2014-03-30 - Catch Me If You Can: Safe House?

It's the day after Stark's disappearance. Kidnapping. Vanishing act. Of course, the Black Widow was on a plane to New York City as soon as the room was clear. She wasn't forensics. She wasn't a scientist.

She was a spy, and a hacker, and an espionage agent. Finding things people didn't want her to find was her specialty. And she'd be damned if some two-bit holovillain was getting away with keeping Stark.

So she'd made her way to her apartment. SHIELD knows about this one. And a couple of the others. Especially since this one has a saferoom with a small armory in it.

As soon as a ticket to New York was booked by Natasha Romanov, Hill knew. This was her city. What went on in it, she knew, or was going to find out. In this case she knew to look out for the agent that would be coming back angry and ready to do what she knew how to do.

When Natasha arrives in the apartment, Hill is waiting for her sitting on the sofa with one leg over the other, and a datapad braced on her knee to balance it. It's only the glow of the datapad which illuminates her face as she hadn't bothered to turn on any other lights. "Welcome home, Romanov. I trust you're not about to do something stupid in your current condition."

The apartment obviously has had James Barnes living in it. The bed has been used. Men's shaving equipment and soap in the bathroom. Vodka in the freezer. Beer in the refridgerator. A couple of 1940s westerns on DVD on the coffee table.

"Hill." Natasha shuts the door behind her. There's a momentary flash of rage when she sees the other woman here, but she forces it back. It's easier when she realizes James isn't here at the moment.

"Nothing /stupid/," the Russian woman replies icily. "But if you're going to try and talk me out of going after Stark, you're wasting your breath."

"Talk you out of it? No. Order you out of it, yes," Hill rebukes as she lifts her gaze to sweep over to regard the pregnant woman with a scowl. "Look around a minute Natasha. You've got one guy staying in your apartment," her hand sweeps out to indicate the bedroom pointedly. "You're pregnant, with the twins of another man... You have to get your shit together. I know running off and punching some ass in the face is the most cathartic thing in the world right now. Trust me I /get/ that. But how much use do you think you're going to be to him, really?"

Natasha's expression is flat. "James needed a safe location to stay," she says bluntly. "As I have been staying with Stark, I saw no problem with him staying here for the foreseeable." Her look darkens. "Not that I have to explain this to you, Hill."

The orders? Well, Natasha is a good soldier. But she takes her orders from Fury. Or from Phil now that she's been demoted. "Who said I was going out for combat?" she deadpans. Besides... she has her Life Model Decoy for that. "But I have /other/ skills, and I /will/ use them. As you pointed out, I'm pregnant. And the father of these children has been /taken/l."

She scowls. "Do you realize how dangerous Stark is? What he's capable of? And for someone to be able to take him, just so, without any of the dozens of superheroes and metahumans at that damned Expo-- and /yes/, from under SHIELD's nose as well? I know about the security teams the Director had in place, Hill."

"And that is why I'm concerned. Whoever got him is capable enough to do that without raising any red flags until after it happened," Hill returns with a scowl. Sure, she wasn't the one that could really give out orders, but she could try. Right now it was all she could do from her end as well. "So long as you're not going out in the field yourself I'm not going to try to talk you out of anything. But," she adds lifting a hand with a finger raised, "You are not going to be able to push yourself as far as I know you can. You are going to get regular sleep, you are going to eat regularly. I have no intention of dealing with a psychotic break in Stark if something were to happen to you OR his kids for any reason." Because yes--Stark /was/ that dangerous. She knew.

Hill rises to her feet tucking the pad beneath her arm as it always was there only to regard the woman with a long, hard stare. Finally she breaks eye contact to lift her free hand rubbing against the bridge of her nose. "Cut the ice queen act with me, Natasha. I know you well enough to know when you care about someone. Just handle your shit before it becomes a real issue."

Natasha doesn't respond to the last. She is silent for several moments.

"Something or someone that could contain Stark, as he is now... without him at the minimum sending a message..." she pauses. "Whoever it is, we need to find him quickly."

Maria Hill nods a single time in agreement. "Which we are working on. I'll expect you'll want to have access to the carrier?" It's not so much a question as an open offer, one that wasn't really necessary but it was trying to get back to business. Maria was so much better with business. Striding towards the door she pauses only to look over her shoulder considering. "I suppose I'm not going to get that dinner with our new Captain America." A hint of a smirk tugs at her lips at that last little dig--and then she opens the door to exit.

Natasha watches the other woman go with a bland look. As the door shuts... she immediately moves to her hidden armory, grabs one of her pieces of spy equipment, and begins sweeping the place for bugs, an annoyed look on her face.

She also makes a mental note to upgrade her locks.