An Announcement
Natasha rushed to the center of the quarter, where Rhodey and Sam were already leading search and rescue efforts.
Clint appeared a moment later, breathing heavy and pausing for a moment with his hands on his knees.
“Hey, you guys okay?” Iron Man’s hand settled at the small of her back, his faceplate retracting.
She nodded, squinting through the settling dust. “Where’s Steve?”
“He went to go get Banner,” Clint said.
In front of the city hall building stood a gaggle of reporters, cameras already clicking away and microphones being shoved in the faces of the responding authorities.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Guess I should go take care of that.”
Natasha shook her head. “You stay here in case Steve needs help with Bruce. I’ll do it.”
He shot her a grateful smile as she made her way up the steps, holding out his hand to pause the others as Rogers and Banner slowly made their way over to join them.
“Ms. Romanoff, that could’ve been much more of a disaster than it was. As usual, the whole city is indebted to the Avengers.”
She shook her head. “As stated many times before, any time a little extra help is needed, the Avengers will be there.”
“We’ve noticed that Thor has been M.I.A. the last two times the Avengers have assembled, not including the incident that has just taken place. Has there been a falling out? Is he no longer a member of the team?”
“Thor is currently off-world, handling his own matters. There has been, and won’t be any hostility between us and I can assure you, should his services be required here on Earth he would be back in no time.”
She looked out into the crowd, taking a breath as her eyes met with Steve’s and Tony’s and they both nodded encouragingly.
“Ms. Romanoff,” another reporter started. “There doesn’t seem to be any casualties of this incident so far, although preliminary reports are showing substantial damages. How do the Avengers plan on being held accountable to the destruction?”
“Unfortunately, a certain level of damage is to be expected when it comes to disabling a threat of this magnitude. All we can do is our best to ensure the safety of the citizens.
However, I can assure you that Stark Industries is already working closely with the proper authorities to assess and a check will be written to cover any costs.”
That earned a few smiles and light cheers from the crowd and she breathed an inward sigh of relief, her eyes still on her teammates as they watched her.
After that, most of the questions turned silly and she was gazing at Tony, mentally asking him to come help her out of it when a vaguely familiar voice to her left called for her attention amongst the flashing cameras.
“Ms. Romanoff, we can’t help but notice that blinding rock on your finger. Would you care to comment?”
Her eyes widened and she was met face to face with the well-known journalist Christine Everheartt, who had a smug smile on her face as her photographer clicked away and her videographer pointed the camera directly at her.
“Ummm…”
“I mean it’s not like you could keep that thing a secret forever,” the reporter pressed, earning a few chuckles from her colleagues.
She held up her hand over her face to shield her eyes from the bright lights and she searched to regain her visual on the Avengers, finding Steve looking nervous, Clint looking mildly annoyed, Banner looking like he wanted to be literally anywhere else, and Tony looking steadily at her. He smiled softly at her, clearly communicating that he was fine with whatever she decided as he started to make his way up to the steps to help her if she needed an out.
“Um, yes, I can comment on that.” She looked up at Tony, who had mostly reached the front and smiled when he winked at her.
“Mr. Stark has graciously asked me to marry him,” she said calmly, her smile growing larger as he reached her. “And I’ve accepted.”
The crowd exploded into claps and cheers as the cameras clicked twice as fast and Tony took the hand that she’d been reaching out to him. He placed an arm around her waist and she leaned into him, posing briefly for a couple of pictures.
She scanned the quarter, once again searching for her teammates and she caught a glimpse of them in the middle of the excitement just in time to see Clint cover his face with both hands.
XXXXX
“You handled that brilliantly,” Tony commented, flashing her a billion dollar smile as the town hall guards ducked them into the building to wait until the crowd dispersed. “I have yet to regret my decision to appoint you to the P.R. team.”
“Actually…. about that,” she started.
“Hmmmm?”
She shook her head. “It’s just… with the new compound almost finished…. I thought maybe Steve and Sam could use my help. Like on a more full-time basis…” she said slowly, bracing herself for the argument that was undoubtedly about to happen.
“I see,” he said, pausing for a moment to consider her words.
“I’m sorry, Tony,” she said, biting her lip as she reached for his arm. “I just-“
“No, no. It makes sense,” he said after awhile.
“It does?”
“Yeah.” He took her arm in his, patting her gently as he managed a small smile. “After all, you’ve always been the heart and soul of this team. And we need you. You’ll be great.”
She smiled a relieved smile. “Thanks, Tony.”
“I just wish that Stark Industries wasn’t losing both you and Barton in the same week.”
She frowned. “What?”
“You know, with Clint retiring and everything,” Tony said, regarding her carefully. “Didn’t… he tell you?”
“Uh, no,” she said, lowering her eyes. “No, he didn’t.”
“Hmmmm. I’m sorry, I thought he would have. He said something about taking time for his family, what with two young kids now and everything. I guess I can’t fault him for that.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s a perfectly good reason,” she said, gazing out the window where their teammates were now approaching.
Tony’s phone beeped and he took it out of his pocket, clearly dismissing the message.
She raised an eyebrow at him, grateful to have the distraction.
He shook his head. “It’s nothing. Just a message from Pepper. Vanity Fair wants to do an exclusive engagement photo shoot, or something. It’s dumb. We don’t have to actually do it.”
“Vanity Fair?” She turned her head back to face him. “I don’t know. That actually sounds like it could be kind of fun.”
“Really?” His voice raised in pitch, clearly surprised.
“Yeah,” she said with a grin.
“Okay,” he said, watching her with an amused expression. “I’ll tell Pepper we’ll do it.”