17283/SHIELDs and Being Shafted

SHIELDs and Being Shafted
Date of Scene:	26 February 2024
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Recreation Room
Synopsis:	Natasha and Clint talk about the raid on Wanda's room.
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton

---

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
It was a rather quiet day over in the Mansion. Natasha Romanova is in the recreation room, having just come off monitor duty. Currently she has a pile of reports in front of her from SHIELD that she's cross-referencing to see if there's any overlaps with Avengers and Justice League incidents. Her fingers rapidly scan through small holographic displays, text and visual imagery highlighted in a three dimensional grid. Occasional flashes of blue, green, and red highlighting things of overlap and priority.. Occasional bits of red being dismissed data.

It's rather normal for Natasha. The woman has not had an off button in however many decades her life has been.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint's back in the Mansion, descending the stairs with a quick step. He's dressed casually; jeans, hoodie, boots. Swinging around the large column that is the end of the balustrade, he makes the leap from two stairs to the floor.

*thump*

Heading 'round the corner, the flashes of light are caught, the presence of the holograms meaning one of two (or three?) people are here and, gasp, working. Could be Stark, his assistant or..

Clint pokes his head in the doorway and offers his partner a smile. "Heya 'Tash. Still working?" His sideways 'poke' turns to full view and he saunters into the room, only to flop onto one of the overstuffed chairs. "When you're done with that, I'm gonna need the satellite feed from 01-7762."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would turn her head over to Clint and give a low nod. A rare show of acknwledgement from her. Her posture close enough to what passed for at ease for her. A place where she could quickly move to yank out a pistol and start firing, and have clear range to flip up the heavily armored table to use as cover to throw up her Widow's Bite. She would move to rest down the array of data-slates next to her and give a nod.

"Good notice." By that meaning that the archer's eye for detail had beaten her own to picking it up. "And yes. I've not been replaced by an LMD yet." Everyone would worry about her if she ever relaxed just a little bit.

Clint Barton has posed:
"Bah.. I'd know in a heartbeat if you were an LMD."

Clint probably would be one of the very, very few who could probably tell the difference. He waves a hand around his face, "You've got tells." There's a sly smirk that lies under those words; he's baiting her, very much like he always has. "Stark can't do that good a job yet." How's that for a compliment?

Craning his neck theatrically, though he can't see anything she's working on really, brows do raise. "Yeah, thanks. It's a talent." There's a pause before, "What do you know about the break-in from the Mansion the other night?" He was on.. a mission. One of those that he's nowhere official, in no official capacity whatsoever. "Wanda's pretty angry about it."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
A thoughtful look is over on Natasha's face. "Then I'll have to work on them." They all had to get their tricks together whenever the next team Poker night was had. Presuming that the leadin didn't destroy the Mansionor have multiple elder gods being summoned.

"And unfortunately very little. I only arrived when there was skirmishing along the exterior and was trying to fight in to assist." She was a few minutes too late, and the Mansion had already been breached. "But the fact that a dedicated attack team was sent here specifically.." The last time the Mansion had been indirectly attacked was by minions from someone time travleing from another dimension, after all.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint's been caught by an interdimensional collecting creature in the Mansion, and sometimes he gets the feeling that it's still around. If one is missing their left sock, that's who has it.

"You do that. Unless you're at the table with me. Then?" Unfair advantage!

Slouching in his seat, his arms are stretched along the two wide arms of the chair. His fingers drum a silent beat on the fabric. "Yeah, I wasn't here for it. But, I'm not sure how much good I would have done. Clean, Cap, Stark and Wanda.. if they couldn't hold the line?" With the unspoken 'what sort of chance did he have at success' underlying the words. He's good, he's very good... but he's also pretty damned humble at times, and very aware.

"Wanda's room is pretty torn up, and she's not sure what's missing. Really, I don't think she wants to go back yet. So, she's staying at my place." With the pizza boxes.. socks that haven't yet made it to the laundramat..

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would look over at Clint flatly. "This had better not be about that purported nexus composed entirely of lost laundry now, is it?" Of course there was the mostly uncharted dimension composed entirely of things lost in the drier. It was something that everyone knew existed.

"The fact they knew exactly where the item was, how to bypass the defenses to get it, had a solid attack plan and extraction.." And that the mercenaries apparently were high enough quality to pull it off but not have any useful data to extract. Natasha's opinion always went solidly on the edge of paranoia.

They had a leak internally.

Clint Barton has posed:
"That's my story and I'm stickin' to it."

It's that moment of levity before conversation gets more serious. He knows exactly what she's saying without her having to say it. It is more often than not that the two can have an entire conversation just with looks and expressions. Add a hand signal and they'd never actually have to speak, ever.

"That's why I promised that I'll bring what I can to bear. If I have to look underground, I will. And," he points to the sky; he'd mentioned the satellite, after all. "I need a chat with JARVIS soon enough and figure out the tracking. Incoming, outgoing, their paths. How sure were they that they knew where they were going?"

Granted, the floor plan of the old Stark Mansion probably exists in the public domain. But, they changed things around, so how would anyone know who was where?

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would grimace. "It's not gonig to be technological in nature. At least not entirely." Being able to break into Wanda's room and bypass any sort of defenses that magic users like Clea were able to put up.. "We may need to use outside intervention." If they were dealing wiht a magic user that was powerful enough to scry /and/ break in..

Then they might need an outside consultant. Which was something that htrilled Natasha just about as much as the fact the team might have a spy in its ranks. "And we need someone to do a full inventory of Ms. Maximoff's collection. Quickly." Pietro would be useful here. FOr once.

If he'd not be so smug and complain.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint adds his own mirrored grimace and nods, "Yeah. I got nothing to put up there." He's not even augmented, much less even vaguely magical. Though, he does have a habit of dating magic users...? He seems to attract them, for some reason. "And Wanda's no help."

The adding of Pietro into the mix, though? The grimace becomes a scowl. "I hate it when you're right." There's a pause, punctuated with a long sigh, "Think married life smoothed out some of those obnoxious edges yet?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would look Clint dead over in the eyes. "Do you think I've wanted to spend enough time with him to confirm or deny that?" Pietro wasn't here to threaten her and no one else was that wouldn't share in the flippant thought. Pietro was a teammate and a comrade.

But he would likely never be a friend. Then again the number of actual friends Natasha had could be counted on both hands. "We need a way to confirm what was missing.." To prepare for the followup.

Clint Barton has posed:
The look brings a smirk to the archer's face before he shakes his head. "That would be a 'hell no'." Still, she's right, and that's probably the best course of action. He slaps his hands down on either side of him, on the arms of the chair and rises to his feet.

"I'll have Wanda give him a call. Suss him out that way. She's already fussing about him, so maybe it'd be in order, and it'll give her a little bit more peace." If that was possible for his redheaded girlfriend.

"Until then, I have logs to look at; approach, departure, timing. Everything, and I mean everything, leaves a trace that even I can pick up."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would give a nod, "Yes. And we'll need to figure out some others to ask for.. Assistance if need be." Sometimes one needed an outsider's perspective after all. But that menat they had to narrow down the list to ones that got along with Wanda and wouldn't freak out about Wanda's organizational structure.

"But you're right. The timing was too good." Even if SHIELD was doing a strike on a target with their best, they couldn't pull off something to this tight of a margin with so many factors - like just what Avengers would be present or in response time. Her expression would grow even more irritated.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Agreed. Close-knit strike team that has probably worked together for .. some time." Which leaves a trail. Not everyone on the team was magic in nature. Granted, the pair could pull it off, and potentially add one like Cap? They could do it. But, they were absolutely a target of an elite group.

Clint drops his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and nods. "Start at the bottom. Driver. Then, follow the money." Basic investigation, 101. "Don't worry about who gets along with Wanda and who doesn't. I'll be around to buffer, but I gotta talk to the Old Man first, so he doesn't send me away again."

Clint has certain skills that make him uniquely skilled for some missions, and Natasha, others. When the pair are sent on a mission? They don't even need an ex-fil.

"I need to be here for her, and I think he'll understand. For the practical aspects of it."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The two move together like a gestalt. Seemingly knowing exactly what the other would do at any second. "They had to account for individuals like Banner, Thor, or PIetro being present." Or even other heroes that might be in the general vicinity at any point. That meant the group had that much intel and prep ahead of time.. Or they really were that good. Natasha's irritated look deepens over.

"And if you think he'll assign resources.." Well, would they even be accepted? Wanda probably liked the Old Man about as much as she did her father at any given point after all.

"I'll keep you updated on the situation here. And following the money is just a start." A team that could do this sort of operation wouldn't be doing it just for money, after all.

Clint Barton has posed:
There are very few agent pairings that are anywhere near as successful as Clint and Natasha. It simply works, for whatever reason. Maybe they were together in a former life, who knows? Regardless...

"Unless they were that good to have trackers on the others. Not as if Thor isn't really noticeable. Or the big green guy. Most of us are pretty public, which just screams 'track us'." Which is probably why Clint and Natasha are happy enough to not always be recognized. In a way, it's made it just a little harder to get certain jobs done.

Clint starts towards the doorway, and putting a hand up to rest on the jamb, he looks back over his shoulder, "I appreciate it. And yeah, just a start. We can hope someone'll open their mouth to brag, but I'm seriously doubting that'll happen. It'd be too lucky for us." Rapping his hand in place on the doorframe a couple of times, the archer upnods his silent goodbye and heads out.