章節 47: Redheads have Temper
-Triskelion, Washington DC-
-February 13, 2009, 0500h local-
"You three..." Fury pointed to Coulson, Barton, and Romanoff. "Come with me..." He lifted the box of the podium and handed it over to Hill. "I want you to burn that later." He said before walking out of the room, followed by the group.
Fury walked across the hallways of the Triskelion and up the elevators until he reached his office. He inputted his biometric scan to open the door then walked in.
When the door closed, he pressed the button for the blackout protocol on his desk.
"What do you know, Romanoff?" Fury inquired with a hard glare.
"Too much..." Natasha answered promptly. "But too little about this." She continued.
"Explain." Fury ordered.
Natasha took a second to formulate an acceptable and coherent answer. This is one of the downsides of dating Naruto. Fury knows she knows stuff, and that fact is bugging the hell out of him. There are times she thinks that Naruto dates her for the express purpose of pissing Fury.
"Let me start from the end boss and work my way back because the first part would take over the whole conversation..." Natasha said with a shake off her head. Just remembering the whole sorcerer incident is stressing the fuck out of her. "We just got into bed at around 3 am when Naruto said something about Tony being in trouble before leaving." She continued.
"3 am!? What the hell are you doing up at 3 am when you're on vacation?" Clint asked, but an idea came to his mind, and he suddenly backtracked. "You know what. I don't want to know." He asserted.
"Get your mind off the gutter, Clint..." Natasha scolded before adopting a mischievous and sultry grin. "We finished at 12. I need my rest, you know." She added.
Clint tried to cover ears as he doesn't want to hear the sex life of someone he considers a sister, but he's just too slow. Phil remained stoic as ever with his patented smile, but Natasha could make out a little pink dusting on his cheeks.
"Ehm..." Fury cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Moving on. Any guesses how he knew and what he could he have done after he left."
"Either he has someone looking over Stark or..." Natasha replied while pulling out a Hiraishin Kunai. "He has something like this and was able to call for Naruto..." She replaced the kunai to her holster. Ever since Natasha figured out what those knives do, she never went anywhere without it. "As for what he did after he left. I have no idea. He might've rescued him or just went to get some intel. When he came back an hour ago, I just had him bring me here. Then he went again." She finished.
Fury rubbed his forehead. The one thing he hates the most is being left in the dark, and Naruto is a fucking black hole. He typed into his computer until he found what he's looking for and turned the screen towards the audience, revealing Frank Castle's military picture.
"How about him? Do you know anything about why one of the best Force Recon is doing undercover bodyguard work for Stark?" Fury asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Either Stark knew there's a threat to his life and hired the best guy he could find or somebody knew he's in trouble and sent the same guy. Either way, Naruto is more than likely involved." Natasha answered with confidence.
Fury thought what they should do next for a few moments. With Naruto taking point, the whole situation would be resolved i
quickly but sitting back is not an option.
"My orders remain the same. I don't want Peggy Carter to rise from the grave because we didn't do anything to save his godson..." Natasha almost went into a coughing fit hearing Fury talk about the exaggeration of Peggy Carter's demise. "Now. We're done talking about the Stark fiasco, let's circle back to what you say is the first part of your story." He suggested.
"Ah, right. That one..." Natasha let out, dreading the headache the following conversation would cause. "I really don't want to report about this, but this is something you should know, boss." She said, giving everyone her thoughts about the topic.
"Just spit it out, Romanoff." Fury exclaimed, wanting to get the conversation over with.
Natasha took a deep breath and started.
"We were sleeping on our bed at around 2:30 when I woke up to a feeling of someone watching us. I reached for the knife under my bed and started to look around. That's when I saw two people standing at the foot of the bed: an African American man and A bald European woman. I threw my knives at them, but it just bounced off after they created circular sparking shields."
"Another one of Naruto's weird friends?" Clint asked.
"That's what I thought so too, so I woke Naruto up. After a struggle to get him out of bed, I finally managed to get them out of the room, but I eventually followed them to the living room. They introduced themselves as Karl Mordo and The Ancient One." Natasha said.
Fury immediately turned the screen back to him typed in the name Karl Mordo, searching their databases for it.
"Karl Mordo. Says here that the guy died 18 years ago..." Fury turned the screen around towards the group. "Is this him?" He asked.
"Yeah. Exactly that. He hasn't aged a day." Natasha commented as he's looking at the picture.
"What else did they say?" Fury asked.
"There's only one message. Don't save Tony Stark..." Natasha said with a serious look. "Of course, he didn't take it well, so he led me back to the bedroom. Before we got inside, though, Mordo released some kind of rope to grab on Naruto's arm. He told me to get in the room, and everything after that is just a second-hand story from Naruto. He said that they brought him to another dimension and tried to trap him, but of course, it didn't work." She finished with a shrug.
"Can you give me a summary of this because it looks like you're saying magic is real." Clint requested sarcastically while cleaning his ear.
"Sorcerers visited Naruto to stop him from saving Tony Stark since they said that the fate of the universe depended on it." Natasha summarized.
Fury walked back to his chair and flopped down.
"I missed it when the most amazing thing the world has ever seen is a man that could lift five times his body weight..." Fury commented before looking back at Natasha. "Any idea how to find them?"
Natasha thought back on every detail she got from the short meeting. Examining it frame by frame, scene by scene until she could give something useable.
"Only one thing stood out, boss. They're wearing robes with an Asian influence. If it were me searching, I'd start looking anywhere in South or East Asia." Natasha suggested.
"That's a huge range." Fury commented.
"Good thing I'm not the one going to look for it." Natasha replied with a smug smile.
-Stark's Mansion, Malibu, Los Angeles-
-February 13, 2009, 0730h local-
Naruto left the Triskelion in the middle of Fury's talk and decided just to sleep back in New York. He woke up a little earlier than the agreed time of his return but decided just to go to LA anyway, and it's one of the best choices he ever made.
When he got to Tony's underground garage, he saw Pepper berating Tony at the other side of the holo table while Yinsen and Frank are sitting at a table at the other side of the room, enjoying the show. He walked over towards the audience and pulled up a sit.
"Did I miss anything?" Naruto whispered while still looking at the couple.
"Not much. She just got here 3 minutes ago." Frank answered while drinking his beer.
"What happened anyway?" Naruto asked.
"Tony's Chair Force buddy..." Frank started.
"Rhodey." Naruto interjected.
"Yeah. Rhodey. He called Stark's girl over there that we've been 'napped. The computer voice thingy..."
"JARVIS." Naruto interjected again.
"Yeah. That. Alerted the redhead that we're here. So the girl ran down here and started to dress the living shit out of Stark." Frank finished, causing Yinsen and Naruto to snicker.
Naruto then focused on Pepper berating Tony, thoroughly enjoying the show.
"I mean! How could you not tell me!? You have a hole in your chest with a car battery sticking out of it!? Isn't that enough to wake me up!? You at least could've called Rhodey! I almost had a heart attack!" Pepper shouted in a tirade, her face red with anger.
"I was going to tell you when you woke up! I didn't know you were going to wake up because of Rhodey's call..." Tony defended until he noticed Naruto at the edge of his sight. "Besides, Naruto needs to bring us back." He said, redirecting Pepper's ire towards Naruto, giving him a breather.
"What!" Pepper shouted before turning her head towards Naruto.
"Shit!" Naruto shouted, but Pepper is already heading towards him. He had to step back at the intensity of Pepper's glare. Frank and Yinsen made a tactical retreat.
"Why do you need to bring them back!?" Pepper shouted.
"Uhm. Uhm. Uhm." Naruto let out, not able to form coherent sentences.
"Spit it out!" Pepper shouted again, making Naruto jump six feet into the air.
"Because he still needs to be rescued!" Naruto finally replied.
"He's already here, right! It means he's already rescued." Pepper reasoned.
"By me! Nobody knows about me!" Naruto replied, but Pepper only flashed a confused look. "Come on, Peps! Don't tell me you aren't even a little bit suspicious, right!?"
Of course, Pepper was suspicious. The whole Naruto enigma is suspicious. He just gets in and out everywhere he goes, knows too much, and the entire endless pocket thing trick he does. She reasoned with her self that Naruto is some kind of super-agent sent by a government agency to protect the family since the Starks is one of the backbones of America's economy.
It kind of works out too since when Naruto and Tony first met, they took down a crime syndicate that's operating within their casino. The next time he comes back was a few months after Morgan. Pepper thought that the government wanted to help them keep Morgan safe. Naruto's help with rooting out spies supported her theory. Add the fact that Naruto is also dating some kind of super-spy based on his stories, and it's practically a locked in answer.
"You're a spy, right?" Pepper blurted out, mirroring her thoughts.
"Fuck, No!" Naruto exclaimed. "Except for my Hime, of course..." He automatically added before he shook his head to focus back on the conversation. "Getting back on track. I'm not a spy. I'm just a guy on vacation forever. Ask Frank over there..." He said while pointing at Castle. "I met him while on vacation in Afghanistan."
Frank had to shake his head, remembering that particular conversation. He had a fucking migraine after it.
"Sir, the fabrication is done. Both Items are ready to come up." JARVIS said, putting an end on Pepper's warpath.
"Go ahead, Jarvis. Put up the reactor first..." Tony replied before looking towards Yinsen. "Come on. You helped build it. You'll help to place it in." He said as he walks towards the floor space, which suddenly opened.
"You realize I'm not that kind of doctor, don't you?" Yinsen retorted, but he still walked over towards Tony. He stopped in his tracks, though, when he saw the glowing blue cylinder rising on the podium.
"See this. This is the future." Tony boasted while picking up the miniature arc reactor and walking towards the reclining chair. Yinsen followed Stark, excited with the opportunity to hold something like the Arc reactor.
"What're they going to do?" Pepper asked, nervous after getting the first real look at the electromagnet in Tony's chest even at a distance.
"He's going to change the magnet to something more portable and powerful. He needs more juice for the next part of his plan." Naruto answered.
"What next plan?" Pepper asked again.
"Now that, that's a surprise. You don't have to wait long, though, since they're almost done." Naruto replied while pointing Tony standing up from the chair.
Pepper finally saw the real size of the electromagnet, and it's a lot larger than she thought.
"JARVIS, you can pull up the next one." Tony ordered.
"Of course, sir." JARVIS replied.
A large panel on the floor opened. Slowly, the group can finally see what Project Knight is all about. A hulking behemoth of metallic gray armor made of thick panels of steel and hydraulics. They can see guns and canisters placed around the suit.
Tony walked over to the suit of armor and inspected it all around.
"A lot cruder than what I would like but what can you do in 6 hours." Tony commented with a shrug.
"Tony. What's that!?" Pepper shouted.
"This would make sure that we make out of the cave whole." Tony replied while pushing a button on the side, and the front armor lifted. He then walked to the inside of the armor and closed the panel.
"What are you doing!?" Pepper asked.
Tony releases a breath of exasperation. He understands that Pepper is asking all these questions out of worry, but this is all too much.
"I'm going to wear this, and we're going to walk out of the cave. Frank would be right behind me, shooting at everything not friendly while Yinsen would hang back..." Tony laid out their plan, so Pepper knows what they would do and can calm down a little. The suit started up, enabling Stark to move around. He walked towards Pepper, who's holding in her tears. "Don't worry, Peps. This thing..." He said while tapping his chest. "Can stop half a case of 50 cal machine gun rounds. It'll hurt for sure, but I'll be alright." He placated.
Pepper gave a small nod and tried to hug Tony, but the armor made it a hard task. So Tony lifted his helmet and leaned a little, giving Pepper a kiss.
Tony separated from Pepper and moved towards the blank wall and removed his gloves. He placed his palm on the corner, and it split open.
"I thought you got rid of that." Pepper stated in a slightly cold tone.
"Good thing I didn't, right?" Tony retorted cheekily before turning towards Frank and Yinsen. "Take your pick. The more, the better." He said.
Frank walked towards the wall and scanned it. He started pulling down guns, knives, and mags. He handed over an Uzi and a handgun towards Yinsen when he got closer.
"We need a bag. Food and Water as well. We might wander around the desert for a while before a rescue team could find us." Frank suggested while checking over the guns.
"I got your back." Naruto replied from the sidelines. He reached for his back with both hands and took out three duffle bags with the left hand and three military backpacks with another. He tossed all of it on the floor with the packs sounding full.
Yinsen walked over to the bag and opened it, revealing an assortment of crackers, MRE's and emergency water.
"The duffle bag is for anything else you might need..." Naruto added before reaching behind him again. "I forgot that I got this too..." Showing them three special forces grade bulletproof vest. "Just save the last one for Tony after all the chaos."
Frank stood up from his spot and took a duffel bag and two vests, leaving the last one for Yinsen and giving Naruto a grateful nod when he stood up. He placed a vest in the bag and extra guns.
Yinsen put on the vest and took two backpacks, placing one at the front and another at the back. He did this since Tony would not be able to carry the bag while in the suit, and Frank is already carrying the duffle bag. The backpacks would hinder his maneuverability, but it's better to be him than Frank.
Frank finished packing up and looked towards Yinsen. When he saw Yinsen packed up, he turned towards Tony and nodded, indicating that they're ready.
Tony walked over to Pepper and leaned down a little.
"We'll be back in three days to a week. Don't worry, Pep. I'll come back." Tony said before kissing her again. He then walked towards Frank and Yinsen.
"Don't worry, Pepper. I'll watch over them. If they're not found in a week, I'll lead Rhodey to where they are." Naruto reassured Pepper as he hugged her.
Naruto walked over towards the trio and reached behind him again and pulled out three Hiraishin kunai.
"Take one..." Naruto ordered. Tony, Frank, and Yinsen took one each but giving it a skeptical look. "Keep that on you at all times. If there are any emergencies, just throw it to the ground or to where the crisis is..." The trio pocketed the knife to wherever they can place it. "At the bottom of the backpacks are red tags. Pull it right before you get rescued. It would burn the whole thing, making sure that nothing points towards me. Understand?"
Tony and Yinsen immediately nodded, but Frank needs to get one last word in.
"Jeez. You're more paranoid than some spooks." Frank commented.
Naruto let out a small grunt before grabbing the straps of the bag of Frank and Yinsen while placing his palm on Naruto's armor.
"Give them hell, eh." Naruto said before the whole group disappeared, leaving a dumbfounded Pepper.
Pepper stood there for quite a while, staring at where the group was standing before she was snapped out of her stupor.
"Ma'am. Morgan is finally awake." Jarvis reported.
Pepper shook her head and walked out of the garage, silently praying for everyone's safety.
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