Chapter 11
Tony was fuming. How dare Cap not take his side over an outsider’s? He was in his lab, taking out his frustrations on a metal project he was working on for Shield. He wished Pepper was here, instead of on an extended business trip in Japan. She always knew the right thing to say to calm him down.
Tony knew he was taking a chance when he slipped that tracker into Celia’s bag. He just needed to know, needed to be sure. Things like this didn’t just happen and with the hinkey information his search had brought up, someone had to make the tough decisions. If he had to look like the jerk, so be it. He would rather go too far and be wrong, than not do enough and be right. One resulted in hurt feelings, the other could mean a different kind of hurt.
“Jarvis, keep Cap off my floor tonight,” Tony commanded, banging at a tricky corner with his mallet. If he was imagining Steve’s face while he did it, well that was his business. “And get Romanoff to come see me. Discreetly, no Barton.” He felt like he could still convince Natasha to help him, since she rarely let feelings get in the way of getting the job done. If anyone would be able to get to the truth, it was her.
“You wanted to see me?” Natasha asked, making Tony jump in surprise from her sudden appearance.
“Don’t do that!” Tony huffed, covering his heart with his hand. “How’d you get here so fast? I just barely told Jarvis to send for you.”
“I have my ways,” she answered smoothly, looking at her nails. “What do you want?”
“We all saw how my tracker plan crashed and burned, so we need to move into phase two. I think you should follow her, make sure she doesn’t do anything weird before I can finish my background check,” Tony said, setting down his mallet and walking to stand in front of her.
“What do you think she’s gonna do?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“I don’t know and that’s the problem. Most likely, she’ll run. But what if she tells someone? Imagine what can happen if she falls into the wrong hands? They could use her as a weapon or try to recreate her the same way, and that puts Cap in danger. And if he’s not gonna take care of himself, then I will,” Tony spat out, raking a hand through his hair.
“You’re scared,” Natasha said, surprised. “That’s why you’re doing all this.”
“What are you talking about?” Tony grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You try so hard to pretend like you don’t care about the rest of us, but when any of us get hurt, you hover like crazy.”
“I do not!”
“So why are we all living in your tower?”
“Logistics!”
“Remember when Clint hurt his shoulder? You completely redesigned his bow and made a whole new set of special arrows for him.”
“For the good of the team! I would do that for any of you,” Tony pointed out, feeling disgruntled by Natasha’s psychoanalyzing.
“That’s exactly my point. You would do anything for the team and you feel responsible for keeping us safe. It’s sweet, really,” Natasha said with a smile. Tony stalked back over to his work, smashing the mallet down on the metal with renewed vigor. Natasha was wrong. He wasn’t scared, he was smart. And until the facts proved one way or the other, Tony was going to keep investigating.
“Does all that crap mean you’ll help me?” Tony asked, swiping the sweat from his brow.
“Yes, I’ll help you. But why did you want me to hide this from Clint?” Natasha asked, running her finger along the edge of Tony’s project.
“Clint’s too soft on Cap,” Tony grouched. “Now that Cap will be suspicious, I don’t trust that he’ll keep his mouth shut. We all know who the best liar is, Natalie.” Natasha laughed him off, not looking offended at all by Tony’s words.
“I guess I’ll go get some sleep. I have some long days ahead of me,” Natasha said, disappearing as quickly as she came. Tony breathed out a sigh of relief, glad at least one of his teammates was on his side. He wanted answers ASAP, before anything else went wrong.
*
Celia jogged her way back toward the subway station, cursing her lack of planning when she left her warm apartment in a tank top and shorts to run around New York City at night. It was early May, so the weather was pretty nice during the day, but at almost 11pm, it was pretty chilly. Normally, Celia wouldn’t be out this late alone, especially this far from home, but seeing that tracker in her bag made all rational thought go out the window. She felt so violated, on top of everything else that had happened that day. First, her body had been irrevocably changed without warning or consent, then Tony had dug into her past, and then the tracker added on had her seeing red. She needed to set things into motion, before more of her life was taken out of her hands.
Celia rooted around in her bag, still trying to find her bitch of a phone. She really needed to empty out her trash, the chaos of it frustrating her even more.
“Fuck!” she yelled, ignoring the startled stares of people walking by. Her fingers finally brushed across the smooth plastic of her phone case and she pulled it out triumphantly. Celia ducked under the awning of a nearby bakery. Out of the way, but still in view of the sidewalk under good lighting. She dialed a number she luckily memorized, the number only saved in her other cell phone.
“Hello?” a groggy voice groaned into the phone.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Celia apologized.
“Celia? What number is this?” the voice asked, sounding more alert.
“Yeah Deb, it’s me. I had to call on my main phone, it’s kind of an emergency,” Celia answered, hating to do this, but knowing she had no other choice.
“Are you okay?” Deb asked, sounding worried.
“Yes, I’m fine and Kathy’s fine, but something’s come up and I’m gonna need you to take her earlier than we planned,” Celia sighed.
“When?”
“Tomorrow night. I’m picking up the last of her things tomorrow morning, so she’ll be all set with that, but my apartment might not be safe anymore.”
“Are you in danger?” Deb asked. “Do you need help?”
“It’s complicated,” Celia answered, being vague on purpose. “I can handle things, but I can’t do it with Kathy there.”
“Shit, okay. What time?”
“Plan for 6pm, at the usual spot. If you don’t hear from me by 5pm, do the delivery trick at my apartment. I gotta get home and pack some stuff. And figure out how to tell Kathy in the morning,” Celia said, rubbing at her eyes.
“She doesn’t know yet?”
“Fuck, it’s all so sudden. And I don’t want her to freak out. I think I’ll tell her it’s a work emergency, I don’t know,” Celia mumbled, resuming her walk toward the subway station.
“Good luck, I’ll be ready,” Deb said, hanging up the phone. Celia threw her phone back in her bag and took the stairs to the tunnel two at a time. The sooner she could get home, the sooner she could get what she needed done.