Malibu, Los Angeles-
-February 13, 2009, 1530h local-
"How are they?" Pepper anxiously asked as soon as Naruto walked down the staircase. She had been trying to distract herself by playing with Morgan while Happy ran some errands for her.
"Eh. Last time I checked, Sleeping..." Naruto answered as he flopped down the sofa. Morgan was too focused on playing with her blocks to rush towards Naruto as she usually did. "Frank took the first watch, followed by Yinsen, and Finally Tony. They'll move at first light." He elaborated.
"Aren't you suppose to watch over them or something?" Pepper continued with her questioning.
"There are no terrorists in a 100 km radius of their position..." Naruto replied with a shrug. "Living ones anyway." He muttered darkly, but Pepper heard it all the same. His statement caused a chill to run down her spine.
"Why are we letting you play with Morgan alone again?" Pepper asked half sarcastically.
"Because I'm awesome..." Naruto answered seriously. "By the way, I ran an idea by Tony a few hours ago. Thought I should ask you about it too since it's about Morgan."
Pepper immediately went alert, hearing Naruto's statement. Morgan is their number one priority, and anything that concerns Morgan requires her full attention.
"What did you ask him?" Pepper asked Naruto a little warily.
"A bodyguard job for Morgan..." Naruto replied quickly, but he continued when he saw Pepper's perplexed look. "Morgan is entering her formative years. You can't expect her to live alone without any contact with other kids. That's why I'm going to be her bodyguard when you low-key announce her and send her to playdates."
He had been thinking about it for quite some time. Even though Morgan has a loving family, she will have a hard time developing her social skills without interacting with other kids.
Pepper thought about Naruto's offer. Indeed, Morgan is growing up quickly. Having her interact with other kids would only help in her development. The one thing holding both Tony and her back is the level of shit storm that would come for them.
Being the richest man on the planet has its perks. Prestige and comfort are just a few of them. But everything has a drawback. Ever since he was a kid, Tony has been targeted by kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Going public with Morgan would shift all the attempts from Tony to their baby girl, and they don't want to rob her of a somewhat normal childhood.
Naruto's offer could be the solution to the whole thing, though. Pepper had never seen Naruto in action, only snippets from stories and the results, but all of the signs pointed towards one undeniable fact. Naruto is a weird guy.
From what Pepper surmised, Naruto is a fighting powerhouse that could take out a whole platoon of NAVY SEALS, armed or unarmed. He can get in and out of anywhere with that teleportation ability of his that he used with Tony and the others. Not to mention his bottomless pocket trick. Naruto also has connections with an unknown spy agency as evident by his 'super-spy' girlfriend.
The few downsides about Naruto is his sudden bouts of violence and unpredictability. This should cause most parents to pull their kids away from an unstable individual, but this might be precisely what they need. A superhuman that could protect their baby.
"What did Tony say?" Pepper asked, wanting to make sure that they are both on the same side.
"He asked me if I'm a Merc, which is partially true, but I didn't receive a solid answer..." Naruto replied with a shrug. "You two should probably talk it over when Tony arrives." He finished. Just in time too since JARVIS decided to butt in after Naruto's statement.
"There's an Agent Phil Coulson at the front gate, Ms. Potts. He would like to talk to you about Mr. Stark. Should I let him in?" JARVIS asked.
Pepper and Naruto immediately perked up after hearing JARVIS's announcement. Pepper was anxious because of the not so straight forward kidnapping situation, and Naruto was beating himself up for forgetting Phil's mission.
Naruto stood up and hoisted Morgan into his arms, who started squealing happily because she finally noticed Naruto'sNaruto's presence. He quickly picked up Morgan's toys and personal effects and stored them away.
"I'll play with Morgan in her room while you deal with the spook..." Naruto told Pepper while picking up Morgan's shoe. "And a word of advice, follow your gut about the Coulson guy." He said mysteriously before walking away.
Pepper was left to ponder about Naruto's statement, but she still needed to deal with something more pressing at the moment.
"JARVIS. Let Agent Coulson in..." Pepper ordered while cleaning up everything she could find that might point to Morgan. That's when she remembered one of Naruto's tactics and followed his direction. "And find everything you can about this Phil Coulson and send it to my phone."
"Of course, Ms. Potts. Agent Coulson is just pulling into the driveway." JARVIS informed Pepper.
"Thank you, JARVIS." Pepper replied while fixing up her clothes.
A few moments later, she heard a knock on the door. It looks like JARVIS decided to let Agent Coulson experience a more human interaction than an AI butler.
Pepper walked towards the door and opened it, revealing an average looking man in a suit.
"Virginia Potts?" Phil asked to make sure, to which Pepper nodded. He then pulled out his badge and ID, showing it to her. She noticed that the badge was one that she had never seen before. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division or SHIELD."
"Never heard of it before." Pepper replied with genuine befuddlement. As the personal assistant of Tony Stark, she has heard of almost every alphabet agency out there, and SHIELD was definitely not a part of them.
"That's the way we like it..." Phil replied with his trademark smile. "May I come in?" He asked politely.
"Sure. We can talk in the living room. Just turn left." Pepper answered while stepping aside. Making sure to always keep the agent in her sight.
Phil walked straight towards the living room with confidence. He only sat down on the couch after Pepper gestured for him to do so. She, on the other hand, sat at the opposite end of the sofa.
"So. What does an unknown organization want with me or, more importantly, my boss?" Pepper inquired straightforwardly.
Phil had to chuckle at Pepper's manner of questioning. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and was confident enough to take control of the conversation away from him. It must be true that redheads have fiery personalities , just basing it on his interactions with Natasha and Pepper.
"SHIELD has a particular interest in Mr. Stark. I can't get into why, because it's all top secret, but our organization has his safety and wellbeing as one of our top priorities..." Phil explained. "Although we still need to protect the country's national security..." He continued after adopting a serious expression. "We need to know if there's any chance that Mr. Stark might sell out the country for his safety." He ended while giving Pepper a hard stare.
Pepper laughed hard after hearing Phil's statement, which caused him to furrow his eyes to in confusion.
"Tony bowing out to anyone!? It's just not going to happen. Even if the whole world is at stake, he'll just say fuck all of it and do his own thing..." Pepper replied while wiping a tear at the corner of her eye. "I hate to say it, but Tony would remain an asshole even looking down the barrel of a gun." She finished with one last chuckle.
Phil compiled the details of his interviews with Stane and Potts. The two interviewees just further supported some parts of Tony Stark's psych profile. A narcissistic and arrogant individual with a prototypical character for a genius playboy billionaire philanthropist, at least that was what was in his file four years ago.
Phil made a mental note to tell Fury to update Stark's profile. Preferably with someone getting close to Stark since he showed a disconnect in personality with public and private persona.
"Are there any details that you could tell me to help with Mr. Stark's case? Any detail at all." Phil asked, subtly starting his interrogation.
"Nothing, really..." Pepper lied. She didn't want to burn Naruto's cover. One of the reasons for taking Tony back to that godforsaken desert is because Naruto wishes for no one to know about him, especially his 'unique' abilities. "Although, It was weird how only Tony and a technician were allowed in the demonstration. None of his security detail got the green light to be with him." She added. It's one of the reasons why she was so adamant of not letting Tony go. Only Naruto's reassurance made her confident enough to let him go. Even then, he still got a bunch of shrapnel and a massive hole for an electromagnet in his chest.
"That is some troubling news. We will look into that. High profile VIPs with respectable backgrounds are allowed their security detail inside a military base..." Phil replied. "The technician, do you know who he is?" He inquired, looking for any signs of deceit in the redhead's body language.
Pepper didn't outwardly show any signs of panic. It's because of her job, which includes lying during negotiations and her presence of mind to think of a cover story for Frank.
"Yeah. Tony has been talking about a new technician that had a military background. He has been keeping it all hush-hush, but he sometimes divulges some details accidentally..." Pepper answered. "I know for sure that his name is either Frank or Francis." She continued, giving the agent something to work with.
"Hmm..." Phil let out. He doesn't believe for a second that Pepper doesn't know more about Frank Castle, but he couldn't see any signs of distress on her. "Anyway. That's all I'm here for..." He said while standing up. "Expect a quick response from our part. We have already sent a team to find Mr. Stark and to look into his kidnapping." He continued professionally before walking towards the door.
Pepper followed closely behind Phil. He opened the door and stepped out of the Mansion.
"Ms. Potts. We'll contact you again if there's any progress on Mr. Stark's case..." Phil said amicably before walking towards his SUV. "And a word of advice for the future..." He turned around towards Pepper. "There's a baby bottle under the center table. You should check under the furniture if you have any unwanted guests in the future." He finished with his trademark smile before getting in the car and driving away.
Pepper was left standing at the door with mouth agape. She only snapped out of her stupor when Naruto spoke from behind her while carrying Morgan.
"Damn. What a power move..." Naruto exclaimed with genuine awe in his voice. "I didn't know Phil had it in him." He continued.
"You know him?" Pepper asked a little threateningly, but Naruto remained ignorant to the edge in her tone.
"Oh yeah. He's a friend of mine..." Naruto replied with a shrug. He was about to walk back in, but he saw the disbelieving look on Pepper's face. "Where did you think my girlfriend works? He's one of her close friends."
Pepper pushed Naruto inside the house and locked the door.
"And you never thought to mention it?"
"I can't talk about it. I'm not exactly 'employed' by SHIELD, and even if I am, I can't tell you guys about them since you're not immediate family..." Naruto retorted when they reached the living room. "Besides, where's the fun if you already know about them?" He added with a chuckle.
Pepper groaned, hearing Naruto's reply. Of course he would put priority on the entertainment factor, if the situation was no real threat to anyone.
"Is there anything else that I should know about?"
"Yup." Naruto replied with a wide grin.
"But you're not going to tell me, are you?" Pepper said with a sigh, already knowing Naruto's personality.
"Yup. But I'll say one thing this time..." Naruto let out while pulling something out from his pocket. "Phil left this thing in between the couches..." He's holding a small cylindrical object in his hand. "This looks to be a SHIELD remote hacking tool. It's not going to pass JARVIS's firewall but better safe than sorry. I don't trust everyone in SHIELD." He said the last part entirely seriously.
Pepper filed Naruto's statement at the back of her mind. She needs to have a sit-down talk with Naruto and find out more about SHIELD. But for now, there's something she needs to know.
"How long has SHIELD known about Morgan?" Pepper asked with a narrowing of her eyes. Naruto didn't have to think long about the answer.
"A year or two ago, I guess..." Naruto answered with a shrug. "And before you ask, they're not sure if I'm staying here, but they have some suspicions." He continued, still with a wide grin, while crushing the bug.
"Everything's a joke to you, isn't it?" Pepper repeated with a chuckle.
-Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan-
-February 17, 2009, 0900h local-
"Hey, Chairforce. We got to go." Clint said as soon as he entered Rhodey's office.
Rhodey was having one of the longest four days. He has been coordinating with different military branches and departments for Stark's rescue. There's also something he figured out while looking into Tony's case. Everything has just been a series of clusterfucks even before they got to Afghanistan. Too many 'coincidences' and fuck ups happened for someone to not be pulling strings in the background.
The appearance of the spooks didn't help with his suspicion. A group of 'agents' with direct orders from the chief of staff arrived three days ago. They were not taking over the whole investigation but doing their own thing.
Rhodey only ever came in contact with one of the spooks. An agent called Barton. He would've thought that he was just another guy if not for the bow and arrow he was carrying. The weird thing now, though, was Barton wearing a standard army uniform. He had no idea where he got it.
"Where'd you get that? And where the hell are we going?" Rhodey asked while putting on his field jacket.
"This? I brought this uniform with me just in case..." Clint answered while walking out of the door with Rhodey close behind him. "As for the second question, we're going to pick up Richie Rich." He said as they were getting closer to a whirring up Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk, a search and rescue chopper.
"You found him!?" Rhodey shouted, the sound of the helicopter getting louder as they were getting closer.
Barton didn't answer the question right away. The pair got on the chopper with a six-man crew of the pilot, army soldiers, and SHIELD agents. He waited for Rhodey to put on the headphones before answering.
"There was a report of a rocket blowing high up in the sky around 150 km north of here, on the other side of the mountains. The local militia saw it, which moved up the food chain until it got to us." Clint explained.
"What makes you think Tony the one who fired the rocket?" Rhodey asked skeptically. For all he knew, it might be just some hostiles luring them in.
"Because 15 km from the launch site, was an outcrop with what is supposed to be a cave system, but it has been completely leveled. A huge explosion underneath must have caused the collapse." Clint reasoned. What he left out, though, was the scale of destruction around the area. Only one guy could cause that kind of damage, and it bodes well for Stark but not the terrorist.
"Damn. What the hell happened." Rhodey mused to himself, but it remained unanswered.
The chopper flew straight towards their destination for 30 minutes, with only the sounds of the helicopter and occasional radio contact breaking the relative silence. Clint was continuously scanning the surroundings, trying to find anything out of place until he spotted something in the distance.
"On the left! At the sand crest." Clint shouted after he saw something suddenly burning in the distance. The pilot followed Clint's direction and turned the chopper left. He noticed the fire growing larger as the helicopter turned towards it.
As they got closer, Clint saw the Stark heir with two other people. He recognized Frank Castle, but he didn't recognize the older guy. Rhodey and the team eventually got a good look at Tony when the helicopter got significantly closer.
Rhodey and a pair of crew members jumped out of the chopper as it landed and jogged towards the group.
"Hey, Rhodey! What took you so long!?" Tony shouted.