 23 acres around your house, but I bought the surrounding land too," Tony said, he took a deep breath. "JARVIS, pull up Rogers's house and the surrounding land." When it came up Tony isolated the areas he bought which added miles of protection for the Rogers family. "I have a house here... Pepper agreed to live there with me. Clint turned down the offer but this is officially unofficial Avenger land. The security is being updated as we speak. It's a little weird to me that they knew to track you two. You may not have had the twins but they knew. That seems a little weird. Bruce agrees so his house is... About here. Just in case he has to turn into the big guy he's safely away from people and will hopefully focus on the bad guys only." Steve stared wide-eyed at the map having not expected Tony to think as deeply. 

"Who else knows about this?" Natasha asked sounding a bit breathless herself, she stood behind Steve placing her hands on his shoulders. It was just as much for his comfort as for her own as they grappled with reality. Months of quiet from Hydra and the peace was shattered in one afternoon. 

"No one. They're not going to know either. It's not on any record they'd think to check and if they're looking for a house bought or built for a Steve Rogers it'll send them another direction. More your pay grade if you get my drift. This will still be our working office but it's time we had a bit less intrusion. We're not quiet about where we're at but it doesn't feel quite right," Tony said, moving across the room to the coffee bar in the meeting room. "JARVIS is making sure we're not bugged. Not even Fury is going to know." Steve had to admit that Fury hadn't inspired complete loyalty after the fiasco with Loki but had seemed to take their words more seriously. Perhaps it was because they proved that they would show up when disaster struck.