New York City, New York-
-January 30, 2010, 1500h local-
Natasha and Naruto are currently in a coffee shop a few blocks away from Hammer Industries' main office. For some reason, Justin Hammer decided to actually work and give some 'instructions' to the research division. That's why Natasha and Naruto finally got to 'officially' meet up while she's at work.
"… So, the asshole introduced himself, then Tony said, 'Sitwell? Do you get sick when you stand up?'" Naruto barely finished telling his story before laughing hard. He, of course, used a version he could use in public.
Natasha bowed her head and combed her hair over to hide her embarrassment. Naruto rarely gives a fuck what everyone else thinks of him. Natasha has also developed a thick skin for public opinion, or coworker's opinion, due to her reputation, but Naruto's full-blown laughter is just a little too much. Everyone inside the café is looking at them weirdly. She basically just confirmed how bad it is to bring Naruto in a low-level infiltration mission.
"Naruto, honey, calm down…" Natasha said while gently rubbing onto Naruto's arm until he settled down. "It's not even that funny, hon." They can't use their normal term endearment due to the unlikely event that Hammer is having her monitored.
"Hey! It's funny! Especially the face Sitwell did when he heard it. It's like he's constipated or something." Naruto defended himself while simultaneously releasing a snicker.
"It's really not…" Natasha countered while subtly releasing a smile. "Anyway, how many creamers you have on your coffee?" She asked, referring to agents and private security following them.
"Five. You know I like it creamy…" Naruto answered while wagging his eyebrows. Natasha had to laugh at Naruto's blatant double entendre. "Though you should place three sugar in your coffee. Why would you ever buy plain black coffee?"
Natasha raised her eyebrow when he heard Naruto's statement. She knows where the first two bugs came from. One is from SHIELD, for her 'protection,' and another is from Hammer, the creepy asshole. Now, who the hell placed the third bug.
"I like all types of coffee. That's one of the requirements to be a secretary. You have to like all types of coffee…" Natasha replied while tapping a code on the table, signaling Naruto to hide their conversation without killing the bugs. "and don't diss my coffee preferences. I saw you drinking black coffee too."
"That's premium roast Coffee Alamid. You're supposed to drink it without anything added to it." Naruto answered with an indignant expression.
"You drank it while eating ramen. Your defense is invalid from the start." Natasha deadpanned.
Naruto did a one-handed tiger seal and placed his hand flat on the table. Small black markings rapidly expanded from his hand until the circle markings just went past the couple before disappearing. Weirdly enough, no one except the both of them saw the black markings.
"Nobody would hear anything important. As far as everyone is concerned, we're just talking about how everything's going with some steamy flirting from time to time." Naruto informed with a wink.
"You're a man-child."
"I'm your man-child."
"Woe is me." Natasha replied, causing both of them to laugh after a moment of silence.
"Not that I don't love this little outing of ours, but what brought this on?" Naruto asked.
"Can't I just have a coffee date with you, solntse?"
"I would have believed you if we didn't just go to Rio last week."
"If we didn't know any better, Jess and I would have thought you were gay…" Natasha told Naruto with a blank look. "I mean, who leaves BOTH of their girlfriends, on a private beach, wearing some micro bikinis to check on a lanky nerd on the run."
"Oh, come on! I already made it up to you, girls! You both were practically limping for two days…" Naruto replied with almost an almost pleading look. "You're never going to let this are you?"
"Till death do us part."
"Ugh…" Naruto groaned out. "You're not even going to ask me about how Banner's doing?" Natasha just stared dead into his eyes, which caused him to squirm. "Please."
"Alright…" Natasha finally relented, deciding that she already let him stew for long enough. "What you got on the guy?"
"Nothing pressing on Banner's side, but it looks like Mr. Blue is three-quarters of the way done with his research…" Naruto answered. "You finally figured how who Mr. Blue is, right?"
"Yeah. We patched into their private network through the good doctor's laptop. We were able to send a tracking worm in their network, and it traced back to Grayburn College to one Dr. Samuel Sterns." Natasha replied.
"Nice. So, we can expect Banner to work his way to New York in a month or two…" Naruto surmised before frowning. "His time frame would be tight as fuck. Ross is already in Panama. He's maybe a month away. Is SHIELD prepared for a Rio warzone?"
"Don't even joke about that. We can't even intervene if Ross fucked it up." Natasha said with a shake of her head.
"You know that they are going to fuck it up. For god's sake! They got Emil Blonsky! The guy is more bloodthirsty than I am, and that's saying something…" Naruto's statement obviously caused Natasha to have a headache. "Let's get off this topic for a while. How's work?"
"I'm trying to get fired…" Natasha confessed before smirking. "That's why I asked you out today. Maybe Hammer would fire me when he confirms I'm in a relationship with someone."
"So, I'm the bait? That hurts." Naruto said with a pout.
"Well, I need to be fired without anything that he can hold over me. If I just fuck things up, Hammer might just use his brain and come after me..." Natasha replied nonchalantly. "Fury is already hinting on another mission."
"What the hell!? How about Pepper's assistant gig!?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Sorry. I think he's going to send Agent 13 or Mockingbird…" Natasha answered a little sadly. "You know about General Vasily, right?"
"You're going to intern for a pedophile!? Come on! Pepper's secretary is a whole lot better!" Naruto tried to convince Natasha.
"I'm not the one who's choosing the missions, solntse…" Natasha placated. "If it makes you feel any better, you can help me clean up his network after I got the a-okay."
"Really!?" Naruto asked with a hopeful look to which Natasha nodded too.
In their two-year-long relationship, she already mastered how to cheer the demigod ninja up, and it all boils down to mission (assassination/massacre), food (ramen), and sex. Since they are already eating and she's still a little weirded out when they have sex in public, so she decided to let him join her mission. Although, she's reasonably sure that he would be ecstatic when he sees her as Pepper's new assistant.
"It's bizarre how you are able to create sparkles come out of your eyes and with the sunshine as your background." Natasha commented.
"Ha! You should have seen what Lee and Guy-sensei can do." Naruto replied with a slight shiver.
"Do I want to know?" Natasha inquired with an incredulous look.
"No. You really don't…" Naruto answered seriously before flashing an eager look. "Want to see it?"
"Yeah." Natasha mirrored his smile.
Naruto revealed his Shinigan before staring straight into Natasha's eyes. He used Tsukuyomi to create a 'compilation' of Lee and Guy moments and flashing it straight into her brain. He knows that he should not abuse the most powerful eye in existence to show his girlfriend one of the most traumatic things in the multiverse for shits and giggles but how the hell can he not try to see Nat's reaction to the unblockable genjutsu technique.
The Tsukuyomi lasted only a second, but Naruto can clearly see when it stopped just by looking into Natasha's expression. Her face started distorted into a complicated expression.
"I regret every choice I made that led me to the one point in time." Natasha said, a haunted look.
"Imagine seeing that in person every time."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I had years to get used to it." Naruto replied seriously.
The couple stared at each other before they simultaneously started laughing out loud. Naruto moved from his seat in front of Natasha to the empty seat beside her. He then placed his arms around her waist and started snuggling her neck. Natasha leaned into Naruto and started running his hands through his hair.
"Ok. Not that I don't love you snuggling up to me, but what brought this on?" Natasha asked.
"Can't I just do this because I love you?" Naruto countered with his puppy dog eyes.
"I know you can and you will, but not this sudden." Natasha reasoned. Naruto released a sigh.
"Well, Hammer is on his way. Around a minute away…" Naruto's statement caused Natasha's eyes to widen. "I just want to mark what is mine…" He bit Nat's pulse point at her neck, drawing a little bit of blood. She involuntarily released a moan. "You have no problem with this, right?"
"No. I don't believe I don't." Natasha let out in a sultry voice.
Naruto straightened up and started making out with Nat hard, drawing attention from everyone in the café. The men are all looking it at Naruto with a murderous glare while the ladies are lightly panting from the softcore action going on in front of them. It's lucky that they sat at the far side of the room, and there are no underage kids in the café at the moment.
Natasha swung her legs and mounted Naruto before continuing them making out. Their make-out session got so intense that their tails looked away from them. A few minutes later, two massive men in a suit are walked into the café and looked around. They talked in their mic before a man wearing a grey three-piece pinstripe suit with a god-awful orange tan walked in.
This epitome of an egotistical asshole is none other than Justin Hammer, the CEO of Hammer Industries. He's a 5'8", Caucasian man with brown hair and brown eyes. He always carries himself with a particular type of swagger that causes people to either love or hates him instantly, more of a latter. The certified man child was put on the helm of a tech company just after he got out of high school. Previously known as Hammer Technology, Justice Hammer, Justin's father, created the company with the express purpose of being the rival of Howard Stark.
Justin Hammer followed his father's ideologies and repurposed the business to be a weapons manufacturing company and changed the name to Stark Industries. All of this in order to change 'mirror' the flourishing Stark Industries. He even managed to reinvent himself to be a carbon copy of Tony Stark himself. Basically, he doesn't have his own image.
Hammer Industries is a self-proclaimed rival of Stark Industries. Self-proclaimed since Stark Industries has long surpassed Hammer Industries in all aspects. The small glimmer of hope for Hammer to outdo Stark during the weapon contract suspension fiasco has all but been purged the moment Tony Stark revealed his 'Iron Man' suit. Not to mention the fact that Stark Industries has somehow bounced back, smelling like daisies and roses after they re-upped and cleaned the whole company. They even managed to release an entirely new set of weapons systems that managed to outclass everything that's currently in the market.
Justin Hammer can only think of one last thing that might be able to push Hammer Industries back in the spotlight is his company creating and selling an Iron Man armor of his own. Stark has no intention of letting his suit be used by anyone other than him. A selfish thought Hammer can get behind, but the suit's sheer effectiveness on the battlefield would make any country's mouth water. If only his dumbass research department would be able to create even a working prototype. For god's sake, they almost managed to kill an air force pilot during one of their testings. Good thing they managed to sweep everything under the rug. He needs to contact somebody to try and 'fix' the guy, or the pilot might just blow the whistle. His secretary is trying to reach a Dr. Stephen Strange, but the asshole is not answering for some reason.
The reason Justin Hammer made an effort to go to the café is because of his secretary. He hired the fine piece of ass for one reason and one reason alone, to tap the hell out of that ass until he's tired of it. The fact that 'Natalie Rushman' is a little overqualified for a secretary didn't even cross his mind when he saw her 'modeling' pictures. So, when after almost a year of working his charm on 'Natalie' and she didn't give him what he wants, he was ready to 'persuade' her even if it was repeatedly hinted that she's in a relationship.
When Justin heard that 'Natalie' would go on a coffee date with her mysterious boyfriend, he ordered his men to follow her. He also planted a bug on her just in case. He decided to 'drop by' when his men confirmed that the guys she is with her boyfriend.
Justin entered the café with his usual confident demeanor. He looked around and saw the familiar redhead practically dry humping a dark-haired guy. He wanted just to pull 'Natalie' off the guy and call his guards to 'politely' escort the man of the premises, but cooler heads prevailed.
"Ehem…" Hammer cleared his throat, but the couple kept on making out. "Ehem!" He cleared his throat again, and this time they separated.
Natasha purposely ignored his 'boss' trying to get their attention, but they can't just tune him out for long. She swung her legs out to get herself of Naruto before sitting back onto her seat before pulling out her compact to clean herself up. She started by wiping off her messed up lipstick and ended with fixing her hair. She purposefully took her time fixing herself up to rile up the asshole.
"Hey, Boss. Didn't see you there…" Natasha said, acting surprised. "What can I do for you, Boss?" She asked, completely innocent of what she was doing, not two minutes ago.
"Well, I was meeting a client down the block when the guys here…" Hammer said while pointing to his guards. "Saw you here. So, I decided to introduce myself. I wouldn't want to be a bad boss, do I?"
"That's sweet of you, boss man…" Natasha replied with false sincerity before taking a glance at Naruto, who is silently pointed to his hair. That's when she saw his hair slowly turning black. That's when she understood that He was using an illusion, everyone in the room except for herself the whole time to hide his identity. "Let me introduce you to my fiancée, Nathan Umber…" She introduced to Hammer before turning her head back to Naruto. "Hon, meet my boss, Justin Hammer."
Naruto stood up and walked around the table. He decided to show a friendly exterior while subtly transmitting a minuscule amount of killing intent. The disparity between the information processed by Hammer's conscious and subconscious was more than enough to intimidate the asshole.
"Hey! It's nice to finally put a face on the name." Naruto greeted. He can see a slight sheen of perspiration forming on Hammer's forehead.
"Oh. You so Nat has been talking about me, huh? Nothing bad, I hope." Hammer said with a smile, trying to cover his nervousness.
"Most of it…" Naruto replied seriously, but Hammer took it as a joke. "Come on, have a seat. Have your grunts order for you." He added before going back to his seat beside Natasha, which was certainly noticed by Hammer.
Hammer moved to sit down to the seat where Naruto was previously sitting before calling over one of his guards.
"Grande, iced, sugar-free, decaf, Caramel Macchiato with soy Milk, extra shot, and cream…" Hammer whispered to his guard. Naruto and Natasha heard the order, and they had to force themselves to stop their eyes rolling. "So, what do you do for a living? Me, I'm just a humble CEO of Hammer Industries. You know, one of the best military contractors in the world. I mean, I just came from a meeting that would net me several million dollars. Nothing big." He continued with a swagger, hoping to intimidate Naruto and impress 'Natalie.'
"That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed with faux-excitement before getting a more contemplative look. "Though I would never personally used Hammer tech. They just jam too much…" He added, causing Hammer to grimace. "Oh, I forgot to answer your question. I'm in the business of private security and investigations. I just killed 22 guys in the past three days…" He didn't kill anyone personally, but some of his clones cleaned out some counting houses in Colombia as a job for a Captain of local police. Naruto had to contain a smirk when he saw Hammer suddenly pale. "Just got back stateside last night."
Justin Hammer cleared his throat before gathering himself back.
"So, your private military?" Hammer asked, trying to get as much detail as he can from the guy that's hindering him from tapping the fine redhead. Though he still can't believe that he's doing this much for a broad, he would just throw away. "I have an open recruitment in my Circuit if you're interested." He might just be able to get rid of the guy by sending him into deep water, and he would be there to 'comfort' his secretary as a good boss would do.
"Nah, I work alone. Don't want to mess with what's working so far." Naruto replied.
Hammer cursed internally that his made-up plan didn't work. His guard arrived and handed over his coffee. He decided to retreat for now and create a more fool-proof plan. Though, if that doesn't work, he might just need to let 'Natalie' go. He still has other targets to go through.
"Anyway, I have to go for now. I still need to work on some stuff…" Hammer said before standing up and looked at Natasha. "Natalie, you don't need to come in for today and Monday. Have a great long weekend with your fiancée. Nathan, is it? Nice meeting you..." He added before promptly leaving. As soon as he got out of the café and got inside of his SUV, he ordered one of his men. "Look into that Nathan Umber. Find anything you can find and place it on my desk by tomorrow night."
"God Damn. His bigger of a douche than I thought…" Naruto commented as soon as Hammer left the café. "He must've really wanted to score with you if he didn't fire you right then and there."
"Too bad. He won't be able to get anywhere near me, that slimy jackass. Look at the bright side, I have a long weekend." Natasha ended with a smile.
"That's certainly nice of him…" Naruto replied, mirroring Natasha's smile before looking at the wall clock. "Want to wait for Jess to get out and then go to Hawaii?"