Fated Marks

After the dinner was officially over. Everyone decided to clean up while Tony and I relaxed.

“So, that’s really your name?” He asked.

“Yeah it is.” I said. Tony could still not get over the fact that I had actually given him my name.

“How does anyone come up with a name like that?” Tony asked.

“Mom was a classics and accounting double major in college. Something must have stuck.” I said.

“It’s unique.” Tony said.

“It’s horrible hence why I wasn’t all that sad about leaving it behind.” I said.

“So does your brother…” Tony started.

“Don’t go there.” I said.

“I mean he must have…” Tony started.

“How about I get you a refill?” I said taking his glass and walking to the bar.

“I feel like I’m missing something here.” Rhodey said.

“Same.” Pepper said.

“How’s the wedding planning going?” I asked Pepper. That provided enough of a distraction to keep her busy until it was time for her to go and for Rhodey to call it a night.

“We never really finished talking about it.” Steve said as soon as they were gone.

“Don’t think there’s really much left to say.” I said. “I’m going, I’ll find Delilah and in a few months this will all just be a rough patch we’ll be laughing about.”

“Hales he tried to kill you why the hell would we laugh about that?” Clint said.

“Natasha tried to kill you when you first met and now you’re best friends.” I reminded him.

“How are you going to find her?” Natasha asked.

“I know people…” I started.

“What people?” Tony asked.

“Former associates.” I said.

“You mean Members of the Bratva, Czech arms dealers…” Clint started listing names.

“Among others and my hacking skills. It’s not much but I’ve done more with less.” I said.

“And you trust them?” Steve asked.

“I trust that they hate Delilah and my brother more than me. Enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I said.

“That’s insane.” Bruce said.

“I’ll admit it’s not fullproof.” I said.

“No but it’s good.” Natasha said.

“What?” Everyone said.

“That’s how I get most of my intel. The rumor mill is very useful. Rebekah will be able to get you where you need.” Natasha asked.

“You texted her didn’t you?” I said.

“You told her not to say anything about him didn’t you?” She retorted. “She said you had it handled.”

“I do.” I said. “Kind of. I’m making it up as I go. I’ve been out of the game a while. Rebekah put out some feelers a month ago. I decided to check out some of the Romani’s lower level guys. She knew them all maybe she talked to one of them.”

“So your plan is to just go up to these guys and ask them if they’ve seen their former boss?” Tony asked.

“Course not, There are bars and parties, people start talking you just have to network.” I said.

“Hayley these people are criminals.” Steve said.

“Technically so am I. These are the types of people I grew up around I know how they work.” I said.

“Didn’t you say your mom made a lot of those guys mad?” Bruce reminded.

“They also hate my brother.” I said. “It’s well deserved I mean he killed a lot of people.”

“You’re not going.” Clint said.

“Agreed.” Tony said.

“It’s not up to you guys.” I said. “It’s my life and it’s my choice. I spent the past five years running away and being afraid of him. This is a chance to finally get him off my back. He murdered Delilah’s entire family to get back at her for leaving. No matter what differences they had she was loyal to them to a fault. There is no way she is okay with that.”

“You want her to get rid of him for you.” Bruce said realizing what I was planning.

“Not exactly. I see this going one of two ways. She’s so stupidly in love with him that she’ll forgive him and in turn he’ll forget about me or I can talk her into getting back at him and they take care of each other.” I said.

“And in the meantime you what, avoid exploding cars?” Steve asked.

“Lay low, work underground until I find something or figure something else out. Also I just found out that if I take the classes I agreed on with my counselor I can graduate next year so that’s another reason to go.” I said. “Guys No matter what way you look at this it all leads to the same solution. I have to go.”

“Just tell us his name and we’ll take care of it.” Tony nagged.

“Not happening, I won’t have another Flagstaff happen because I was too afraid of taking a chance.”

“What happened in Flagstaff?” Natasha asked.

I took out my phone and took over the monitors in the room. I put on the police reports and forensic reports along with all the adjoining photos.

“That was my boss at the bakery I worked at.” I said pointing at the photo of a man with a broken neck. “She was my neighbor, made really good kugel.” I said of the woman with her eyes gauged out. “And that is my tenth grade English teacher. He thought I had potential.” I said showing a photo of a man with a slit throat.

“What is this?” Natasha asked.

“This is Flagstaff. Three years ago he found me. Normally when he does he sends a gift, A dead bird in a gift wrapped box. I’d get it and in less than five hours I was gone. He wants me dead but he doesn’t want me to make it easy for himself. He likes the chase always has. So the same thing happens in Flagstaff, except I didn’t want to leave. I had friends, nice neighbors, and what was starting to look like a good future so I stayed. That made him angry. When he gets angry he doesn’t just kill you he wipes you off the map. Friends, family, people who knew you, dead. He doesn’t care if they were close or not, they’re dead.” I said.

I opened up another file and brought it forward. “This is the Romani, all of them dead in their own home. Grandparents, Parents, nieces and nephews.” I said bringing up photos of a nursery and playroom with blood stains everywhere. “Even aunts, uncles, and cousins. These were his in laws, no one left except his wife. He doesn’t care who gets caught in the crossfire; he doesn’t care about hurting innocent people. This is what he’ll do here if he get’s angry or inpatient. Will, Nate, Josh, even Tess and Liam no one is safe. It’s too late to run and fighting back isn’t an option.”

“He didn’t do anything to you?” Tony asked.

“Three broken fingers, sprained wrist, Cracked ribs, two broken ribs, a cracked scapula and three rounds of water boarding. Woke up somewhere in New Mexico a few days later with a note stapled to my shirt telling me I was ten miles from the closest town and that I better start walking.” I answered. With that I shut everything down. “So does buying some time really seem like a bad option now?” I looked around and everyone was still processing what they had seen to answer. “Exactly. I’m calling it a night. See you guys tomorrow.” I said before walking out.

Third Person’s POV-

“This isn’t going to go away as easy as Hayley thinks.” Bruce said.

“Nope, Gives a new perspective on why she didn’t think it was so bad that he cut her hand. In the grand scheme of things it’s a papercut.” Clint said.

“Also explains why she shuts people out.” Tony said.

“She can’t go.” Steve said.

“It doesn’t matter if we tell her she can’t go. Her mind’s made up, she’s going.” Natasha said.

“Hand cuffing her didn’t work last time so that’s out.” Tony said.

“Rebekah’s going with her. She’s already over there.” Natasha said. “She won’t be alone and they care about her. She’s family to them.”

“You think she should go.” Clint said realizing what Natasha was getting at.

“We say no she’ll go behind our backs and do it anyway and when she finally gets in over her head she won’t say anything. This way we can check in on her and stay updated, maybe she’ll even let us help.” Natasha said.

“She made it clear that her mind was made up. We can’t make her do anything.” Steve said. “We’d be no better than her mom and brother is we did.”

“She’s opened up a lot the past few days it’s time we show her that that trust goes both ways.” Bruce said.

“I guess she’s going.” Tony said. “I need to up security in the penthouse.” He said getting up and walking out. Tony got into the elevator but instead of going down to the lab he ended up in Hayley’s apartment. He walked in and noticed that Hayley wasn’t asleep; instead she was typing something in her laptop in the living room.

Hayley’s POV-

“Thought you were going to bed?” Tony said making her jump a bit out of her seat.

“I was, just chatting with Rebekah. Had a late night and turns out the forger I talked to in Miami wasn’t lying. She used one of the fake ID’s to take a flight to Europe, ditched it and vanished. There’s chatter of her visiting her old stomping grounds in Ibiza and Malaga about a year ago before she disappeared again.” Hayley answered

“Spain, Good time of the year to visit.” Tony said.

“There’s an old business associate of my mom’s in Galicia I’m going to try and get in touch with once I’m over there.” I said closing the laptop.

“You haven’t been sleeping.” Tony said.

“I sleep just not REM.” I said. “You here to try and talk me out of going?”

“If I asked you to would you listen?” Tony asked.

“Probably not.” I said.

“Thought so.” He said putting his arm around me. “I’m updating the security system in the penthouse and you’re checking in everyday. If you don’t I’m taking a suit and flying over there.”

“I was going to call everyday anyway. Need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.” I said.

“And if he comes near you again…” Tony started.

“You’re on speed dial.” I said.

“I’m taking tomorrow off, want to do something?” Tony asked.

“As long as we’re back early I promised Hulk a pizza night and I can’t on Friday. I promised Will we’d go out.” I said yawning.

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Tony said.

“I’m not going to stop living my life because he might come after me.” I said.

“I meant going out drinking with will the night before a flight but now that you mention it…” Tony started.

“Nope, It’s my last night before I leave for a year I’m going out.” I said wrapping my arms around Tony and resting my head on his shoulder.

“You could always…” He started and I pinched his side. “Ow.”

“Mind’s made up.” I said rubbing where I pinched him in a soothing manner. I moved so I was sitting on his lap and put my arms around his neck. “Everything’s going to be okay Tony, just trust me.”

“I do just don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you Hales.” Tony said giving me a look that shook me to the core. I could feel his fear from his mark.

“It won’t get to that point. We’ve survived worse odds, we’ll get through this.” I said. He pulled me closer and kissed my forehead as he held me. “Sorry I forgot your birthday.”

He chuckled a bit. “You made up for it Calliope. Am pronouncing that right?” He teased. I gave him a playful slap to the arm before getting up and walking to my room.

“You coming?” I called from the doorway.

“I’m gonna go get some work done.” Tony said.

“You’ve been working all day, get some sleep.” I said.

“Need to make sure the Penthouse is ready for you.” He said walking over to me and pulling me into a kiss before hugging me.

“Night.” I said before he let me go and walked out.

I walked into my room and picked out a black satin slip with lace trim nightgown. I had already packed most of my things and I really needed to do a few loads of laundry tomorrow.

“I thought you’d be in bed already?” Natasha said.

“I was just about to. I got a message with an update from Rebekah. We started chatting and I got a bit side tracked.” I said. “Where’s Clint?” Normally when it was time to go to bed Natasha and Clint came together.

“He’s blowing off some steam.” Natasha said. That would explain the anger and frustration I was feeling from his mark.

“This have anything to do with Tony coming down here to tell me that even if he didn’t like it he was okay with me going to London?” I asked.

“He thinks it’s a bad idea, which it is but sometimes you have to go against your better judgment to sort things out.” Natasha said.

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.” I said as I got dressed.

“Where do you think I’d be if I hadn’t given myself a chance when I met Clint? Probably dead or if I was lucky working for the highest bidder.” Natasha said.

“I’m guessing he didn’t see it that way.” I said.

“He’s just worried. Give him time.” Nat said.

“This whole full disclosure, being honest thing, it’s a double edge sword.” I said lying down on the bed.

“You kept a lot bottled in for a long time, it’s an adjustment.” Nat said putting her arms around my waist.

“Does it ever get easier?” I asked.

“No but it’s worth it.” She said as she kissed my shoulder. I couldn’t help but grin at the simple comforting gesture. I turned around and pulled her into a kiss. Nat put her hand on my waist and deepened the kiss. Natasha pushed me to lie on my back and hovered over me. She just looked at me with a smile before leaning down and pulling me into a passionate kiss.

I put my hand on the back of her neck and played with the hair at the nape of her neck. She took that as her cue to go for it and started kissing and sucking marks into my neck.

“Ah Nat.” I moaned.

“Like that Krasivaya?” She whispered moving to leave and open mouth kiss on the other side of my neck.

“Ye-ah.” I said before gasping as she started sucking on just the right spot. I felt her hands move up my waist and onto my breasts. I pulled Nat back into a kiss and she started moving her hands down to my thighs.

“I owe you a rain check right?” She said before moving her hand up my thigh and rubbing her hand over my underwear.

“Nat.” I whined. I wanted… needed more.

“Sh relax baby.” She said moving my lace panties to the side and started to slowly draw circles on my sensitive nub.

“Tease.” I said. She gave me a smirk before slowly kissing down my collarbones to my breasts. Natasha slowly moved one of the straps of my nightgown off my shoulder and started sucking on my nipple. “Ah Fu…” I moaned.

“Krasivaya.” She whispered.

“Nat please.” I begged as I felt how close I was to going over the edge. All the teasing had left me really sensitive.

“What do you want baby?” She whispered as she kissed up my neck as she started moving faster.

“More.” I pleaded. Natasha stopped and moved her hand away me, making me whine.

“Do you trust me?” She asked.

“With my life.” I said. She pulled me into a desperate kiss before moving down my body. She moved my nightgown up and started to pull my panties down. I lifted my hips to make it easier for her. Natasha moved my legs apart and started kissing up my thigh until she reached my hip. She muttered something in Russian before starting to kiss lower and lower until…

“AH! Yes!” I cried out as Natasha started sucking on my nub while drawing circles on it with the tip of her tongue. I was so wound up from before it didn’t take long before I was close again. “Nat ah!” I moaned. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better I felt her moved a finger to circle my entrance before pushing in.

“Fuck!” I screamed at how good it felt when she curled her finger and hit just the right spot. “Nat I’m close, So ah!” I gasped as I felt her add another finger. That was all it took to go over the edge. I felt every nerve ending in my body light up and Natasha’s mark heat up before all I saw was white.

I don’t know how long I was out but when I finally snapped out of it I was panting and so was Natasha.

“So that’s what that’s like.” She said.

“Did you…from?” I asked.

“It was like I felt what you were feeling.” Natasha said.

“I felt really good.” I said kissing her.

“I noticed.” She said as I moved over so I was on top of her.

“Let’s see how I can make you feel.” I said kissing down her neck.

“Hayley…” She hummed.

“My turn to make my girlfriend feel good.” I said moving my hands under her tank top. I slowly moved them up the curve of her waist until they were under her breasts. I gently grasped them before squeezing them.

“Mh.” Nat gasped I lifted up her shirt a bit exposing them. I bent down and sucked on her nipple while gently pinching the other. “Ah!” She moaned arching her back. I moved my hand to her thigh and pulled it up so I could rock my hips against hers.

“Shit.” She cried out.

“Whoa.” I said surprising myself at how quickly I was close to another orgasm.

“Hayley.” Natasha whined. I kissed her again before slipping my hand under the waistband of her panties and started drawing slow circles on her bud. “Ah shit.”

I started kissing down her chest and her stomach until I got to the waistband of her panties. I didn’t have to reach over and pull them down since Natasha beat me to it and took them off herself. I looked at her hip and saw my mark on her. I smiled before kissing it and slowly moving down. I moved down to her nub and licked across her making her whine. I sucked on it and drew circles on it with my tongue the way I had felt her do before.

“Hayley! Ah don’t stop… so good.” She moaned. I decided to give her a bit more by moving my finger to her throbbing core and slowly pushing my finger in.

“Yes! Yes please!” She begged. I moved my finger in and out curling it into that spongy spot that her shout in Russian. Before I knew it I could feel her tighten her muscles around my fingers. “Hayley!” She shouted as she came. I sat up and I think I made Natasha pass out.

“Nat, Natasha? Sweetie?” I asked checking her pulse. She gasped as she opened her eyes. “You okay?”

“Da.” She said giving me sleepy smile before pulling me into a kiss. “You know I thought Tony was the one getting lucky tonight.”

“He’s a bit distracted brother proofing the penthouse in London.” I said.

“So you were going to…” Natasha asked.

“I wasn’t expecting anything. I just have trouble sleeping alone now and you know if it just so happened that sleeping turned into something more I wouldn’t mind that.” I said drawing patterns on her arm.

“Tony’s loss is my gain.” She said smiling.

“Yes it is.” I said laughing a bit. “I really need to learn Russian, you switched into it a few times. Have no idea what you said.”

“That was the point.” She said.

“That’s mean.” I said. “How would you like it is if I switched to Chinese?”

“That’d be fun, didn’t know you spoke Chinese.”

“It’s something I picked up working for the Triads, You’re beautiful inside and out Nat even if you don’t see it I do.” I said in Chinese.

“Don’t know what you said but it sounded nice.” She said with a dirty smile.

“It was.” I said kissing her cheek before cuddling to her side. I felt something hard under my pillow again. “Okay when did you even manage to get this under here without me noticing.” I said pulling out a gun from under my pillow.

“Habit.” She said taking it out of my hand and putting it on the nightstand before lying back down.

“Hm.” I said cuddling beside her. “Night.”

“Night.” Natasha said.

The Next Morning-

I woke up to the sunlight coming in from the window and hitting my face. I reached over to hug Natasha but I didn’t feel her. I opened my eyes and saw that I was alone. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad that I didn’t wake up next to her but Nat isn’t big on cuddling so maybe I shouldn’t take it personally. I got out of bed and hopped in the shower before getting dressed for the day. I didn’t have any big plans for the day besides laundry so I stuck with a flowy white t-shirt and some peppered joggers.

I braided my hair to the side before getting my laundry basket and heading upstairs to put in a load. I walked into the common room and saw that Clint was the only one there.

“Morning.” I said.

“Morning.” He greeted.

“I’m putting in a load of whites so if there’s anything you need washed you should get it now.” I said.

“Can we talk?” He said.

“Uh sure mind if I put this in first?” I said.

“Go ahead.” He said.

I walked into the laundry room and quickly loaded the washer before going back to the kitchen. Clint had a cup of coffee ready for me. I sat down and took a sip while Clint just watched me in silence.

“So…” I started.

“You know going to London is a bad idea right?” Clint said.

“I know.” I said.

“But you’re going anyway, you’re walking right into danger and you’re okay with that?” He said growing more frustrated.

“It’s not that I’m okay with that as much as I don’t really see another option.” I said hating myself for the hell I was putting everyone through.

“For fucks sake just tell us who he is!” Clint yelled.

“No.” I said.

“Why the hell are you protecting him?!” Clint yelled.

“I’m not protecting him!” I shouted putting emphasis on the last word.

“Then why won’t you tell us who he is?” Clint asked.

“If I tell you who he is what are you going to do?” I asked.

“Take care of it.” He said.

“And that’s why I’m not telling you. You once said that your time as a mercenary is what you regret most in your life. How would this be any different from that?” I said.

“It’d be to keep you safe.” Clint said. “Hales the guy’s tried to kill you multiple times, He’s tortured you, he’s hunted you down for the last five years. He’s the reason you wake up screaming every night. Just let us help.”

“That’s exactly how he started. He made excuses and started killing with a purpose until one day it wasn’t enough and he started killing just because he felt like writing something on a card. I won’t let that happen to you. I’m going, you can scream, you can hate me, you can dump me but it won’t change anything. This has to be done and I will do this.” I said.

“You’re doing this on a possibility that he might leave you alone you ran for five years and he didn’t leave you alone. You know he won’t stop.” Clint said.

“Of course he won’t but I don’t see any better options that won’t end with someone dead.” I said.

“And this plan where chances are you end up dead is okay to you?” He exclaimed.

“Better me than someone else.” I said getting up. “I don’t stop you from going on missions even though I know how dangerous they are. Don’t stop me from going on mine.”

“It’s a suicide mission.” Clint said with his voice cracking at the end.

“It’s a recon mission at best. It’s a few months. I talk to some people, hack some databases and send the coordinates so they can hash it out or divorce each other or whatever he wants with her.” I said.

“She’s an assassin that went off the grid for a reason you think she’s just going to let you find her or even let you tell anyone where she is? Hales she’ll want you dead too.” He insisted. “Hayley it’s insane.”

“So what should I do instead Clint? Stay here forever? Run away and hope he doesn’t catch me again? Or take a chance to get rid of him for good with no casualties?” I said. “You’ve seen some of the things he’s done and that’s bad but I grew up with him and trust me when I say he’s done way worse.”

“Are you listening to what you’re saying right now? What if the roles were switched here?”

“If the roles were switched I’d trust you knew what you were doing and help you with whatever you decided.” I said. That left him quiet. I heard the buzzer of the washing machine ring and I got up to go move everything to the dryer before heading back.

“If anything happens to you how are we supposed to live knowing we could have stopped it Hales?” Clint said giving me the most heartbreaking look ever.

“It wouldn’t be on you, it’d be my own fault but hopefully it won’t come to that.” I said.

“Hopefully?” He asked.

“I don’t know what to say here. I’ve got it handled.” I said.

“You’ve got to stop saying that because you don’t have it handled.” Clint said rubbing his temples. It was pretty obvious he didn’t get any sleep last night. I walked towards him and grabbed his and pulled him to the couch.

“You didn’t sleep.” I said.

“Spent half the night blowing off steam in the shooting range and the other half trying to get some sleep.” He said.

“Key word trying. I’m sorry.” I apologized. First the weapons under the pillows, then them taking shifts to guard me and now insomnia, I’ve really made a mess of things. It wasn’t until my phone started ringing that I snapped out of my daze.

“Go for Hayley.” I answered.

“Why did the mission I was asked to come home early for get reassigned to another team?” Hadrian greeted.

“That’s what happens when you go to the DMV without an appointment Will. Bureaucracy sucks” I answered.

“One of them is with you know aren’t they? Why did Romanoff, Rogers and Barton happen to go on leave at the same time you returned from your vacation?” He asked.

“Tony’s birthday dinner went great, he really loved his gift.” I said.

“You really expect me to buy that, my trigger finger’s getting itchy wouldn’t want it to pull something while I’m behind one of them now would you?” Hadrian threatened.

“Of course not, what do you take me for?” I retorted.

“If they’re not back by the end of the week there’s going to be a dead body somewhere.” He said before hanging up.

“Will’s at the DMV?” Clint asked.

“Yeah.” I said as I felt how my hands started shaking.

“That wasn’t Will was it?” Clint said.

“Nope.” I said.

“I’m taking that.” He said taking my phone and starting to walk out.

“He uses an encrypted line, it’s untraceable.” I said frozen where I was sitting.

“Maybe Tony can decrypt it.” Clint said waiting for the elevator.

“Clint what are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m helping.” He retorted as he got into the elevator. “You coming?”

“I’ve got laundry to do.” I said.

Twenty Minutes Later-

“Hayley!” Tony came marching into the common room with Clint and Steve right behind him.

“No luck huh?” I said.

“He’s bounced the signal to different cell phone towers around the planet.” Tony said annoyed.

“Yup.” I said.

“You knew that already.” Steve said.

“Like I said encrypted line, completely untraceable.” I said taking my phone back.

“You tried to track him before.” Tony said.

“After I left I thought that if I knew where he was it would make it easier to run. Know where he was and stay away from there. Except he got smart and had it reprogrammed. It did the exact same thing to me.” I said. “He’s a psychopath but he’s a smart psychopath.”

“Did he do it himself?” Clint asked.

“Doubt it, coding’s to intricate he doesn’t have the patience for it.” I said. “Doesn’t matter though, anyone can get a scrambler on the black market.”

“So we’ve got nothing.” Clint said. “Great.”

“It was expected. He’s good at what he does and with the amount of people who want him dead he has to know how to cover his tracks.” I said grabbing my clothes and folding a shirt.

“How are you so calm about all of this?” Steve asked.

“You think I’m calm? I’m fighting the urge to go grab the bag I have set up for emergencies and disappear. I sleep three or four hours a night and when I finally do sleep I see him so no Steve I’m not calm.” I snap.

“Hales, put the laundry down.” Clint said. “It’s okay.” He said putting a hand over mine and gently prying the shirt out of my hand. “We’ll figure something else out just breathe.”

“Malaga and Ibiza right?” Tony said.

“Right.” I said. I could feel the worry and fear seeping in from all three of their marks. He wasn’t making threats to scare me that phone call said it all.

I know where you are, I know who you’re with, do as you’re told or they’re dead.