Avengers: Altruism [N. Romanoff]

19. Aftershock

Boom. It was very shocking, very loud.

"Can you try not to drop my assets?" Claire shouted, flipping the chicken frying neatly with chopped vegetables in her new pan.

"Beds are heavy!" James shouted back, and she could hear Cassia giggle from the room the two were moving furniture in.

Claire rolled her eyes and shuffled her phone from her right shoulder to her left shoulder, leaning her ear on it to keep it secure. "He took the suit?" Claire asked the receiver of the phone call.

"We suspect that he's finally handed it in, the military probably hold possession of it now."

It was a headache to deal with, this whole mess from two nights before. Claire had been excused from her position as Tony Stark's therapist by SHIELD operatives, claiming that he was no longer in need of her services and that her skills would be used elsewhere in field operations.

"But it has a referral protocol. They have to be an approved persona by Tony Stark to even access the suit," Claire queried Rhodes stealing of the suit.

"We know. It was brought up to Tony in our meeting yesterday, it's safe to assume the suit was built for the specific use of James Rhodes maybe in later years." Natalie had cornered and met up with Tony Stark yesterday morning. Where? It wasn't briefed to Claire the exact details of the meeting.

"And where is Tony Stark now?" Claire asked, turning down her gas plate to a lower temperature and throwing a pinch of olive oil onto her chicken, closing a lid to trap the smoke and keep it fresh.

"Under surveillance."

"Surveillance of?" it wasn't as if the government would just suddenly step in without dragging Tony to court.

"I'm afraid the details are also classified. But, he's at the mansion," finally, a piece of information that was regarded as useful to Claire.

"He saw I've gone, then?" Claire sadly asked. If he had noticed her absence, he clearly thought nothing of it as she hadn't even received a phone call since her removal from the premises.

A lot had taken place during the evening of Tony's birthday party, including the arrival of the one and only Phil Coulson. Claire was never told who had contacted the man about the events of the evening, but he had appeared in a SHIELD SUV and asked Claire to climb into the car. This resulted in an hour search for her cat, Simba, before anyone was allowed to leave Malibu Mansion.

"He's not permitted to make any contact," Natalie reassured the doctor before she had an angry breakdown and showed up in Malibu ready to punch someone in the jaw, yet again.

"Alright. Thank you, Natalie. Please send my regards to Pepper, I hope to pop in for a visit soon."

"Aren't you going to tell me why you suddenly resigned?"