2014-02-25 - Avenger's Meeting and Announcement

Tony Stark actually walks into the Meeting Room with Natasha after everyone else is already gathered. He clears his throat, "Sorry for being a few minutes late. I had to do something prior to the meeting," like speak with Jarvis. Short, but emotional conversation. In either case! He moves to take the Chairman seat, a seat he didn't get to enjoy for the longest time cause the armor was too damn heavy for it!

"Thank you all for coming. We have a number of items to discuss. First being, Beast's A.K.A. Hank McCoy's official membership." He pulls out his Avengers Holo-ID Card. "Please pull out your ID Card, and I'm sending the vote to you now. Tap yes or no, it's simple ladies and gentleman, to if he becomes a full-fledged member rather than temporary."

All the cards except for Hank's buzz with the vote option on Beast. Tony taps his, submitting it.

She-Hulk has settled into her seat. In costume, of course. She seems surprisingly relaxed after everything that's been going on. Or, perhaps, if she has any lingering emotional issues she's hiding them well. Time to be the emotional rock as well as the physical one. But her lips quirk a little bit as she taps the card.

The holo ID appears from within Janet's inside jacket pocket. There seems to be absolutely no pause with the vote. The virtual button is tapped and the card disappears back within the jacket.

Ant-Man pulls his id out and taps at it a few times, then replaces it in his belt. A small smile plays about his lips.

Natasha takes a seat beside Stark, pulling out her ID and tapping her answer with a short sigh. She's not in costume. Nor in uniform-- street clothes, and half of them are Stark's from the look of it, unless she's suddenly developed a taste for metal bands: her shirt looks freshly stolen from his closet. She doesn't say anything, regardless.

Simon Williams is looking more gloomy than usual. Ponderous. His thick, muscled arms were put over his chest, his identicard in hand. He'd push the button when directed.

Beast leans against the wall as he wasn't a member he wasn't going to sit at the big kids table. He looks over at Simon and raises an eyebrow but doesn't say a word. Worried about his friend.

Clint is already playing a game on his ID when Tony walks in so when he's asked to press the button. He pauses a moment and stage whispers to Ant-Man "Which button is for yes?" before he taps the button smiling and puts the ID down on the table afterwards. Jessica's ID buzzes in her hands, she seems to have been playing around with it after she sat down. She's in her Spider-Woman costume, of course, and she quickly taps her screen in reply to Tony's vote and goes back to whatever it is what she was doing. She looks over to Henry and smiles, dropping a hand to pat his briefly before returning it to the ID. Ant-Man leans over to Clint and says, "Every button for the next ... three minutes."

"Ah, thanks Old-Hank," Clint smirks to Ant-Man as he leans back in his seat, voting done for now.

Tony groans at Hawkeye's whisper, not difficult to overhear. But his ID Card then beeps and he takes a look at it. He then nods, "Unanimous." A pause, "You are in Beast, welcome to the Avengers," he says seriously. He then groans again, "Clint, Pym is only three years older than me, don't make me kick your ass."

But back on to the next topic! "Before we work on nominations," which Beast will see his Avengers Holo-ID Card shifts slightly if he looks at it as it updates him as a perm member, "for the Chairman and Field Leader positions, Nat and I have an announcement we would like to make." Wait, who is doing the talking during this announcement?! Tony glances over at Nat sidelong-like.

Ant-Man thwaps Clint on the shoulder and says, "I have no problem with Stepped On Clint, Tony."

Ant-Man shuts up.

Williams lifted a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose, near where the bridge of his shades were. He looked tensed. He didn't want to make assumptions. But his brows were furrowed, and he did not look happy.

Beast looks around and says, "Thanks everybody. I hope I can be an asset to this team. Please call me Henry, McCoy, Beast, or New Hank." He says pulling up a chair and sits next to Jess and Wonderman. He reaches out to take Jess hand like she had few moments before.

Clint smirks "Wasn't an age thing, Beast is New-Hank," he explains before he nods to Beast across the table. "Welcome to the mad house." When it comes to the announcement he picks up his ID again, and flips it back to whatever he was doing before. Clearly not on the edge of his seat with excitement.

She-Hulk shakes her head, a little ruefully, emerald locks shifting as she does so, but her attention drifts to Natasha. At least Tony *seems* to be sane. Ish.

Natasha rises to her feet, cutting Stark a Look. She glances over the assembled Avengers, and sighs. To Tony, this is big, emotional deal. To Natasha, this is a potential mess of epic proportions, and the expression on her face makes that extremely clear. Still, she's not stupid. She moves over beside Stark, and slides her hand into his. Mostly to give him support, because he's a hot mess.

"Tony and I are having a child," she says bluntly. "As such, I will not be available for field duty." Maybe she could have worded it nicely, but she's never been known for anything of the sort when it comes to business.

Jan shifts in her seat, looking over her hat that she placed upon the table before her. Those blue eyes of hers flicker from Tony to Natasha, then back. She leans back and seems perfectly calm and collected, even as Natasha drops the baby bomb. It is as if she already knew about it. Jan doesn't even bat an eyelash. Jessica reaches over and squeezes Henry's hand before returning it to the screen. She doesn't really look up when Tony mentions an announcement that he and Nat need to make, instead she gives an exasperated sigh. She shoves at Clint's arm as it stretches across in front of her. "Yeah, yeah. You can smooch later," she grins over her ID. Jessica perks up in her chair though as Nat is making her announcement and half-shouts. "Bingo! Yes!" She looks around at everyone else and grins sheepishly, lowering the ID down into her lap. Not responding to Natasha's announcement in the least bit but still casts her an apologetic glance.

Simon Williams put his identicard away. Then he pulled out his phone. He put it to his ear, and began walking away. As he stepped off, either somebody answered or he got to a voice-mail. "Hey, Sawyer?" And then, he trailed off.

The hand holding makes Tony blink some, and at the blunt way Nat put is? "Well, I would have tripped over it," he confesses out loud, rolling his eyes and looking a bit awkward. The phone for Simon cuts completely OFF!

She-Hulk blinks. Just once. Then she smiles at Nat. Who probably isn't looking forward to being off duty for that long...but there might well be compensations. Natasha and Tony. Hrm. That's actually kind of a scary thought...a child from *those* two?

Tony then stands up, releasing Nat's hand, "Simon," his tone holds a warning. "That is for me and Nat to tell Sawyer, not you. You have no right to take that out of our hands, no right to hurt her like that when it needs to come from us and not a third party. That's cruel and belittling to me, to Natasha, and to Sawyer," the man states. "This is said in trust and confidentiality, and is not to be spread, publicized, or broadcast. That is a betrayal of our trust."

Natasha gives Simon a /very/ dark look. "Either Tony will tell her, or I will, but I will break every one of your fingers and remove your tongue if you try it. If nothing else, give Stark the /chance/ to handle things like an adult before you rush off to gossip like a reporter for Rag."

Clint doesn't look up from his card, he just murmurs a half-hearted "Yay," and then smirks to Jess when she calls out bingo. He takes a breath though when the exchange between Simon and Tony begins, he puts down his card and watches.

There's a chuckle at Clint's reaction as Jessica shakes her head. "Indeed."

"I'm not hurting her," Simon told Tony, looking at his phone. "I'm not doing anything worse than what you've done. I'm no third party. I'm her friend, bodyguard, and confidant. Besides... I don't think you have the clout to tell her, yourself. I didn't come back from the dead to get lectured by someone who admits he loves someone while getting someone else pregnant. I'm an Avenger, Tony. And I'll avenge Sawyer's hurt on your hands if I have to."

He gave a glance to Natasha. "Y'know what? I'm not gonna monologue. I'd say screw it, but... I think congratulations are in order, instead. You can tell her if you like. I'm just going over there to make sure she's with someone who cares when the news is broken."

Hank listen to the announcement. He doesn't drop his jaw but he does at Simon calling Sawyer and then Natasha's response. He looks back to Jess and whispers, "Uhm... So this normal? I mean it's out there for the x-men."

Ant-Man slips his hand onto Jan's listening to the exchange. "Yep," Jessica offers Henry. "We're a very... energetic group," she nods to herself turning to look at Simon. "It wouldn't be a proper meeting without a little angst," she says to Beast.

Still...silence from Jan. However, she shifts her attention from Natasha and Tony to Jessica and Clint. She noted their reaction. A slightly confused expression crosses Jan's features as she looks over towards Natasha. That expression shifts to the unspoken question, as a barely perceptible nod is given towards Jess and Clint.

As quickly as the perplexed expression crosses Jan's face, it disappears. She takes Pym's hand, giving it a light squeeze as she remains quiet. Quiet and observant.

Natasha tilts her head. "Ah... I see." She smirks slightly, giving Hawkeye a knowing look for a moment. Then she turns back to Simon. "Not that it's any of your concern, but because I am making it /damned/ clear before you start hissing poison into Sawyer's ear: Tony didn't intend to do this. He didn't wake up one morning, and decide, 'oh, I suppose I will tell Sawyer I still love her and knock up someone else'. It was unintentional. I will... /not/... tolerate you trying to drive further wedge between Stark and Sawyer just because you have a little crush on the girl. She'd be better served to avoid people like us all together." She and Clint may have discussed such things... earlier. For other reasons.

"Let's finish the meeting first *then* deal with personal fights. Please?" That's from Jen. "We've all been through a lot lately," she adds. Especially Tony goes unspoken. The Tony-Sawyer-Natasha triangle? She's staying out of it. Jessica nods back to Janet, and shrugs, wrinkling up her nose. She mouths the words, "Told me yesterday," hoping to end Janet's confusion.

Clint nods to Jen. "Shulkie's right, we've got a meeting to finish," he says and tucks his ID away in one of his costume pouches.

Stark looks dead at Simon and says, "You are an /ass/." Tony then looks about the room, "I'll need a few minutes, if you will excuse me? Think of your nominations for Field Leader and Chairman, I'm going to step outside and see if the fact I want to turn in my resignation as an Avenger is an impulse or something I feel I must do." Tony then moves to stand and heads for the door, opening it, he ends up letting Kyle in. He nods roughly toward Kyle, and keeps on walking to get a few minutes to recover.

Beast looks to Janet and Jen. "Yes please." He takes a few breaths and isn't quite sure what to do or say. But decides to quiet down for a moment. He was the new guy.

Kyle Rayner glances back towards Tony as he walks past him. He recognizes the look on the man's face as doesn't follow him. Instead he walks into the meeting room and lifts a hand in greeting to everyone else in there. "Hello all." He then takes a moment to find a chair.

Jessica plugs away at her phone once more, feverishly. Once done she sets it down in her lap. Apparently done playing BINGO for the time being, she takes Henry's hand. "Take it easy big guy."

Taking a breath (not that he needed to), Simon looked at Natasha, dead-on, past his sunglasses. "You consented, Natasha. Actions have consequences. You know that. Tony knows that. Sawyer keeps learning that, more and more. Call it what you want. Fluff it how you like - that's how it started, right?" He scoffed. "Tony didn't intend to do this, but... it happened. This isn't daytime TV. Can't just go, 'sorry dawg, it is wut it is.' He *did* wake up and decide, 'Oh, I suppose I'll tell Sawyer I love her and boff Romanoff on the side.' She's no crush..." Wanda was Simon's crush. And Sawyer was too damaged for him to feel that way, for, anyway. "So stop trying to pour the shit you're buried in on me." With that, he turned to stalk out of the room, not far past Tony. He gave a curt nod to Kyle, not wanting to be a total jerk.

Natasha's expression goes to ice as she regards the remaining Avengers in the wake of Tony and Simon walking out. She watches him go, considering if she should follow Stark-- and decides she will simply smooth things over after the meeting with him.

She nods to Kyle in a short greeting, but then glances to Jen. "You're right, Jen. /Personal/ issues will be resolved later. Tony and I only mentioned this because it will affect the team. I'm done with any further discussion on the topic: what is done, is done."

"I, for one, will be nominating Hawkeye for Field Leader," she says coldly. "Despite his occasional immature tendencies, he is a capable leader, tactician, and cares about people under his command."

Simon's words? Ignored. For now. She'll handle him and Sawyer at a later date.

"Give it a rest, Wonder Boy." Jessica growls. "Not the time or place for pissing contest. Unless you want me to make you calm the hell down, I suggest you stick a cork in it and stay for the meeting." Jessica turns back to her phone, poking at it a bit more before nodding. "Hawkeye for me too. Shulkie for Chairman."

Jen, quite calmly, "Hawkeye for Field Leader. Black Widow for Chairman." Now that's a twist...and it also means there might be a little bit of an argument there. And it's certainly not a nomination anyone would have *predicted* Jen to make, is it.

Jan nods towards Jessica. That certainly explains things. She breaks her silence, following Jennifer. "I second that nomination." It is such a simple phrase...but one that is not given lightly. She watches Simon leave, and actually seems a bit relieved by it. Not because she disagreed with his point. But, because his viewpoint was, nicely put, disruptive.

Ant-Man raises a hand. Protocol you know.

Natasha nods curtly to Jen. "I accept your nomination. I would have nominated myself for the same position. I have no other way I can serve the Avengers, especially in the coming months. But I can provide tactical support from the back lines, and liaise as needed with other allied groups. I also have experience with command." Her tone has the slightest tinge of arrogance to it, but it's nothing exactly personal. Just business. She's damned good at what she does, even if, like Logan, what she does isn't exactly nice.

She nods to Ant-Man. "Yes, Hank?"

Clint doesn't seem surprised by the news he's being nominated for Field Leader, and if anything it makes him sit up a little straighter, and stop humming the tune to the Young and the Restless as he'd been doing through the exchange with Simon, Nat and Tony. He scratches the back of his neck as he waves a greeting to Kyle. Then he turns to the table. "I accept my nomination, as for Chairman, I'm not saying who I'm voting for or putting anyone new forward, but I think whoever we pick has to put the Avengers first, like Tony did, and be open with us, all of us, about what's going on. We're not SHIELD, we're not an army, we're family, secrets, as we've seen here, and in the last mission can kill and can rip us apart."

Ant-Man says, “I'd like to nominate Janet for Chairman. Nothing against any of the other candidates but ... well ... she socialized me. She can deal with all our nonsense if anyone can. Thank you.” "Amen," Jessica says to Clint's words, seems thats all she has to say on that. She spins the water bottle in front of herself, peeling off the label.

Natasha nods. "I agree with Clint's assessment. I take responsibility, entirely, for the mistakes made on the last mission."

She eyes the room. "Someone go get Stark. I think while we're all here, I may as well tell you what it was Steve died for, and why Drew there got injured." She gives Jessica a slight nod. She's willing to fall on this sword, just like she did in the office the day before.

Beast says, “I'm the new kid on the Block. So I'll abstain. They all sound like good nominees and I agree with Barton."

Jessica rises to go nab up Tony. "I'll get Tin Man," she says as she heads out the door.

"Not entirely, Natasha. Some part of the blame has to lie on the fool who forgot there are somethings she *should* dodge." Jen, soft. "I wasn't able to save him because the bastards hit me with a gamma blast and it was all I could do..." She tails off. "None of us are responsible for the actions of the bad guys, only our own. It's really important to remember that."

Kyle Rayner says, “I haven't been back long enough to vote, so I'll abstain." Says Kyle as he settles into a chair. "I'm not sure what the argument was just about, either." But that's what happens when you come in late. He'd tried to get here on time, but sometimes it's just not possible. "Besides, I understand the need for a new Field Leader..but Chairman?" He shrugs. "I don't know.”

Beast sighs, "I believe cause Stark's life is such flux and he is mourning for the loss of his friend. He believes he's compromised and unable to do the job." He takes a deep breath. "And blaming anyone including yourself is not wise. But I can understand." He says quietly.

Natasha's HoloID buzzes, and she quickly taps out a text, while waiting on Stark to return.

Jessica walks back in and sits down, shrugging a bit. "He said he'd be in shortly." And goes back to spinning her water bottle.

If Clint is not surprised about being nominated for Field Leader, then Janet is the opposite of Clint, for hearing her name gives her a bit of a start. Also, hearing it from her Hank, a man normally given to speaking little in large crowds, is a surprise for Jan as well. "I...hmmm....thank you." The normally loquacious Janet at a loss for words is an amusing sight. Or, rather it would be if the situation wasn't so damn dark and serious.

"Tony's stepping down," Jen says, without further explanation. Really...they've seen the state the man is in. None is really necessary.

It takes only a few shorts minutes, three tops after Drew returns for Stark to enter the room. His hair is slicked back, damp, as he must have washed his face or rather dunked his head in cold water. He moves to take his seat once more, not saying anything about what went on earlier, only asking, "What are the nominations?"

"I nominated Jen for Chairman, but if she doesn't want it, Janet is my second. Hawkeye for Field Leader," Jessica says to Tony, casting a nod to Clint in the process.

Clint chimes in "Also, Nat has been nominated for Chairman." Though oddly, not by Clint.

Natasha waits until Tony steps in, and then she shoots him an apologetic look. She waits for everyone else to speak, first, answering his questions.

This would be news to him, too. In fact, there's only two people at the table besides herself who this isn't news to, and one of them only found out the day before.

"The facility, was, as I mentioned at the debriefing prior to the mission, the former site where Russia trained her super soldiers and female spies." She grits her teeth. "I did not even come clean with SHIELD regarding the full truth of the training there. And I cannot now--it is too difficult, personally. But there was ...technology..." that's as good of an explanation as any other, "that I could not risk /anyone/, including SHIELD, including /us/, and most certainly including AIM or HYDRA getting their hands on. Even my own people stopped using it, shut down the facility years ago." She sighs.

"Believe me when I say that it would have been tempting for /either/ side to try and use. But I have been through it. I could not allow it. I went in to destroy it. Drew followed me-- she didn't trust me, thought I was hiding something, and that Hawkeye was covering for me. Admittedly, she was right. It nearly cost her life. It nearly cost mine as well, but I knew that risk going in."

She looks at Tony, then away, at Clint, giving a slight nod. "Had I been more clear-- had I trusted more than just one? Perhaps someone would have seen the risk, that they knew about more than just the serum. Perhaps someone would have told me that there was no way Skull was solely interested in some old chemicals." She clenches her fists. "But it's over. The Room is shut, forever. And hate me if you want, but if you knew-- if you had..." she shudders slightly, almost imperceptibly. "The cost was high, and it should have been me that paid it, not Steve. But it was worth it. That door is closed forever, to everyone." Ever cold and pragmatic.

"I didn't say I didn't want it," Jen tosses back at Jessica. "But if Natasha sits on her hands for a year she'll probably end up killing somebody. Likely Tony." She could do it, she knows she's capable. Had things gone otherwise, of course, she'd have nominated Janet. Then, she turns back to Natasha, more serious. "You didn't trust us. I'd ask what was so terrible but I know better. And I'm not sure I even want to know."

"Well, Chairman has to do with shuffling paperwork, writing checks, budgeting, helping Jarvis with supply orders, running meetings, and so on. It's pretty boring, but it's a very important job and if neglected, would cause the collapse of the Avengers," Tony states bluntly.

But Tony falls silent when Natasha talks about a completely different subject maybe? He's a little confused where it came from. He frowns deeply. Not just Nat's life, but the child's life too. Tony's face becomes a stone mask. He's pissed, but he doesn't say it, doesn't share it, doesn't do anything.

Jessica sighs and rises from her chair. "Later Folks," no significant explanation, not even to Henry. She keeps her expression calm, but there are cracks in the facade that she clearly doesn't want anyone to get close enough to see. She waves a hand at Jen dismissively. "What Barton said, Jen. I've got shit to do," she walks out of the door saying nothing more.

Hank looks at Jessica leave and he'd blinked as Simon had just left. He looks around feeling very small for the moment. He's got a deer in a headlight look on his face. Though he does turn to offer a hand to Green Lantern, "I'm Dr. Henry McCoy, the Beast. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She-Hulk sighs. "I have ice cream in my room." Then she stands and moves to murmur something to Tony...the others will hear her tone is serious. She doesn't actually leave right away, just in case...or maybe she's giving Tony time to retaliate to whatever she just said.

Tony shrugs at She-Hulk's words, "I rather go ice skating," he says. "With you, even though you laugh at me," he states to She-Hulk before she takes her leave.

Clint watches Jess leave, and not just to look at 'dat ass' as they said on those fake campaign ads, and he turns towards Natasha and frowns. "Nat, truth's like morning after vomiting, it's best to get it all out," he says to Widow seriously despite the colourful simile. He doesn't push beyond that, or threaten to reveal the truth himself. He just sits back and waits.

Natasha gives Clint a level look. "I cannot. You know how difficult it was--" and her face twitches. "Not now. Maybe soon. You, of everyone, should know why." Her face grows pale... whether it's because she's spilled this much already, or because of what she isn't able to say, is anyone's guess. "I'm sorry, Clint. This was hard enough." And she retakes her seat, swallowing.

"In either case, Nat and I will need to talk. We have a lot of talking to do, perhaps some yelling at each other, and big decisions to make. Then, we might all need ice cream, so pick up enough for us too, alright Shulkie? Please?" Tony actually sounds serious.

Beast looks at Natasha and blinks. He frowns deeply. Then he looks back to Clint. He'd checked his Avenger's multipass. "Uhm Hawkguy, you need me to do any assembling. Let me know with the multipass. I'm going to lab for a bit." He sighs and gets up and moves to bound away. "Thank you everybody. I hope I can help." He grins to She-Hulk as he goes.

Clint's lips draw into a line, and he seems to be warring with himself over what to do next. Ultimately he sits back in his chair and nods. "Okay Nat, thank you," he says before he looks up at Beast and nods. "Will do, Hank. Happy science-ing and welcome to the team, I promise, we're not always-" he stops himself. "Actually we're always like this, but you get used to it, sort of like Stockholm Syndrome or something."

That last is delivered with a smile.

She-Hulk slips out, as best as 6'7 of Hulk can, to get ice cream. In multiple flavors.

"Well...at least now I can stop being quiet about the pregnancy." Janet's voice actually has the tone of minor relief. "Considering how long I sat on that." Just exactly how long Janet isn't going to say. She focuses her attention upon Natasha and Tony...mostly Natasha. "You heard me say this before, but it still holds true. If you need anything, just ask. I've been told I am a good confidant." The blue eyes flit over towards Tony. "Same goes for you, Mr. Stark." The formality has a slight lilt to it...Janet is trying to lighten the mood.

"Ya...Janet, could you actually go see Sawyer? Simon isn't thinking about her feelings really. She would have wanted to hear it from me in person, not through some damn letter I had to try and send out with Jarvis to tell her before he got there. I told her she could contact me if she was willing to talk, but....anyway, could you just check on Sawyer later for me? I want to speak to her, truly, but honestly, other than the fact I should have told her in person I have no idea what she would want from me other than that. I just know she is going to be hurt as hell by my actions," Tony explains to Janet.

Natasha's eyes flash with anger for a moment, but her expression quickly quells, at least on the surface. Williams and her will have a /talk/ later. Possibly a violent one.