CH 27

JARVIS' response is as dry and witty as ever.

"Far more likely that she fell in love with Ms. Potts, Sir." Tony snorts derisively at that. Well, one way or another, they' d find out soon enough.

-x-X-x-

If Natasha's suspicions were correct, then Stark already knew why she'd arranged this meeting. Even still, there's a degree of doubt that she can't quite shake as she sits there in her stereotypical white blouse and black pencil skirt, one leg crossed over the other. Once more feigning being Natalie Rushman… but perhaps not for much longer.

The door opens and Tony steps into his barely used office wordlessly, stalking over to the desk he ' s almost never actually behind and sitting down in his chair. He looks at her and raises an eyebrow.

"Enjoy your vacation?" In that moment, Natasha throws her plans out the window. They'd called for a whole lot of subterfuge, word games, and making absolutely sure that Stark knew exactly who she was before she blew her cover. But staring into the man's eyes, Natasha realizes she doesn't need any of that. She already has her answer. She just has to trust her gut.

"Got shot at a few more times than I would have liked, but what can you do?"

She sheds Natalie Rushman like a snake skin, allowing herself to lean back a little bit and her face to turn a form of sardonic that she ' d never shown while playing the role of ' eager-to-please' PA. Tony Stark doesn't even bat an eyelash at the transformation though, chuckling at her words as he leans back in his chair as well.

"Indeed, what can you do? Perils of your line of work I suppose, Agent Romanoff." And there it was. Confirmation. Natasha can't help it… her breath hitches for just a moment. Tony Stark knows who she is. No… more than that. He's always known who she is.

"SHIELD didn't get one over on you when they slipped me into this position, did they? You just let them think they did."

Tony raises an eyebrow again, but his grin makes it clear she's right on the money. Natasha's heart rate increases for a moment before she calms herself back down. She's not in danger here… probably. After all…

"Why did you expose yourself like that just to save me? I presume the robot was piloted by JARVIS."

Tony hums and inclines his head in easy agreement but otherwise doesn't say a word. Natasha narrows her eyes.

"Sentiment, perhaps? You've known all along that Natalie Rushman didn't exist. And yet, you let yourself get attached to me anyways. And… you're deep in SHIELD's servers, so when you found out I was on mission, you kept an eye on me and-!"

"Ah, let me stop you right there. While you're about ninety percent correct, the last ten percent is pretty important. While it's true that J was keeping an eye on you, it wasn't that close of an eye. The only reason we knew to come to your aid was because we're not just in SHIELD's servers. We knew the moment that the Winter Soldier's handlers activated him and sent him after you."

Natasha's eyes widen in disbelief at that.

"You know who's behind the Winter Soldier?"

"HYDRA, yes." He just… he just goes and says it. Hands curling around the armrests of her chair, Natasha feels like a spring being tensely coiled. HYDRA. But that…

"And yes, let's skip past the disbelief and incredulity please. HYDRA is still very active. Who else would have the Winter Soldier as their secret attack dog? Who else would have been giving him missions for these last sixty years?"

Natasha mulls over all of that in her head for a long moment, a little surprised when Tony just stays quiet and lets her parse it all out.

"… So you have both SHIELD and HYDRA hacked. You knew I was given a mission, and you knew the Winter Soldier had been sent to kill my mark. You sent JARVIS to save me. Why?"

Tilting his head to the side, Tony offers Natasha a rather wry grin. "Perhaps it wasn't about saving you. Perhaps it was simply about securing the Soldier for my own purposes."

That sends a fresh jolt of adrenaline through Natasha's body. She inwardly curses herself for not really clocking that until now. It's embarrassing, to say the least. But he's right. Tony Stark has the Winter Soldier now. The Merchant of Death has secured the most deadly assassin of the twentieth century for his own personal use.

Except…

" No. You just admitted to having direct access to all of HYDRA's systems. Meaning, you could have retrieve the Winter Soldier at any time on any of his missions. You could have even taken him from wherever they were keeping him and they would have been none the wiser. After all, that robot you sent after me is invisible to all forms of digital detection, apparently." Tony tilts his head again, choosing once more not to respond. Natasha ' s eyes narrow into full blown slits as she fully processes it all.

"… You had no desire to capture the Winter Soldier because you've been lying low and flying under the radar. Even now, you weren't truly that interested in blowing your cover. If HYDRA really did have the Soldier, then they'll be hunting for you now even if they don't know that it's you yet. They're going to want their pet assassin back."

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