Profiles and Practice
Natasha stared numbly down at the postcard in her hand, the others around her forgotten. What had Yelena gotten herself into? She left her sister alone because it was better for the both of them. When she destroyed the Red Room with the help of SHIELD, she wanted her sister to have a better life, a chance to get away from all the lies and killing. She never wanted Yelena to be connected to her life with SHIELD, and she had felt her feelings even more justified when HYDRA’s infiltration was discovered. So why now? What did her sister have to do with the young girl in the picture?
“Nat?”
She wanted to fly to Budapest immediately, find Yelena and figure out what was going on, what she was up to. See her for the first time in decades. But she imagined that if Yelena retained anything from the Red Room, which she likely did, she would hate her coming to Budapest before following through with her request to ‘rescue the girl’.
“Nat!” A hand clamped down on her shoulder, and only a lifetime of training had her hiding her shock, and her frustration that she had let herself get so distracted. Everyone in the room was looking at her, which was something she was distinctly not a fan of. The fact that their stares were of concern did give her a warm feeling however, and her thoughts of ‘family’ returned. The closest of them was Clint, with his hand on her shoulder and an inquisitive look in his eyes, she only knew he was concerned because they worked together for years.
Wordlessly, she turned the postcard so he could read it as well, watching as Clint’s eyes trailed over the words, few as they were. She could tell when he got to the initials as his eyes widened. He was the only one here who knew all the details of her time with the Red Room. She’d given the others bits and pieces over the few years since Loki’s invasion, mostly during the last few months as the team grew closer. She was grateful that they never pried, knowing that some demons are best left buried. But the time to unbury them might be coming sooner than she’d thought.
“Friday?” She called to the ceiling, ignoring the others' looks for now.
“Yes Miss Romanoff?”
“Can you identify the girl in this picture?” She questioned, turning the image towards the ceiling.
“Certainly. One moment.” The AI went silent, probably browsing the internet to find out the requested information.
“Uh? Want to share with the class?” Rhodey piped up, the game of cards forgotten for the time being. She simply held up her hand to request a moment, her eyes still on the ceiling, despite the fact that FRIDAY wasn’t really there. It was an odd idiosyncrasy that most of the team still had, looking towards the speakers or cameras to speak with the AI. Only Pepper, Rhodey, Vision, and Tony didn’t but they had years of practice, starting back with JARVIS, or were an android that simply thought differently than everyone else.
Less than a minute after the request, FRIDAY began speaking again.
“The girl is Payton Parker, a 14 year old girl from Queens who was abducted last Monday after her Aunt and Uncle were shot. Her Uncle, one Benjamin Parker, was declared dead at the scene. Her Aunt May Parker is in a coma at the Queens Hospital Center.”
Shit. What did her sister in Budapest have to do with an abduction in New York? A part of her, one she buried deep deep down, began to whisper some of her worst fears to her, the name ‘Dreykov’ scratching at her mind before she crushed it again. That was impossible, despite her irrational fears of the matter. Dreykov was dead, and he wouldn’t be hurting anyone again. She and Clint made sure of that. It must be some other trafficking ring that runs through Hungary, SHIELD had been looking into a few of them when the whole HYDRA fiasco went down. After that? The Avengers had been playing clean up against the terrorists, and nobody else decided to follow the trail that SHIELD had been on. It appears that was probably a mistake.
“Woah woah woah, Can you tell me why exactly you got a picture of a missing girl in a letter?” Tony demanded/asked.
She took a deep breath. After this, some of her last secrets would be revealed to the rest of the team. Oddly, she found that she didn’t mind that too much. “My…sister… sent me a message, telling me she needs my help but to rescue this girl first.”
“Your sister?! ” Multiple voices exclaimed simultaneously.
Natasha exhaled. “It’s a long story, but I think now is the time for me to tell it.” She remarked, mentally preparing herself to reveal some of her deepest secrets..
And thus, she told them everything, spilling the facts about herself that she kept close to her chest. From her first stint in the Red Room, to Ohio and the family that grew there. Then came the end of the Ohio mission, the rest of her years in training, and the missions she undertook as a Black Widow, the red in her ledger. The story ended with the full details of Clint recruiting her. The Avengers had heard the basics before, about how Clint was assigned to kill her but made a different call, but the assassination of Dreykov had never been mentioned.
There was silence for a few minutes as her team, her family, processed everything. The emotions that crossed their faces were varied, but for once she chose not to overanalyze them. She didn’t need to know what they thought or were feeling. She could probably guess. Natasha did appreciate Clint’s grip remaining on her shoulder though, her oldest friend’s presence was a rock for her recounting the torment of her past.
“Alright. What do you need from us?” Steve asked, recovering first and being aware enough that she didn’t want, or need, sympathy.
“Well, we should start by looking into Parker’s abduction. If Yelena wants me to look into it before helping her, it must be important.” Natasha replied, leaving the kitchen to join the others near the TV. The rest of the Avengers began to congregate next to the couch as well, leaving their previous activities behind as a new mission seemed to be starting.
“Friday? Start making a profile on Payton Parker. Anything and everything you can find on the girl, collect it. We need the full picture on her to figure out why someone would want to kidnap her. Assuming this isn’t a target of opportunity.” Tony ordered the AI.
“I don’t mean to be a pessimist but , there is one explanation that is right in front of us.” Sam mentioned, looking somewhat apologetically towards her.
Natasha knew what he was implying. “No. The Red Room is gone.” She replied vehemently.
“Sam has a point. One ex-Widow sends a letter to another regarding a girl who was abducted, that’s two connections to the Red Room right there, and the target was the same demographic.” Rhodey summarized, much to her own displeasure.
“ If the Red Room was still around, which it is not , Parker would be too old. It's harder to indoctrinate a teenager who already lived in the culture that they wanted us to all hate.” She protested.
“How do you know the Red Room is gone for sure? You cut off the head yeah, but they could just promote another right?” That question came from Tony, and Natasha really didn’t like how they kept going down this road when it was impossible. Thankfully Clint answered this one, as she wasn’t sure if she would be able to keep her frustration out of her voice this time around.
“SHIELD took advantage of the chaos to move in on the Red Room. With Nat’s help, and our own spies investigating, we knew their bases and hit them hard. There isn’t a way for them to have survived.”
“Who all helped to wipe them out?” Steve asked, looking between her and Clint.
“A bunch of agents, including myself, Nat, and Hill. The STRIKE teams hit the bigger bases.” Her partner replied simply.
“You mean the STRIKE teams that were notoriously all HYDRA?” Pietro pointed out.
The room was silent enough that they could have heard a pin drop.
“The Red Room was no friend of HYDRA’s.” She replied, but her tone couldn’t convince any of them that Pietro didn’t have a point. Much less herself.
“Maybe not normally, but I wouldn’t put it past HYDRA to take advantage of the situation to strike a deal, allow the Red Room to live, and gain some concessions of some kind from them.” Steve guessed, once again making another argument towards an awful conclusion.
The conversation had gotten out of her hands way too quickly. Had she been in her usual right mind she imagined could have kept things on their original track, but the words from her sister, and the immediate discussion of the Red Room left her floundering. A state she hadn’t been in since she first defected to SHIELD. She preferred to be in control of herself, but Natasha couldn’t even have that right now.
“It can’t be the Red Room.” She lamely told them, more saying that she couldn’t allow it to be the Room, rather than it not being possible at this point. Her tone was more than enough to pause the conversation, her teammates, besides Clint, never seeing her in such a state before. They looked amongst each other, before Tony finally broke the spell that seemed to have taken hold over the room.
“It's possible they aren’t responsible.” The genius conceded; “Even if the Red Room was still around, which is seeming at least possible right now, Nat is correct in that Parker would be too old. She would be years behind on training, and damn near impossible to indoctrinate at this point. Brainwashing is possible, the Winter Soldier is proof of that…” Tony gave an apologetic look towards Steve. The team had been forced to put that particular hunt on the backburner recently. “But from what Nat told us, that’s not their usual M.O.”
“So we’ll keep them in mind, but also look for other possibilities.” Steve concluded, garnering agreements from the rest of the team. Nat was just happy they were back on topic now.
“Boss, the profile is complete.” FRIDAY informed.
“Right, let's put it up on the screen then Fri.” Tony replied.
The TV switched off of ESPN, and over to an enlarged picture of Payton Parker which took up half the screen, this one an official school I.D, rather than a still from a surveillance camera. The other half of the screen had an assortment of documents, and summarized information. The Avengers all gathered around, finding their usual spots on the collection of couches and recliners that took up the living room. Once they were all gathered, FRIDAY began to recite the profile that she put together.
“Payton Parker, a fourteen year-old girl from Queens who lives with her Aunt and Uncle, May and Benjamin Parker. She was adopted at three years old in 2004 by Doctors Richard and Mary Parker, and lived with them until they died in 2007 as a result of a plane crash in the Atlantic.” The AI began. “Her biological mother was buried as a Jane Doe near Albany, New York, and her father is unknown.”
“Wait, nobody knows her parent’s identities?” Wanda asked, confused.
“Correct Wanda. Her mother died in a car crash on February 15th, 2004 while Miss Parker was in the car. By the time rescuers got her out of the car, the front of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. Her mother’s body was too damaged to collect any effective DNA for positive identification. The state attempted to locate any families missing an adult and an infant female, but nobody came forward, and no father ever made themselves known. At the time, the state did not know anything about young Payton, and made her official ‘birthday’ as February 15th, 2001, as they could not find any official documents. The orphanage gave her the name Payton, and later that year, she was adopted by the Parkers.”
“Jesus. That's insane.” Sam exclaimed, and Nat couldn’t help but agree. An extremely bizarre series of events to start the young girl’s life.
“Any reason that Payton could have been targeted because of her parents?” Rhodey questioned.
“Richard and Mary Parker were both highly regarded geneticists working for Oscorp. An FAA investigation into the crash that cost them their lives declared it an accident. With the long timespan between their deaths and her recent abduction, the chances of that are low.” FRIDAY answered.
“Alright that’s her start in life, but anything more recent that could have made her a target?” Clint spoke from next to her.
“Payton Parker was accepted this previous summer to attend the Midtown School of Science and Technology, located in Queens. She is currently at the top of her class, and a member of the Robotics club and Academic Decathlon team. She had missed school most of last week after falling sick on a field trip to Oscorp, and was abducted on her first day back to school. Besides that, I have found her name connected to a police report and court case from 2010, but the records are sealed.”
“Can you unseal them?” Tony requested, causing Rhodey to protest.
“Those are officially sealed records Tones! On account of her being nine at the time probably.” The Colonel chastised. Natasha could see why he was protesting the request, though perhaps something in those records could shed light on the girl’s current situation.
“Fine.” Tony acquiesced. “Fri, unseal the records and read them yourself BUT” Tony held up a hand to stop Rhodey from yelling at him “If you don’t find anything that could be a motive for her abduction, don’t tell us what is in them, and erase the records from your memory. That better?” Tony directed the last part at his friend. Nat and the rest of the team just watching from the sidelines. Rhodey nodded. It took a few moments, but soon FRIDAY’s voice returned.
“The court case is not connected to recent events, and I am erasing them from my memory banks.”
“So that whole profile was just a nice way to find out that we have nothing.” Pietro remarked. But that wasn’t true.
Thinking back through the information, there was one common denominator for Payton’s life. “We do have something.” Natasha mentioned.
The rest of the team all spoke up at once, prompting her to continue, without realizing their interruption prevented her from actually doing so. As such, she took a page out of Tony’s book and raised her hand up to call for their silence.
“Her parents were Oscorp geneticists. They died. Payton went on a field trip to Oscorp, gets sick while there, and then is abducted the first day she goes back to public. It's a loose connection, but out of everything we just heard, Oscorp was mentioned twice. Also, Norman Osborn has a reputation as a shady businessman at best.”
“It’s true. Friday mentioned that her parent’s deaths were likely not related to her abduction, but that doesn’t mean Oscorp isn’t involved.” Tony and Pepper both agreed simultaneously, though Pepper was the one to continue the thought. “Osborn is an asshole, and numerous scientists who work here in this very building have claimed that Oscorp had stolen their ideas and given no credit, or had complaints about the working conditions there.”
“Miss Potts is correct. Furthermore I have just located a report that one Doctor Renée Alena, a geneticist at Oscorp, was found dead last Saturday after an officer performed a wellness check on behalf of Doctor Alena’s sister. The cause of death is listed as a heart attack that occurred the day after Miss Parker’s field trip to the company.” FRIDAY let them all know,
“How many geneticists have died from Oscorp in recent years?” She asked.
“Six. Both Doctor Parkers were the first, and Doctor Alena the most recent. Employment records seem to indicate that all six Doctors worked in similar positions within the company, however the exact job title is unlisted.”
Six geneticists dead over eight years, and one girl missing a week after a field trip to the company. That was way too many coincidences for Natasha’s liking. And judging by the faces of her teammates, everyone else agreed too. Normally that many deaths could probably be explained, but in a company like Oscorp, and with every dead scientist’s field being genetics, the official reports didn’t really add up anymore.
“Okay. So, what’s the plan? I don’t think it's a good idea for the Avengers to be seen poking around Queens, it might lead to her abductors deciding to get rid of her.” Steve brought up, taking charge of the conversation.
“Fri and I can work on the digital side of things, see if we can’t break into Oscorp’s servers and figure out just what Doctor Alena was working on, and what the itinerary was for the field trip.” Tony offered.
“That can work.” Steve agreed. “Nat and Clint, can you two head to Queens and run your own investigation? Subtly?”
“That we can Cap.” Clint replied, giving her a small smile. It’d been awhile since just the two of them went on a mission.
“What about the rest of us?” Wanda wondered.
Steve seemed to think for a moment. “I don’t think there is much for the rest of us to do right now, so we just hang tight until they find something, or ask for our help.”
There wasn’t much more to talk about after that. Tony ran off to his lab, the twins went back to their studying, accepting that they didn’t have much help to offer at the moment, and the three soldiers sat back down at their table, though the card game was forgotten, replaced instead with discussing this new mission. Natasha motioned for Clint to follow her back to their floor so that they could get their undercover gear and head out. It had already been almost four full days since Payton went missing. Any longer and there might not be a trail to follow anymore.
She couldn’t help but smile as the elevator doors closed. Despite the circumstances, she was happy to have work to do. No big missions had popped up since Ultron, with the only op that the Avengers had been requested on was an anti-terrorist mission where the U.S Military ordered War Machine’s presence, and requested the Falcon and Captain America to join them. The rest had been told they weren’t needed.
Now though, she was needed, and she refused to disappoint.
Thwip!
With a quick pull, an empty can came soaring into her outstretched hand. There was an ever growing pile of junk surrounding Payton as she played around with her completed web shooters (version 3.0, patent pending). The design was a bit bulky around the wrists, but she did the best she could with the available supplies. She was also able to install a button that rested in the palm of her hand, allowing her to use two fingers to activate the shooters, rather than requiring two hands for a single device. Payton had worked all day Friday making them as comfortable as possible, and asking for Mister Leiberman’s help with the final touches when he visited again Friday night.
Now it was Saturday, and she had barely been able to sleep last night in her excitement to practice. Castle and Leiberman were both present, the latter having taken advantage of the weekend coming to provide more assistance, though according to him it’s slow going, accessing Oscorps secure files without being caught is not that easy apparently. Both men were watching as she shot lines of webbing to drag whatever caught her fancy over to her. Every now and again, Castle would throw an object to test her ability to shoot something on the move. So far, she was able to successfully do so about sixty percent of the time, which she attributed to her superpowers giving her better coordination.
“This is so awesome.” Payton whispered as she caught sight of her next target. With another thwip , a web shot out and snatched Castle’s book straight from his hands, and promptly giggled at the incredulous face that he made. Leiberman also laughed, looking up from his laptop at the commotion.
“Right, I think that's enough of that.” Castle groused, though by the look Payton saw on his face, he was at least somewhat amused as well. “Front and center Payton.” He ordered.
“Yes sir!” She replied easily, still giggling as she offered the man a salute (making sure to use the correct hand this time). “What’s up?”
Castle loomed over her, holding a hand out for his book to be returned to him, which she sheepishly complied with. But rather than walking away and continuing to read, he placed the book aside. “Seems to me like you got enough practice with those things for now.” Castle said. “Time for me to teach you some things.”
Payton openly gaped at him. What did he mean ‘teach her some things? “Uh, like what?” She cautiously asked.
“Self defense. Right now those shooters won't mean shit for you if somebody gets in close. You gotta know how to fight back in that case.” He answered, taking another step into her space.
Dodge!
The danger sense blared in her head, and she took a step back, twisting her body just as Castle’s hand shot out to grab her left arm. The warning shouted again, but she couldn’t move herself in time to stop her other hand from grabbing her right arm, and twisting her around until her back was on the floor with Castle’s fist a mere inch away from her face. The look he was giving her basically screamed ‘told you so’.
She wasn’t focused on that, as being pinned to the ground had her mind screaming as her breath hitched, her heart started to pound, and the phantom feeling of hands all over overwhelmed her. Screaming in fright, Payton wrenched her arm out of Castle’s grasp, both actions causing shock to wash over Castle’s face as she violently pushed herself away, scuttling backwards up a wall in much the same way that she had when she woke up that first morning. Sticking herself into a corner, she began to hyperventilate as she fought against the very unwelcome memory that she always tried to keep locked away in the depths of her mind.
“What the fuck Frank!” Mister Lieberman scolded. “You don’t have to frighten her to get your point across!”
Her eyes trailed back to the Punisher as he rubbed at his wrist. “Fuck, you’re strong kid. Come down from there and I’ll teach you without giving you a heart attack.” He offered, looking up at her.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea Frank? You just nearly gave the kid a heart attack.”
“I-it’s fine.” She stuttered, still trying to catch her breath as she climbed down the wall. “I, uh. I’m sorry, I didn’t hurt you did I?” She asked, desperate to change topics so they didn’t ask about the thing she never wanted to talk about.
Castle at least seemed to catch her motive, if the look he gave her meant anything, but he accepted it. “You’re stronger than I would’ve thought, so maybe you’ll actually stand a chance in close quarters with training that is.”
Lieberman snorted. “Seems like we can add strength to your list of abilities.”
After taking another few minutes to calm down, and ignore the fact that Castle’s eyes seemed to be burrowing holes into her very mind to such a degree that Payton began to think that the man knew what she was avoiding, especially as this was the second time she reacted extremely poorly to something he’d done. But once she centered herself again, Castle began to teach her the basics, and initiated a lesson that Payton couldn’t help but consider both incredibly interesting, and grueling torture. From kicks, punches, and throws, the only thing Castle seemed to be avoiding at the moment, thankfully, was pins. Which was another hint that he understood just what she was afraid of, but she didn’t want to think about that.
A few hours passed as the lesson continued, neither of them having anything else to do with their day, but by the end, Payton had to tap out. Sweat drenching her clothes as she panted. The lessons weren’t even that intensive, which was probably the only reason she lasted as long as she had. Well, that and superpowers. “I’ve never been good at the gym.” She quipped, hands on her knees as Lieberman brought her a water bottle from the fridge.
“You did good kid, that sixth sense is something else.” Castle complimented, drinking from his own bottle. “We gotta work on getting your endurance up though, in a fight your reserves will drain far faster than they did today.”
Payton half-laughed, half coughed. “Yeah, I was wiped just running from Taskmaster on Monday. Couldn’t imagine having the energy to actually fight the guy.”
“Well, so long as all goes well, you won’t half to.” Lieberman offered. “Still haven’t found anything in Oscorp’s files, but I did just discover that I’m not the only one looking.”
That got both her and Castle’s attention. Both of them turned to look at the resident computer genius. “Who else is looking?” Castle demanded.
Lieberman shrugged. “I can’t figure it out. Whoever it is is good though. I noticed them trying to trace my connection at the same time I traced theirs, but neither of us succeeded. I’d say whoever is digging through Oscorp’s files is as good, if not better than me at this.” He admitted. “I was able to figure out that they had been looking through employment records as well as lab data. If I had to hazard a guess, I imagine that on their end, they know that we’re looking through financial records.”
“Is this going to be a problem?” Castle questioned.
“They can’t track us back here, and I left nothing behind to point towards my identity, so I don’t think it will be.”
“Could it be someone looking into my disappearance?” Payton wondered aloud. “Maybe the police found something?”
Lieberman shook his head. “No, if it was the police they would’ve just gotten a court order demanding the company to surrender their files. Law enforcement doesn’t really do the subtle way very well. And what I am doing is both subtle and illegal, so that’s another point against them. As for your first question… it’s possible, but would require someone else to have all the facts that we have and I can’t think of anyone else besides the people hunting you who would fit that criteria. Which, now that I’m thinking about it, it’s possible it was them, and they were working to cover their tracks…” He rambled, before turning back and focusing on his computer again with a new fervor.
“I think he stopped talking to us halfway through that.” Payton commented, looking up to Castle next to her, who just chuckled.
“Yeah, kid, I think you’re right. Go get cleaned up and I’ll run out and grab dinner.” The man replied, turning her towards the hallway that led to the showers.
“Alright, get some Thai food please!” She requested as she quickly stopped by her small cot to collect some clean clothes, and then rushed off for the showers.The day so far had been more enjoyable than the rest of the week spent hiding, despite her close run with a panic attack. Having the Punisher as a self-defense teacher was a thing that she never would have imagined becoming a part of her life, and really? She was glad she had his help. Payton would never say she agreed with the Punisher’s methods, but everyone in New York City knew just how powerful of a force Frank Castle was. With him on her side, and teaching her how to fight, she felt confident that things would turn out, and that she would be able to see May again.
Another pang of grief stabbed at her heart as she thought of her Aunt all alone in the hospital, likely being watched by people who wanted to make her disappear, and of her Uncle, who died for her, giving his life so that she could be free of whatever monsters wanted to take her away. As she allowed herself to truly think of her family for the first time, she was glad she was in the shower, as her tears blended in with the water.
“Thank you Ben. And I am so sorry ” She cried silently to herself, no longer able to hold back the tidal wave of grief that she had repressed for days.