Bobbi Meets the Avengers
After getting shawarma, Tony began to crash. He had had a very long couple of days, what with the alien invasion and all that came with it, and the combination of warm food and coming off of adrenaline highs had him deciding it was time to turn in. The others were similarly exhausted, so it was easy to convince them to crash at his Tower for the night. Steve and Bruce had tried to protest, but due to the damage to the city, they really had no other option but to accept the offer. Tony also insisted on paying for dinner, this time waving off Clint and Natasha's protests that they were perfectly capable of paying for their own dinners. "I'm a billionaire," Tony waved them off, "this is quite literally pocket change for me. Plus, I have a credit card chip in my armor anyway, and I doubt any one of you have any money on you." The spies exchanged looks as if to say, 'of course we have money on us', but didn't say anything else.
They had to take a few detours on the way back to the Tower. Manhattan was absolutely obliterated, with collapsed buildings and concrete rubble everywhere. Most streets were blocked off, if not by debris, then by the rescue workers and construction crews that had already set up to help rebuild. The Avengers had gone out to help for a few hours earlier in the day, right after the battle ended. Tony, Nat, and Clint had helped with search and rescue, while Steve, Thor, and Bruce-as-Hulk helped to move rubble out of the way and to safely demolish buildings on the verge of collapse. Eventually, they had been ordered to get rest by the grateful people in charge of these efforts, which was when they had decided to get shwarma. Given how much they had been through that day, they couldn't be blamed for not noticing the figure that had been watching them eat dinner and following them since they had left the restaurant.
Their tail finally ambushed them a block from the tower. They dropped from the top of a miraculously standing building down into the shadows directly in front of the Avengers, landing in a crouch. The heroes stopped in their tracks, reaching for their weapons. The figure stood up and stepped into the light, revealing a tall, blonde woman with her hair in a severe ponytail and an escrima stick clenched in each fist. She was wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. issues tac suit, but Tony was still wary, as some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that had been taken by Loki were still unaccounted for. “Drop your weapons!” Natasha barked. Assuming she meant for the agent to drop her escrimas, Tony kept his repulsor lit, absently noting that, while Steve still had his shield raised, Clint had unnotched his arrow and returned it to his quiver. The woman smirked and stuck her batons into convenient loops in her belt. Natasha turned to face her teammates and repeated herself. “I said, drop them!” Tony and Steve spluttered and Bruce frowned.
“I’m sorry,” Tony said, “Did you just tell us to drop our weapons with a possible hostile right in front of us?”
“Yes.” Natasha said bluntly. She turned back around and nodded to the blonde. “Good to see you, Morse.”
At some point during Natasha’s conversation with Tony, Clint had moved over to Morse and they were now hugging. She let him go and returned Natasha’s nod. “Romanoff. Glad to see that you and the idiot,” she elbowed Clint, “are still alive. Would have preferred not to have to come looking to find that out.”
Natasha’s face remained impassive, but Clint looked sheepish. “Sorry, B. Didn’t mean to worry you, we were a bit busy, you know, with the whole alien invasion.”
“Busy?” Morse hissed, “Too busy to make sure the people who love you know you're alive? I got a call saying you were compromised, then, less than a day later, I heard that the Helicarrier was attacked and Coulson died. Coulson died, and you two couldn't be bothered to let me, or anyone else, for that matter, know that you were ok. Worried doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Now Natasha looked slightly ashamed too. Looking at his teammates and seeing that their confusion matched his, Tony decided to interject.
“Woah, woah, woah! Let’s slow down here. Who are you and why are you here?” He regretted interrupting almost immediately as Natasha, Clint, and the other woman all turned to glare at him. The stranger crossed her arms and gave him a once over.
“Tony Stark. Wish I could say it’s a pleasure. Name’s Bobbi Morse.”
He laughed sarcastically. “Great! Now that we’re all introduced, why are you here?”
Clint answered for her. “Bobbi works with our team, STRIKE Team Delta, sometimes. She’s my emergency contact. I’m assuming, based on S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol, that they called her as soon as I went rogue and after seeing the invasion on TV, she decided to check up on me.”
"And you’re just going to trust her? She could’ve been brainwashed! We don’t know how Loki’s scepter works!" Tony exclaimed.
Clint laughed. “Bob wasn’t stationed anywhere near Loki, don’t worry. Actually, Bob, how did you get here from London so quickly? Airspace should’ve been restricted due to the battle.”
“I pulled some strings,” Bobbi winked.
“Lin was in London too, wasn’t she? Did she bring you here?” Natasha asked.
“Who’s Lin?” Steve whispered to Tony. Tony shrugged.
Morse nodded. "Yeah, she was just as desperate as me to get back here, so she borrowed a quinjet and we got here as fast as we could. She's checking up on everyone else, I volunteered to check on you. She didn't take the news well and really wanted to get home to Carrie and be the one to tell her what happened." Clint and Natasha nodded like this made complete sense.
"Who told Lin?" Clint asked softly.
Morse looked teary-eyed. "Mia found the time to, she was as gentle as she could have been, but it was still hard for Lin to hear."
Nat smiled sadly, "At least Mia was the one who called, anyone else wouldn't've been as good about it."
"Well, not many people know what they were to each other," Clint responded. The three spies nodded to each other.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm very confused," Tony interjected.
Natasha gave him a cold glance. "It's none of your business, Stark. By the way, Clint and I won't be staying at the Tower tonight anymore. We've got somewhere else to be." With that, she, Clint, and Morse slipped into the shadows and disappeared. Tony exchanged glances with Steve, Bruce, and Thor, then shrugged and led the way back to his Tower, ready to finally end this horrendous day. Spies were spies, afterall, and being mysterious was par for the course for them. Tony was still going to do some searching for information on Morse and the people they had mentioned, though. He wouldn't be Tony Stark if he didn't.