never leaving your side || romanogers

Chapter 27

"You've got the plan?" Clint fired words out of his mouth rapidly as he shoved the things he hadn't sent home with his family into a bag.

Bruce, Thor, and Steve nodded. "We'll leave tonight," Bruce said assuringly. Steve had just woken up a few hours ago, but he seemed awake. Some sort of super serum thing, Bruce assumed. And he had also slept about 24 hours. 

Even though he looked good there was a shade of sadness in his gaze. Even though his clothes were clean you could tell that they weren't put on with much care. But behind that sadness and unbuttoned collar, you could see that fiery determination, and they all admired him for it. Even Tony, though he still refused to go with them. 

"I'll give you help," he finally relented after a ragged Steve swore to run away and find her by himself. "But I won't go with you."

And he stuck to his promise. Tony gave them whatever they needed, anything from weapons to cheeseburgers, within reason. And before she left, Pepper said to him, "You need to figure it out, Tony. You really do."

This made Tony really think, to the second day at the beach. The day he screwed it all up.

After the party, he had gone back to his room. Steve was taking a shower, and he didn't hear it when an eerie knock had alerted his senses. Tony opened the door but didn't see anyone there. Heart pounding, he fumbled with the doorknob until he felt a hard square of paper, a note, folded until it was just as big as his fingernail. He brought it in with him, and read the note. 

Tony Stark, businessman, and superhero, what an idol to look up to, am I right? We're taking your spy, the one who's killed so many innocents, and we're going to make her pay. And now, follow these instructions. Remember, we know your weaknesses and your secrets, and we're not afraid to expose them.

1) Go look under the lamp.

2) Read it.

3) Burn them both.

Remember, Iron Man. You will pay.

Cold dread washed over Tony. He was sure that it was HYDRA. It couldn't be the Red Room. No, it really couldn't. He had found Yelena, who Natasha had mentioned once as her childhood friend, asked her to come to surprise Natasha, and she had done it so willingly. So, willingly. Oh no. Tony took a shaky step toward the lamp on the nightstand, and with trembling fingers felt the bottom for anything. Sure enough, his fingers slid over a thin paper, taped to the bottom, he thought. Turning it upside down, he sat on the edge of his unmade bed and picked at the tape. 

"Tony, what are you doing?" Surprised, and wary at any little noise, Tony startled, dropping the lamp. The bulb shattered, scattering shards of glass across the carpet. Quickly, he nudged the remaining lamp behind himself with his foot and stood to face Steve. 

"No-nothing. I just wanted to see how many watts the lightbulb was. It seemed a bit dim." Even Tony knew that his fib was pathetic, but he just couldn't make his brain work. He had to make Steve go away so he could read the note. "Uhh, why don't you go change?" Steve had a single white towel wrapped around his waist. 

Steve hesitated. "Are you sure? Just let me help you clean that up first."

"No no, it's fine. Really. I can handle this." Tony moved closer to the lamb, wincing as a shard of glass pierced the bottom of his foot. "Really, go change. I'm good. And also you're dripping water."

Steve gave Tony a last long look. "Ok." He said simply and walked away.

As soon as Steve turned his back, Tony hurridly swept glass to the side and picked frantically at the tape. His fingernails felt raw, but finally, he had the note. 

Oh, Anthony Edward Stark. It's nice to know that you can follow directions. I hope you can follow these too. 

52.5200N 13.4050E

I hope you can find your girl, while you can. Just know, tell a word to this to anyone, your friend Cap, the monster, the archer, your tower comes crashing down. We've got the missiles, and we will use them. Now burn it, burn it all. We're watching.

If Tony had felt threatened before, he was a million times that now. His heart spun around in his chest. They couldn't mean Pepper, she wasn't an assassin. It had to be Natasha. He had to warn her. Yelena could be helping the note senders.

But then he thought again. Yelena seemed to know her so well, they couldn't possibly be enemies. Her name was Russian, but that didn't mean anything. And besides, what could a couple of notes do to them? They'd fought bigger threats than this. Perhaps it was better, Tony thought, to just forget about the notes for at least the remainder of the week, and then he could deal with it. Besides, nobody could harm Natasha. No one could get close enough to her, even. She was too fast, too nimble, too skilled. 

Tony swept the glass into the dustpan in the closet and dumped it into the trash can. About to drop the note into the bin as well, he wavered and slipped them back into his pocket. It was probably better to keep them for now. He hadn't had a chance to think, he was so shaken at first. Tony was still worried now, but he knew that Natasha would be strong. And he would be strong. 

After Pepper left, Tony loped back to his room, hands in pockets, head down. He knew Pepper was right. He had shit to figure out, but he just couldn't tell the team. Better, he thought. To play the mean guy on the outside instead of telling them everything and hurting them all. 

Sighing, he pulled the notes out. The edges and folds were still sharp and pressed from being held down by the lamp all day, but when he opened the first, a shock of crimson surprised him. 

I thought you would be a good boy, it read. But I guess now you'll just have to learn what happens to the bad ones. 

Tony sucked in a breath. They were for real. He touched the dark red ink, which began looking less and less like a pen's ink. With sickening realization, he realized it had to be blood. And it could be Natasha's.

And it could be that they were true to their word. Tony would pay.