Bend Around the Wind by Scyllaya

Chapter 65: Natasha Romanoff

Natasha never enjoyed the heat of California. Because of her pale skin she always stood out here like a sore thumb unless she spent hours putting on make-up that was all too likely to be washed away by sweat and the scorching sun. She never pretended to be local for that exact reason, but people were still more likely to remember her in the midst of all the blonde and tan girls walking down the streets.

Clint loved it for some reason. Only after a few days his skin was darkening to a nice warm sun-tanned colour too. His hair was going to start looking slightly lighter as well the more time he spent on the sun. In only a few weeks he could very well pretend to be one of the thousand surfer guys on the beach. Natasha really hoped they wouldn't have to spend that much time here. Not that they weren't staying in a nice neighbourhood. They had a pleasant beach house instead of some dingy apartment, because those were the only available properties around here. They were only about ten minutes away from Tony Stark's mansion after all.

It required some considerable persuasion skills from Natasha to convince Fury not to go knocking on Stark's front door when they already had Bruce in there. She knew Bruce was only going to provide as much information as he wanted, but it would do more harm than good to damage the open line of communications the Avengers had with Stark. Fortunately, Fury knew that Stark was not easy to deal with and agreed that, considering everything Potts may have told him, it was best to proceed with caution. It was a delicate situation. Natasha knew very well that there was very little chance of Stark agreeing to work with SHIELD again, but he could seriously worsen the situation between the Avengers and SHIELD if he wanted to. Rogers was the leader, but nobody would be stupid enough to underestimate the influence Stark could have. And it wasn't just about all the money his company spent on the Avengers. Fury reluctantly agreed that they should wait for whatever information Bruce provided before deciding what to do.

She wasn't surprised that it was impossible to get information on Stark through Stark Industries, Potts or Colonel Rhodes. It was also not shocking that they did not manage to find whatever ship Stark came back with. Wherever it was, it was too well hidden, Natasha was sort of convinced that it never landed on Earth, or if it did, it had a better camouflage system than the Helicarrier.

Natasha was getting impatient and restless with nothing to do, but Clint was enjoying lying around doing nothing and calling it work. He was probably just glad to be away from the usual Avengers/SHIELD troubles for a while. Natasha didn't want to remind him that the peace was not likely to last.

Stark was imponderable right now. Natasha knew the man he was before, but not who he was right now. She noticed way too many differences even just during the brief interview to consider the changes in him irrelevant. She couldn't care less about whether he looked younger, that was not an important factor. The Stark from before would have flaunted whatever technology he had a lot more. He wouldn't have just announced the existence of some in such a secure way. Stark was playing safe, which had to mean that he had things to hide. It couldn't be just technology. Her best guess was a crew, obviously alien in origin, but even that wasn't adding up. There was something else and Natasha did not feel very good about not knowing what it was.

Clint walked into the room with his phone plastered to his ear.

'Heads up, we're about to get some info from Bruce,' he said then hung up. Natasha was already moving to the other side of the room where they set up their gear. It was not Stark level of tech, but it was good enough.

'Fury?' Natasha asked. She knew she didn't have to say more and Clint would understand.

'Cap agreed to have him updated,' Clint said.

'Crap,' Natasha cursed. Things had to be serious if Steve to agreed so easily to share information with Fury.

'I'm optimistic,' Clint said as he dropped down to the couch. 'If it's really aliens, then Steve would feel obligated to tell SHIELD about it, even if they're not a threat.'