Carry On My Wayward Avenger

The Hunt

Isabella stared at the scattered papers on her vast dining room table. "He was supposed to be there for Tony and all this time, he was using Stark Industries to benefit himself by selling to both sides." She growled, picking up her cup of coffee. They've been up all night after the flight back from Paris, pouring over the facts and documents that SHEILD had on Stark Industries which was a lot. She flicked through his file with a frown. She couldn't recall a lot of details about him from her childhood. He was more of Howard's friend than her father's.

"People are never what they seem."

"Yeah." Isabella relented with a huff. All these years had dulled her out look on the good in people. Jean and Erik had always helped her when she needed, honestly but they had always had a ulterior motive behind their aid. Well, Jean did. Eric's concern was for mutants. "What should we do?"

Her gaze flickered between Natasha and Clint. They were in charge of this and Isabella wasn't a full agent of SHEILD. Isabella had a suspicion that if she didn't have intimate knowledge of Stark Industries or Tony Stark, she would still be at that damned base.

"If we expose them that could put Stark at risk, seeing as the reason that he was kidnapped was probably due to these under the table deals. I'm sensing that option isn't on the table for you, Izzy." Clint mused across the table, looking down at a photo of Stane.

"No." Isabella sighed. She massaged her temples and glared down at the man's face.

"We need to weaken his hold and income." Natasha murmured.

"Corporate warfare." Isabella nodded, "I know people, I could hurt Stane without exposing Stark Industries. We could make it so no one would be willing to do business with the company except the military. I don't have contacts within the military besides Rhodes but maybe it's for the best? To hold Stark Industries' feet to the fire, keep them honest at the same time we rob them of their more illegal dealings."

"How will you persuade them without dealing weapons out?" Natasha asked. A test was issued and Isabella knew the answer or an answer. "They came to Stane for weapons."

"Everyone wants something, you just have to find the right thing. A pressure point of sorts. Leave it all to me." Isabella hummed, a plan already beginning to take root. She made a note to call Jean, later but he wouldn't be efficient without a list of those clients. "We need the client list. It won't be on their main server or anywhere obvious."

"We'll find the client list and you'll need to be ready to move. We need to hit hard and fast, so Stane can't recover the clients."

"Got it." Isabella said, collecting the files. She hasn't slept in two days. She was over due for a nap and maybe she'd get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep. She stuffed the files into her bag and waved to the two spies. "Feel free to crash here, you know where the free rooms are. G'night."

"Morning." Clint corrected with cheeky smile.

"You can sleep on the couch, Barton." Isabella snapped. She shook her head as she dragged herself upstairs to her bed. She was glad to have a game plan, Stane was going down.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Do you have anyone?"

Tony's gaze flickered to a now filthy watch resting on the work table and he didn't answer for a moment. A crack split the quartz face and there were several gems missing from their housing. The face probably broke during his abduction. The sapphires and diamonds lost among the sands of desert. It was almost ironic in a way. Isabella knew something about all of this and she had offered to help him but he was too furious with her. He still was furious with his former best friend. Her and all of her secrets. He had the right to be pissed but now, he might never see her again. He wouldn't know her secrets that she ran from. Supposedly, to protect him... He would never see her smile again. A real smile that was reflected in her deep blue eyes. He might never get closure with her, much less see the light of day. "No, not anymore."