Stark's Shadow

Chapter 32 - Scratching the Surface

I sipped on a cappuccino as I sat in the team meeting. Nat hadn't slept in about three days. The bags under her eyes could carry all the Avenger's luggage and my sass. Not Tony's sass, though. That's too much for even these bags. Her eyes were wide and she was vibrating from the unhealthy amount of caffeine and energy drinks she had consumed. Her hair was frizzy and she looked like she was kicked down several flights of stairs. Yet here she was, still being the hottest and baddest bitch to ever walk this earth.

"I'll take that!" She says as she appears behind me, grabbing my drink.

"Hey!" I protest.

Clint grabs it as she walks by and hands it back to me, "No more caffeine, Nat!" He scolds, "And don't steal from the cripple, that's low."

"Hey!" I protest again.

Told you to stab him first!

"You never said to stab him first," I disagree out loud.

Clint scoots his chair away from me.

"Hey, chihuahua, get on with the show," Tony tells Nat and waves his hand at the board. It was full of paper and words and a few pictures with red strings.

"I am not a chihuahua, Tony!"

"Angry, scary, vibrating? That describes you and a chihuahua, so don't even try,"

She rolls her eyes and grabs an energy drink out of... I don't even know where. She's worse than Tony and his blueberries. Clint exhales in defeat.

Nat has spent days searching for any information she could find that could relate to the Snake Den, Gorgon, or anything related to those myths in modern times.

"So, what did you find?" Steve asks politely as Nat's eye twitches.

"Way too many arguments about Greek mythology," She stops for a moment but continues shaking. This was concerning, even for me, and I once didn't sleep for a week and woke up in Fiji wearing a snowsuit. It doesn't even snow there.

"What are all the pictures, Nat?" I ask. I notice one of them is Datura, all the other pictures are connected to her.

"Well, I'm sure you recognize Datura," Nat sets down her drink, "These are pictures of women who look similar to her. Of course, other things were done to narrow it down to this small amount of photos, but one of these women could be Gorgon."

I stand up and look over them. The first one had a big crooked nose, I ripped it down. The second had big blue eyes, Gorgons were small, black and beady; like a snake. The third had a horrible jawline. The fourth was a different race, Chinese I think, Gorgon is Caucasian. The fifth had curly hair, but she has straight hair. I tore them all down, one by one as I looked at them. The sixth was close, but not her. Maybe related, I left that one up and grabbed a pen and wrote that as a note. Seventh had the nose and the jaw, but the eyes aren't right.

"This one, it's her," I say as I see the eighth one, "Small nose, strong jawline, snake eyes, and white as fuck."

"You sure?" I hear Bucky ask.

I turn to him, "You out of everyone should know I am,"

He nods, "It just seems too easy,"

"Only because we have enough pieces to start to see the picture in this puzzle. We've got a lot more work to do, don't worry,"

Nat looks at the photo, "Rose Redd. Disappeared forty years ago, suspected of the murder of several men and the kidnapping of a teen named Kelsey Moore,"

My head snaps up, "Do you have a photo of Kelsey Moore? That could confirm everything," I say.

Nat points at a photo tied to Rose, I hadn't noticed that one. It was the only one not directly attached to Datura. "This is her,"