The Irony of it All

28

       Scalding heat. Floating. Darkness. Scalding heat. Blinding light. Heavy breathing. The thump thump of a heart beat. Muffled yelling. Silence. A familiar voice. A name on her lips. "Steve." Strong arms embracing her. Darkness.

_______________________________________

         Tony was in the med bay passing around some Chinese food containers to the group all sitting around the man they called Hawkeye, when his back pocket started to buzz. He finished passing the last two containers to Pepper and Happy before pulling the phone out and sighing. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear as he started to make his way out the door. He didn't have any new information for Steve anyways and he was too tired for this right now.

      "I said no promises."

       "Tony?!"

       He froze just as he swung the door open. "Red?! Is that you?" Suddenly everyone was by his side.

      "Is that Nat?"
    
      "Is she ok?"

      "Should I call the FBI, boss?"   He shook his hands, trying to quiet the group and get them out of his personal space.

      "Where are you?"

         "I'm not telling you that."

         "Where's Cap?"

          "He's inside a building fighting the Red Room and Hydra."

         "What?! Romanoff, I need you to tell me where you are!" She didn't answer. "Look, I know you didn't mean to hurt Clint, or Fine."

        "What are you talking about? Clint knocked Fine out after he put a gun to our heads and confessed he'd been HYDRA all along.

         And now Clint's dead because I listened to him and made a run for it. I left him to that monster, Tony."

        "No, listen to me. Clint's alive. He's in really bad shape and he might not make it, but for now, his heart's still beating. Now I need you to tell me where you are."

        She hesitated. "Kie..." There was a loud "boom" before the line crackled and went dead.

        "Red? Natasha?"

        "Where is she?" Bruce asked.

         "No clue. Friday, run a tracer on the call."

          "The call was evidently made from a disposable burner phone and is untraceable."

         "Run a voice and sound filter. I want a full expose' on everything Romanoff said as well as all background noises."

         "Give me a moment." A couple seconds later, the AI's voice returned.

          "Agent Romanoff was breathless,  implying that she'd been heavily exherting herself. She also gave us new information regarding what happened at the Wyndham Hotel.

          According to Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton  "knocked Fine out after he put a gun to their heads and confessed he'd been HYDRA all along". This implies Fine was alive at the time she jumped out the window and that Agent Barton was a willing accomplice.

         She also implies that it was Agent Barton who asked her to leave him behind and "make a run for it". She apparently believed him dead, and speaks of having to leave him to a "monster"."

         "A monster." Pepper repeated. "What does that mean?"

          "The FBI never said anything about any monsters." Rhodey said.

           "I told you she'd never hurt Clint or Dr. Fine," Laura said, a small, sad smile on her face.

          "How do we know she's telling the truth?" Rhodey asked.

           "I ran an annalyser on her voice for any signs that Agent Romanoff was lying. Although hesitant to tell Mr. Stark her location, she shows no signs of dishonesty, just distrust."

        "She's an expert liar." Rhodey said.

         "Maybe, but she can't beat Friday." Happy insisted.

         "Is there anything else?" Tony asked the AI.

          "In sifting through the background noise, I found evidence of   running water and birds.
 
           "I also ran what seemed to be her trying to tell you her location through an annalyser and came up with a few possibilities.

Kiel, Poland.

Kiev, Ukraine.

And Kielce, Germany."

      "Which one are we going to check first?" Bruce asked.

      "Fine was HYDRA. That means those FBI agents were HYDRA or their C.O. was. We're going to check Kielce, Germany first."

        "There is one more thing boss."

         "What is it?"

         "I ran some other sounds through the annalyser and had some trouble getting some matches, but a positive match just came through for the cleared up version just before her line cut out."

        "What was it?" Bruce asked.

         "A missile explosion."

         "Holy sh........."