Romanova

9

"Okay. So we have corrupted security footage from my house the night of the kidnapping and no leads. That's nice."

Sam groaned. "Every single person I spoke to has no idea who would be, quote, stupid enough to attack the Black Widow's kid. Pf course, it's not like we could show them a picture of the kid without outing Nat and ourselves."

"I started asking about Morgan," Bucky said, "thought the name Stark might ring a few more bells, considering no one actually knows who Nat is. Nothing still."

"Whoever took the kids isn't a petty thief or gang members," Steve said, "it's someone much higher up."

Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose. "The highest heist with my name on it is Tony's coins, and then too, it's only speculation that it's my heist. No one outside this family knows for sure."

"Unless Tony pissed some powerful people off," Scott said, raising his eyebrows.

"You think Morgan was the intended victim?" Thor asked, "why would they attack Nat's place, then? Why not Tony's home, or the tower?"

"They must've watched the girls for weeks," Loki said, "learning schedules and times. Nat, you said they held sleepovers almost every week. If that's the case, then they had to have known Morgan would be there that night. I assume they believed it would be an easy break-in -- easier than an attempted B&E at a place Tony Stark owns."

"There is the question of why they took all four," Clint said.

"So no one rats them out," Wanda said, shrugging, "if the intended victim was Morgan, then Tony would be bound to buy out every cop in the city -- not that he hasn't tried thrice this week -- to identify suspects based on the girls' accounts. On the other hand, if the intended victim was any of the other three, it had to be because they know Scott, Clint, or Nat, which means they'd know that if one of those three girls went missing, we'd pull every thread we could from the others and identify our own suspects. If all the girls are gone, who's witness?"

"True," Sam eventually said.

"What now?" Steve asked.

The door to the bar lounge opened. "Tony's gonna be okay," Jarvis said, "he just managed to fracture his arm during landing. He stays he wants to join us next time again. Pepper's trying to get him to leave the suit alone, but the man's as stubborn as they come. Happy keeps trying to feed him."

Natasha sighed. "I'll go talk to him," she said, dragging herself to the door.

When Natasha arrived in Tony's designated work-space, Pepper quietly tapped Happy's shoulder and motioned for him to follow her.

"Hey."

Tony looked up from a sheet of paper. "Hi. All things considered, you okay?"

Natasha shrugged. "Could do with a little attention."

Tony extended his good arm absently and waited for Natasha to come over. When she took his hand, he pulled her down to his lap. "What do you think?" he asked, dropping the words like kisses on her shoulder.

Natasha studied the blueprints. "I think you're going in way over your head. I think you should take a nap. I promise to sleep and eat properly if you do it too."

Tony turned around on the chair so that they faced away from the desk. "The problem with it is that it didn't break, but I almost did. Clearly there's not enough support on the frame. I should--"

"Tony. . ."

"Nat, this thing is what's keeping me from blowing my top. This is what I'm good at. Building. Jarvis can bullshit his way to the top of a social ladder without even needing to fact-check. Happy's the biggest sap I know and bonds instantly with people he likes. You're incredibly brave and composed all the time. Pepper's brilliant business-wise. But me? I build stuff. I fix things that aren't broken. I don't know how to fix us."