Chapter 8
“That went well,” Tony said, addressing the group as soon as Jarvis told them Celia was safely out of the building. Steve leaned back against the wall of the lab, closing his eyes in frustration. When Tony had read out the early findings of the background check, Steve’s interest had been piqued, but not to the level Tony’s had. Tony had been bursting with smugness, rubbing in the fact that his earlier suspiciousness was seemingly justified. He convinced the team to go down to the lab to see if they could get answers straight from the source, before he took matters into his own hands and dug deeper. Or Jarvis’ hands really. Tony had assured him that he would go easy on Celia, give her a chance to come clean. Evidently, they had different definitions of the word “easy.”
“Can you blame her?” Steve asked wearily, sagging against the wall. Natasha kicked an extra stool in his direction, it rolling to a stop right in front of his feet. He nodded gratefully, sinking down onto it slowly, feeling the exhaustion deep in his bones. During battle, this wound would barely slow him down, but in the quiet moments after, the serum working hard to heal him would suck the energy out of him.
“People that don’t have anything to hide, hide nothing,” Tony shot back, annoyed.
“Give me a break,” Clint snorted, shaking his head at Tony. “As if we all don’t have secrets.”
“Care to share, Barton?” Tony asked.
“You first, Stark,” Clint quipped back, looking unamused. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, angry that the crazed man from earlier could do so much damage to his team. They might not be the best of friends, but they had been steadily getting along better as time went on. Now they were sniping and taking little potshots at each other.
“I don’t like surprises. And this girl seems wrapped up in some,” Tony justified. “Do you think I let just anyone onto the private floors of my tower? No. But I did it because Cap was unwilling to go with any alternatives. So excuse me if I’m trying to watch our backs here. I know what it’s like to think you know someone and let your guard down and it to come back and bite you in the ass. Pardon me for wanting to take every precaution I can to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” The team stayed quiet, knowing Tony was talking about his father’s old business partner who betrayed him.
“I understand what you were trying to accomplish, but can’t you see why she would react the way she did?” Steve asked, trying to bring back some semblance of calm to the team. “Can we just take the night to cool off, try to look at this from a fresh perspective in the morning? It’s been a long day and I think we all could use some sleep.”
“Uh, Cap?” Clint said, grimacing. “It’s only around noon.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Steve groaned, resting his head in his hands. Bruce walked over and put a gentle hand on his good shoulder.
“I think it would be a good idea for you to go back to your floor and get some rest. Doctor’s orders,” Bruce commanded.
“I thought you weren’t that kind of doctor,” Steve said with a sly smile.
“As if that mattered to you before,” Bruce laughed, urging him up out of the chair.
“Keep an eye on the kids while I’m gone.” Tony scoffed from where he stood, looking offended at the idea he would need to be supervised. Steve gave everyone in the room one last nod before he made his way back to the elevator. Under normal circumstances he would take the stairs to his room, only needing to go a few floors up. But he didn’t need to push himself after the day he had. He couldn’t believe it had only been around two hours since he had been shot. It felt like forever ago now and he was so tired. Steve wasn’t really the napping type, but he had to admit it would probably be for the best in the long run, never knowing when he would have to be up and ready for action. He shuffled to his room, shucking off his shoes and pants along the way. Steve wasn’t usually so careless with his things, but he was too tired to be bothered at the moment. He slowly slid into his bed, savoring in the comfort of it. He drifted off with thoughts of his team in his head.
*
“I’m surprised you didn’t put up a fight about Celia leaving the tower before you got answers,” Bruce said, sitting back on his stool after Steve left.
“Do I seem like the type to hold someone against their will?” Tony asked, offended. Bruce snorted and started writing something on a notepad. Tony turned to Natasha and Clint, signalling for them to follow him out of the lab. They looked at each other before following, Tony leading them to the elevators.
“What are you up to?” Natasha asked as soon as the doors closed.
“Back to the penthouse Jarvis,” he dictated, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. “You guys know I’m right to be cautious. Cap’s polite, gentlemanly heart is just blinding you to what you need to see.” Tony walked off the elevators as soon as it stopped, grabbing the StarkPad he had left earlier. Clint and Natasha sat on opposite ends of the same couch, waiting to hear whatever he had to say. He typed a few things into the StarkPad, smiling when the information he was looking for was displayed on the screen.
“Why don’t I like that smile?” Clint stage whispered to Natasha.
“Can we get on with this Tony?” Natasha asked, looking bored. “I wanted to get a workout in before lunch.”
“I would like your help with something,” Tony said, turning the screen to face them, showing a small green dot moving along the streets of New York City.
“A tracker?” Natasha scoffed. “How early 2000s.”
“I didn’t really have time for a better plan,” Tony sneered. “And I had to be discreet.”
“So what do you want us to do, follow her around all day? Hope she leads us to her secret lair?” Clint asked, laughing.
“I don’t want you to do anything yet,” Tony answered, ignoring Clint’s jokes. “I just want you on standby in case I need someone on the ground. I’m going to keep digging into records and see what that gets me. This would be like a milk run for you guys, being master spies and all.”
“What happens if you find out she’s innocent?” Natasha asked, leaning back into the couch cushions.
“I’ll apologize and send her a fruit basket or something,” Tony grumbled out. “Listen, I want to be wrong, guys. I want this girl to be the most boring, normal person who you would trust to take care of your nana, but I have to be sure. Just support me on this.”
“Fine, fine,” Clint agreed, standing from the couch and stretching. He slapped Natasha on the outside of her thigh, sidestepping her answering strike to his midsection. “Let’s go to the gym and beat me up.” Natasha smiled a feral grin, slinking after Clint who was headed toward the stairs.
“One more thing,” Tony called out, stopping their exit. “Cap and Bruce don’t need to know about all this, okay? You know how they get about being sneaky. Better to just deal with this ourselves.” Clint gave him a thumbs up, continuing his walk with quiet cluck sounds added.
“I’m not a chicken, just strategic!” Tony yelled after them, scowling at their backs. Someone had to watch over this team and if their captain was too incapacitated to do it, he would step up. He may give off the impression of aloofness, but no one was going to come in and hurt his people. Not if he could help it.