Natasha stared numbly down at the postcard in her hand, the others around her forgotten. What had Yelena gotten herself into? She left her sister alone because it was better for the both of them. When she destroyed the Red Room with the help of SHIELD, she wanted her sister to have a better life, a chance to get away from all the lies and killing. She never wanted Yelena to be connected to her life with SHIELD, and she had felt her feelings even more justified when HYDRA's infiltration was discovered. So why now? What did her sister have to do with the young girl in the picture?
"Nat?"
She wanted to fly to Budapest immediately, find Yelena and figure out what was going on, what she was up to. See her for the first time in decades. But she imagined that if Yelena retained anything from the Red Room, which she likely did, she would hate her coming to Budapest before following through with her request to 'rescue the girl'.
"Nat!" A hand clamped down on her shoulder, and only a lifetime of training had her hiding her shock, and her frustration that she had let herself get so distracted. Everyone in the room was looking at her, which was something she was distinctly not a fan of. The fact that their stares were of concern did give her a warm feeling however, and her thoughts of 'family' returned. The closest of them was Clint, with his hand on her shoulder and an inquisitive look in his eyes, she only knew he was concerned because they worked together for years.
Wordlessly, she turned the postcard so he could read it as well, watching as Clint's eyes trailed over the words, few as they were. She could tell when he got to the initials as his eyes widened. He was the only one here who knew all the details of her time with the Red Room. She'd given the others bits and pieces over the few years since Loki's invasion, mostly during the last few months as the team grew closer. She was grateful that they never pried, knowing that some demons are best left buried. But the time to unbury them might be coming sooner than she'd thought.
"Friday?" She called to the ceiling, ignoring the others' looks for now.
"Yes Miss Romanoff?"
"Can you identify the girl in this picture?" She questioned, turning the image towards the ceiling.
"Certainly. One moment." The AI went silent, probably browsing the internet to find out the requested information.
"Uh? Want to share with the class?" Rhodey piped up, the game of cards forgotten for the time being. She simply held up her hand to request a moment, her eyes still on the ceiling, despite the fact that FRIDAY wasn't really there. It was an odd idiosyncrasy that most of the team still had, looking towards the speakers or cameras to speak with the AI. Only Pepper, Rhodey, Vision, and Tony didn't but they had years of practice, starting back with JARVIS, or were an android that simply thought differently than everyone else.
Less than a minute after the request, FRIDAY began speaking again.
"The girl is Payton Parker, a 14 year old girl from Queens who was abducted last Monday after her Aunt and Uncle were shot. Her Uncle, one Benjamin Parker, was declared dead at the scene. Her Aunt May Parker is in a coma at the Queens Hospital Center."
Shit. What did her sister in Budapest have to do with an abduction in New York? A part of her, one she buried deep deep down, began to whisper some of her worst fears to her, the name 'Dreykov' scratching at her mind before she crushed it again. That was impossible, despite her irrational fears of the matter. Dreykov was dead, and he wouldn't be hurting anyone again. She and Clint made sure of that. It must be some other trafficking ring that runs through Hungary, SHIELD had been looking into a few of them when the whole HYDRA fiasco went down. After that? The Avengers had been playing clean up against the terrorists, and nobody else decided to follow the trail that SHIELD had been on. It appears that was probably a mistake.
"Woah woah woah, Can you tell me why exactly you got a picture of a missing girl in a letter?" Tony demanded/asked.
She took a deep breath. After this, some of her last secrets would be revealed to the rest of the team. Oddly, she found that she didn't mind that too much. "My…sister… sent me a message, telling me she needs my help but to rescue this girl first."
"Your sister?! " Multiple voices exclaimed simultaneously.
Natasha exhaled. "It's a long story, but I think now is the time for me to tell it." She remarked, mentally preparing herself to reveal some of her deepest secrets..
And thus, she told them everything, spilling the facts about herself that she kept close to her chest. From her first stint in the Red Room, to Ohio and the family that grew there. Then came the end of the Ohio mission, the rest of her years in training, and the missions she undertook as a Black Widow, the red in her ledger. The story ended with the full details of Clint recruiting her. The Avengers had heard the basics before, about how Clint was assigned to kill her but made a different call, but the assassination of Dreykov had never been mentioned.
There was silence for a few minutes as her team, her family, processed everything. The emotions that crossed their faces were varied, but for once she chose not to overanalyze them. She didn't need to know what they thought or were feeling. She could probably guess. Natasha did appreciate Clint's grip remaining on her shoulder though, her oldest friend's presence was a rock for her recounting the torment of her past.
"Alright. What do you need from us?" Steve asked, recovering first and being aware enough that she didn't want, or need, sympathy.
"Well, we should start by looking into Parker's abduction. If Yelena wants me to look into it before helping her, it must be important." Natasha replied, leaving the kitchen to join the others near the TV. The rest of the Avengers began to congregate next to the couch as well, leaving their previous activities behind as a new mission seemed to be starting.
"Friday? Start making a profile on Payton Parker. Anything and everything you can find on the girl, collect it. We need the full picture on her to figure out why someone would want to kidnap her. Assuming this isn't a target of opportunity." Tony ordered the AI.
"I don't mean to be a pessimist but , there is one explanation that is right in front of us." Sam mentioned, looking somewhat apologetically towards her.
Natasha knew what he was implying. "No. The Red Room is gone." She replied vehemently.
"Sam has a point. One ex-Widow sends a letter to another regarding a girl who was abducted, that's two connections to the Red Room right there, and the target was the same demographic." Rhodey summarized, much to her own displeasure.
" If the Red Room was still around, which it is not , Parker would be too old. It's harder to indoctrinate a teenager who already lived in the culture that they wanted us to all hate." She protested.
"How do you know the Red Room is gone for sure? You cut off the head yeah, but they could just promote another right?" That question came from Tony, and Natasha really didn't like how they kept going down this road when it was impossible. Thankfully Clint answered this one, as she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep her frustration out of her voice this time around.
"SHIELD took advantage of the chaos to move in on the Red Room. With Nat's help, and our own spies investigating, we knew their bases and hit them hard. There isn't a way for them to have survived."
"Who all helped to wipe them out?" Steve asked, looking between her and Clint.
"A bunch of agents, including myself, Nat, and Hill. The STRIKE teams hit the bigger bases." Her partner replied simply.
"You mean the STRIKE teams that were notoriously all HYDRA?" Pietro pointed out.
The room was silent enough that they could have heard a pin drop.
"The Red Room was no friend of HYDRA's." She replied, but her tone couldn't convince any of them that Pietro didn't have a point. Much less herself.
"Maybe not normally, but I wouldn't put it past HYDRA to take advantage of the situation to strike a deal, allow the Red Room to live, and gain some concessions of some kind from them." Steve guessed, once again making another argument towards an awful conclusion.
The conversation had gotten out of her hands way too quickly. Had she been in her usual right mind she imagined could have kept things on their original track, but the words from her sister, and the immediate discussion of the Red Room left her floundering. A state she hadn't been in since she first defected to SHIELD. She preferred to be in control of herself, but Natasha couldn't even have that right now.
"It can't be the Red Room." She lamely told them, more saying that she couldn't allow it to be the Room, rather than it not being possible at this point. Her tone was more than enough to pause the conversation, her teammates, besides Clint, never seeing her in such a state before. They looked amongst each other, before Tony finally broke the spell that seemed to have taken hold over the room.
"It's possible they aren't responsible." The genius conceded; "Even if the Red Room was still around, which is seeming at least possible right now, Nat is correct in that Parker would be too old. She would be years behind on training, and damn near impossible to indoctrinate at this point. Brainwashing is possible, the Winter Soldier is proof of that…" Tony gave an apologetic look towards Steve. The team had been forced to put that particular hunt on the backburner recently. "But from what Nat told us, that's not their usual M.O."
"So we'll keep them in mind, but also look for other possibilities." Steve concluded, garnering agreements from the rest of the team. Nat was just happy they were back on topic now.
"Boss, the profile is complete." FRIDAY informed.
"Right, let's put it up on the screen then Fri." Tony replied.
The TV switched off of ESPN, and over to an enlarged picture of Payton Parker which took up half the screen, this one an official school I.D, rather than a still from a surveillance camera. The other half of the screen had an assortment of documents, and summarized information. The Avengers all gathered around, finding their usual spots on the collection of couches and recliners that took up the living room. Once they were all gathered, FRIDAY began to recite the profile that she put together.
"Payton Parker, a fourteen year-old girl from Queens who lives with her Aunt and Uncle, May and Benjamin Parker. She was adopted at three years old in 2004 by Doctors Richard and Mary Parker, and lived with them until they died in 2007 as a result of a plane crash in the Atlantic." The AI began. "Her biological mother was buried as a Jane Doe near Albany, New York, and her father is unknown."
"Wait, nobody knows her parent's identities?" Wanda asked, confused.
"Correct Wanda. Her mother died in a car crash on February 15th, 2004 while Miss Parker was in the car. By the time rescuers got her out of the car, the front of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. Her mother's body was too damaged to collect any effective DNA for positive identification. The state attempted to locate any families missing an adult and an infant female, but nobody came forward, and no father ever made themselves known. At the time, the state did not know anything about young Payton, and made her official 'birthday' as February 15th, 2001, as they could not find any official documents. The orphanage gave her the name Payton, and later that year, she was adopted by the Parkers."
"Jesus. That's insane." Sam exclaimed, and Nat couldn't help but agree. An extremely bizarre series of events to start the young girl's life.
"Any reason that Payton could have been targeted because of her parents?" Rhodey questioned.
"Richard and Mary Parker were both highly regarded geneticists working for Oscorp. An FAA investigation into the crash that cost them their lives declared it an accident. With the long timespan between their deaths and her recent abduction, the chances of that are low." FRIDAY answered.
"Alright that's her start in life, but anything more recent that could have made her a target?" Clint spoke from next to her.
"Payton Parker was accepted this previous summer to attend the Midtown School of Science and Technology, located in Queens. She is currently at the top of her class, and a member of the Robotics club and Academic Decathlon team. She had missed school most of last week after falling sick on a field trip to Oscorp, and was abducted on her first day back to school. Besides that, I have found her name connected to a police report and court case from 2010, but the records are sealed."
"Can you unseal them?" Tony requested, causing Rhodey to protest.
"Those are officially sealed records Tones! On account of her being nine at the time probably." The Colonel chastised. Natasha could see why he was protesting the request, though perhaps something in those records could shed light on the girl's current situation.
"Fine." Tony acquiesced. "Fri, unseal the records and read them yourself BUT" Tony held up a hand to stop Rhodey from yelling at him "If you don't find anything that could be a motive for her abduction, don't tell us what is in them, and erase the records from your memory. That better?" Tony directed the last part at his friend. Nat and the rest of the team just watching from the sidelines. Rhodey nodded. It took a few moments, but soon FRIDAY's voice returned.
"The court case is not connected to recent events, and I am erasing them from my memory banks."
"So that whole profile was just a nice way to find out that we have nothing." Pietro remarked. But that wasn't true.
Thinking back through the information, there was one common denominator for Payton's life. "We do have something." Natasha mentioned.
The rest of the team all spoke up at once, prompting her to continue, without realizing their interruption prevented her from actually doing so. As such, she took a page out of Tony's book and raised her hand up to call for their silence.
"Her parents were Oscorp geneticists. They died. Payton went on a field trip to Oscorp, gets sick while there, and then is abducted the first day she goes back to public. It's a loose connection, but out of everything we just heard, Oscorp was mentioned twice. Also, Norman Osborn has a reputation as a shady businessman at best."
"It's true. Friday mentioned that her parent's deaths were likely not related to her abduction, but that doesn't mean Oscorp isn't involved." Tony and Pepper both agreed simultaneously, though Pepper was the one to continue the thought. "Osborn is an asshole, and numerous scientists who work here in this very building have claimed that Oscorp had stolen their ideas and given no credit, or had complaints about the working conditions there."
"Miss Potts is correct. Furthermore I have just located a report that one Doctor Renée Alena, a geneticist at Oscorp, was found dead last Saturday after an officer performed a wellness check on behalf of Doctor Alena's sister. The cause of death is listed as a heart attack that occurred the day after Miss Parker's field trip to the company." FRIDAY let them all know,
"How many geneticists have died from Oscorp in recent years?" She asked.
"Six. Both Doctor Parkers were the first, and Doctor Alena the most recent. Employment records seem to indicate that all six Doctors worked in similar positions within the company, however the exact job title is unlisted."
Six geneticists dead over eight years, and one girl missing a week after a field trip to the company. That was way too many coincidences for Natasha's liking. And judging by the faces of her teammates, everyone else agreed too. Normally that many deaths could probably be explained, but in a company like Oscorp, and with every dead scientist's field being genetics, the official reports didn't really add up anymore.
"Okay. So, what's the plan? I don't think it's a good idea for the Avengers to be seen poking around Queens, it might lead to her abductors deciding to get rid of her." Steve brought up, taking charge of the conversation.
"Fri and I can work on the digital side of things, see if we can't break into Oscorp's servers and figure out just what Doctor Alena was working on, and what the itinerary was for the field trip." Tony offered.
"That can work." Steve agreed. "Nat and Clint, can you two head to Queens and run your own investigation? Subtly?"
"That we can Cap." Clint replied, giving her a small smile. It'd been awhile since just the two of them went on a mission.
"What about the rest of us?" Wanda wondered.
Steve seemed to think for a moment. "I don't think there is much for the rest of us to do right now, so we just hang tight until they find something, or ask for our help."
There wasn't much more to talk about after that. Tony ran off to his lab, the twins went back to their studying, accepting that they didn't have much help to offer at the moment, and the three soldiers sat back down at their table, though the card game was forgotten, replaced instead with discussing this new mission. Natasha motioned for Clint to follow her back to their floor so that they could get their undercover gear and head out. It had already been almost four full days since Payton went missing. Any longer and there might not be a trail to follow anymore.
She couldn't help but smile as the elevator doors closed. Despite the circumstances, she was happy to have work to do. No big missions had popped up since Ultron, with the only op that the Avengers had been requested on was an anti-terrorist mission where the U.S Military ordered War Machine's presence, and requested the Falcon and Captain America to join them. The rest had been told they weren't needed.
Now though, she was needed, and she refused to disappoint.
Thwip!
With a quick pull, an empty can came soaring into her outstretched hand. There was an ever growing pile of junk surrounding Payton as she played around with her completed web shooters (version 3.0, patent pending). The design was a bit bulky around the wrists, but she did the best she could with the available supplies. She was also able to install a button that rested in the palm of her hand, allowing her to use two fingers to activate the shooters, rather than requiring two hands for a single device. Payton had worked all day Friday making them as comfortable as possible, and asking for Mister Leiberman's help with the final touches when he visited again Friday night.
Now it was Saturday, and she had barely been able to sleep last night in her excitement to practice. Castle and Leiberman were both present, the latter having taken advantage of the weekend coming to provide more assistance, though according to him it's slow going, accessing Oscorps secure files without being caught is not that easy apparently. Both men were watching as she shot lines of webbing to drag whatever caught her fancy over to her. Every now and again, Castle would throw an object to test her ability to shoot something on the move. So far, she was able to successfully do so about sixty percent of the time, which she attributed to her superpowers giving her better coordination.
"This is so awesome." Payton whispered as she caught sight of her next target. With another thwip , a web shot out and snatched Castle's book straight from his hands, and promptly giggled at the incredulous face that he made. Leiberman also laughed, looking up from his laptop at the commotion.
"Right, I think that's enough of that." Castle groused, though by the look Payton saw on his face, he was at least somewhat amused as well. "Front and center Payton." He ordered.
"Yes sir!" She replied easily, still giggling as she offered the man a salute (making sure to use the correct hand this time). "What's up?"
Castle loomed over her, holding a hand out for his book to be returned to him, which she sheepishly complied with. But rather than walking away and continuing to read, he placed the book aside. "Seems to me like you got enough practice with those things for now." Castle said. "Time for me to teach you some things."
Payton openly gaped at him. What did he mean 'teach her some things? "Uh, like what?" She cautiously asked.
"Self defense. Right now those shooters won't mean shit for you if somebody gets in close. You gotta know how to fight back in that case." He answered, taking another step into her space.
Dodge!
The danger sense blared in her head, and she took a step back, twisting her body just as Castle's hand shot out to grab her left arm. The warning shouted again, but she couldn't move herself in time to stop her other hand from grabbing her right arm, and twisting her around until her back was on the floor with Castle's fist a mere inch away from her face. The look he was giving her basically screamed 'told you so'.
She wasn't focused on that, as being pinned to the ground had her mind screaming as her breath hitched, her heart started to pound, and the phantom feeling of hands all over overwhelmed her. Screaming in fright, Payton wrenched her arm out of Castle's grasp, both actions causing shock to wash over Castle's face as she violently pushed herself away, scuttling backwards up a wall in much the same way that she had when she woke up that first morning. Sticking herself into a corner, she began to hyperventilate as she fought against the very unwelcome memory that she always tried to keep locked away in the depths of her mind.
"What the fuck Frank!" Mister Lieberman scolded. "You don't have to frighten her to get your point across!"
Her eyes trailed back to the Punisher as he rubbed at his wrist. "Fuck, you're strong kid. Come down from there and I'll teach you without giving you a heart attack." He offered, looking up at her.
"Are you sure that's a good idea Frank? You just nearly gave the kid a heart attack."
"I-it's fine." She stuttered, still trying to catch her breath as she climbed down the wall. "I, uh. I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you did I?" She asked, desperate to change topics so they didn't ask about the thing she never wanted to talk about.
Castle at least seemed to catch her motive, if the look he gave her meant anything, but he accepted it. "You're stronger than I would've thought, so maybe you'll actually stand a chance in close quarters with training that is."
Lieberman snorted. "Seems like we can add strength to your list of abilities."
After taking another few minutes to calm down, and ignore the fact that Castle's eyes seemed to be burrowing holes into her very mind to such a degree that Payton began to think that the man knew what she was avoiding, especially as this was the second time she reacted extremely poorly to something he'd done. But once she centered herself again, Castle began to teach her the basics, and initiated a lesson that Payton couldn't help but consider both incredibly interesting, and grueling torture. From kicks, punches, and throws, the only thing Castle seemed to be avoiding at the moment, thankfully, was pins. Which was another hint that he understood just what she was afraid of, but she didn't want to think about that.
A few hours passed as the lesson continued, neither of them having anything else to do with their day, but by the end, Payton had to tap out. Sweat drenching her clothes as she panted. The lessons weren't even that intensive, which was probably the only reason she lasted as long as she had. Well, that and superpowers. "I've never been good at the gym." She quipped, hands on her knees as Lieberman brought her a water bottle from the fridge.
"You did good kid, that sixth sense is something else." Castle complimented, drinking from his own bottle. "We gotta work on getting your endurance up though, in a fight your reserves will drain far faster than they did today."
Payton half-laughed, half coughed. "Yeah, I was wiped just running from Taskmaster on Monday. Couldn't imagine having the energy to actually fight the guy."
"Well, so long as all goes well, you won't half to." Lieberman offered. "Still haven't found anything in Oscorp's files, but I did just discover that I'm not the only one looking."
That got both her and Castle's attention. Both of them turned to look at the resident computer genius. "Who else is looking?" Castle demanded.
Lieberman shrugged. "I can't figure it out. Whoever it is is good though. I noticed them trying to trace my connection at the same time I traced theirs, but neither of us succeeded. I'd say whoever is digging through Oscorp's files is as good, if not better than me at this." He admitted. "I was able to figure out that they had been looking through employment records as well as lab data. If I had to hazard a guess, I imagine that on their end, they know that we're looking through financial records."
"Is this going to be a problem?" Castle questioned.
"They can't track us back here, and I left nothing behind to point towards my identity, so I don't think it will be."
"Could it be someone looking into my disappearance?" Payton wondered aloud. "Maybe the police found something?"
Lieberman shook his head. "No, if it was the police they would've just gotten a court order demanding the company to surrender their files. Law enforcement doesn't really do the subtle way very well. And what I am doing is both subtle and illegal, so that's another point against them. As for your first question… it's possible, but would require someone else to have all the facts that we have and I can't think of anyone else besides the people hunting you who would fit that criteria. Which, now that I'm thinking about it, it's possible it was them, and they were working to cover their tracks…" He rambled, before turning back and focusing on his computer again with a new fervor.
"I think he stopped talking to us halfway through that." Payton commented, looking up to Castle next to her, who just chuckled.
"Yeah, kid, I think you're right. Go get cleaned up and I'll run out and grab dinner." The man replied, turning her towards the hallway that led to the showers.
"Alright, get some Thai food please!" She requested as she quickly stopped by her small cot to collect some clean clothes, and then rushed off for the showers.The day so far had been more enjoyable than the rest of the week spent hiding, despite her close run with a panic attack. Having the Punisher as a self-defense teacher was a thing that she never would have imagined becoming a part of her life, and really? She was glad she had his help. Payton would never say she agreed with the Punisher's methods, but everyone in New York City knew just how powerful of a force Frank Castle was. With him on her side, and teaching her how to fight, she felt confident that things would turn out, and that she would be able to see May again.
Another pang of grief stabbed at her heart as she thought of her Aunt all alone in the hospital, likely being watched by people who wanted to make her disappear, and of her Uncle, who died for her, giving his life so that she could be free of whatever monsters wanted to take her away. As she allowed herself to truly think of her family for the first time, she was glad she was in the shower, as her tears blended in with the water.
"Thank you Ben. And I am so sorry " She cried silently to herself, no longer able to hold back the tidal wave of grief that she had repressed for days.
Monday started miserably.
Even before Payton's eyes cracked open her head pounded. Each creak of the springs that held her little cot together were like daggers straight to her ears. When added with the humming of the fridge, the computers, and every other little noise that would normally create a quiet ambiance instead drowned out the world. When she did try to open her eyes, the lights blinded her, and forced her back underneath her blanket, which sent another shock of noise rocketing into her head. She'd thought that the headache she had at school a week ago was bad, but this? This was so much worse. She finally understood what was meant by 'sensory overload'.
Despite the fact that everything was turned up to eleven for her, Payton forced herself to get up, clenching her eyes shut and grinding her teeth against the onslaught of noise. Flinging her legs over the side of the cot, her feet touched the concrete floor and she immediately dragged them back up underneath the blanket. The floor, which was normally chilly, felt frigid against her feet, like stepping barefoot on ice despite the socks she wore. Flopping back down onto her pillow, Payton groaned in frustration, driving the heels of her hands into her eyes in an effort to distract from the migraine, as well as to block out more light that was seeping through her eyelids.
It took Payton another half an hour before she could muster up the courage to brave the world. Though part of that courage was born of necessity, with the pounding in her head getting bad enough that she had to find a solution. Grimacing against the cold floor, Payton managed to get off the cot and began to shuffle towards the supply cabinets. She knew that Castle kept earplugs in one of the drawers, and she was hoping that the lenses on the gas masks would be enough to block out some of the light.
Finding the things was incredibly annoying, having to dig through the drawers with her eyes practically closed; her eyelids fluttering and making the world have the appearance of a slideshow. Eventually she had managed to find one of the small plastic packages of earplugs, tearing the plastic in half immediately so that she could shove the small foam cylinders into her ears. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was heaven compared to what she had just been dealing with. Next came the gas mask, which, if she remembered correctly, was in a cabinet below the drawer that was a few feet to her right. She felt her way to the cabinet, opened it, and breathed a sigh of relief as her hand found the gas mask. Payton ripped it out of the cabinet and dragged it down to cover her face, peaking her eyes open, and sighed gratefully as she could at least open her eyes from behind the polarized lenses of the mask.
Finally having the world muffled enough to be manageable, Payton shuffled her way back to her cot and collapsed onto it. Just the effort of getting up for a few minutes had drained her, and she fell back asleep before her head hit the pillow, graciously falling back into a dreamless sleep.
Payton next opened her eyes to the feeling of a hand shaking her shoulder. Her migraine had faded into a dull ache behind her eyes, and with the earplugs in, the world was far more muffled than it was before. Cracking her eyes open, she was met with a thoroughly confused Frank Castle staring back at her, and an amused David Lieberman behind him. The latter was holding another bag of takeout, meaning that she slept far longer than she had anticipated.
"What's with the get-up?" Castle asked, standing up now that he knew she was awake.
Grunting as she pushed herself into a sitting position, she took the gas mask off, allowing her mussed-up hair to fall back down around her shoulders "I had sensory overload earlier. The mask helped. So did these." She replied tiredly as she popped the earplugs out.
"Jeez, are you alright, Payton?" Lieberman asked, concerned.
"I am now, just a small headache. Thanks for asking, Mister Lieberman."
"Just David is fine." He replied with a small smile, though Castle snorted.
"Good luck with that one. Kid's been calling me 'Mister Castle' for damn near a week now."
Sensing a chance to mess with Castle a bit, having discovered that it is actually fun to push the Punisher's buttons, Payton turned back to Lieber- David. "Thanks, David."
With David laughing, and a quiet but light-hearted 'brat' from Castle, the trio made their way to the small table in the kitchen to eat. David spent the time talking about his day with the NSA, only unclassified information though, and Castle ate in silence as was normal for him. She doubted he had anything to bring up anyway, as he avoided giving any details about his…activities… with her. For good reason of course, but it still ranckled that he only really gave one word answers, if any, about the things that she felt she needed to know. The man had opened up a bit ever since David started joining them in the evenings, but he refused to give any information to her. She didn't really know anything that was happening outside the walls of this building, and judging by how she's started unraveling ever since Saturday, she really needed to get outside soon. David gave her information when she asked, but it was mostly just to tell her he still had nothing, and he was only here for a few hours every evening, with Saturday having been a special occasion apparently.
Yesterday had just been her and Castle again, and she spent most of the day avoiding him. After her breakdown Saturday, she spent most of that night miserably laying in bed, unable to think about anything other than how quickly her life had fallen apart, and how it seemed she was not getting any closer to putting it back together. Or some semblance of what it used to be anyway. Sunday had been much the same until Castle eventually dragged her back into defense training, which turned into her punching a dent into a metal railing before he called it quits. Then of course, came this morning and all those issues that came along with it.
"Earth to Payton!" David called, waving a hand in front of her face, his voice causing her to snap out of her own mind. "Everything alright?"
Payton wanted to ask if she could go outside, but she was fairly certain what the answer to that particular request would be. Instead she just forced a small smile onto her face and nodded "Yeah, I'm just tired. Guess this morning took a lot out of me.".
The others accepted that answer, and went back to their own conversations, leaving Payton once again to her own devices. As such, she made her way back to the workbench she claimed as her own and began mixing a new batch of web fluid. She wasn't even anywhere close to using up the first batch, but it gave her something to do, and it didn't appear as though the fluid would go bad, so long as it wasn't exposed to air that is. The second batch did end up using the rest of the required chemicals though, which meant she would have to ask Castle or David to bring more if she ever wanted to make a third.
As time passed and the batch of web fluid was completed, Payton moved on to do some more tinkering on the web shooters, listening idly as the other two spoke near the computers about something from their past that she didn't understand. Eventually, David packed up his stuff and headed out, giving her a quick goodbye before driving off to go back home. Home. Payton knew she really shouldn't feel jealous over the fact that David was free to go home as he pleased, but she did. It ranckled her that both David and Castle were free to come and go, but she was expected to stay inside, even if it was for her own safety. Giving a frustrated groan, Payton threw the web shooters down and stormed towards the bathroom to get ready for bed. Maybe a good night's sleep would get her out of her funk.
By the time she had returned to the main living area, Castle was gone, his black van missing from its usual parking space. She had heard him leave of course, but it was just another reminder of her confinement. With a huff, Payton threw herself down onto her cot, curling underneath her blanket until she was comfortable.
It didn't take long until she was tossing and turning, unable to get to sleep as she grew more and more agitated, her restlessness causing her to throw her blanket to the side and shoot off of the cot. The walls seemed to be pressing in on her, discomfort building within her as she paced around the room, trying to calm down as her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing came in ragged gasps. She needed to get out.
Storming over to her bag of clothes, Payton grabbed a hoodie that she had yet to wear and pulled it on over her shirt. She next went to the workbench and grabbed her web shooters, pulling them onto her wrists and making sure the cartridges were full. She moved at a frantic pace, pulling her hoodie over her head as she half-ran out of the building. She stalked through the halls until she reached the exit door, throwing it open and making her way outside for the first time in a week.
Despite the fact that she knew she was being monumentally stupid, and she should have sucked it up, Payton couldn't help but smile as she looked at the night sky and breathed in the brisk October air. The sounds of the city at night echoed all around her. The occasional car horn, a helicopter flying overhead, and even an odd gunshot made their way to her ears as she walked down the abandoned street. Payton noticed how the area Castle had claimed was an abandoned industrial district on the banks of the Hudson River, and much to her chagrin, she was on the Jersey side of the river. Gross. Regardless of the fact that she was in Jersey, Payton could at least enjoy the fact that she was outside again, free to roam away from the same brick and concrete walls that she'd been staring at for the previous seven days.
She knew from experience now that when Castle went out at night he wouldn't return until closer to the morning, which seemed to be on par for the vigilantes of New York City if the news was accurate. This meant that she had nearly five hours to wander before she had to be back if she didn't want to endure Castle's wrath regarding her leaving the hideout.
Each step she took helped her calm down, the freedom of the outdoors doing wonders for her state of mind. Part of her wanted to just keep walking and not stop until she made it home, but despite herself, she wouldn't. Castle was right in the fact that anything related to her life was probably being watched by this Taskmaster guy, or whoever hired him anyway. But she could at least do this.
Time seemed to fly by as she mindlessly wandered, keeping just aware enough to stay in the more abandoned areas. She didn't need anyone asking any questions on why an obviously young girl was wandering the city at night alone. That was until she heard a call for help. It came from a few blocks away, outside of the industrial district, and before she knew it she was running towards the shouts. Through the trash filled alleyways until she reached a worn-down apartment. She could hear the cries far more clearly here, and she slowly walked around the building until she reached the dark alley behind it.
There she saw an older man pinned against the wall by a man wearing a balaclava and holding a gun. It was clearly mugging in process as the older man was begging to not be hurt, and for the thief to just let him go. Payton crept closer, slowly climbing up the cold brick wall until she was directly above the thief, who was now digging his hands into the elderly man's coat pockets, keeping the gun pointed towards his victim.
Looking down at the scene, Payton raised one of her arms, pointing the web shooter on her wrist towards the firearm. Before the criminal knew it, a thin strand of webbing had latched onto his gun and pulled it out of his grip, followed quickly by Payton dropping down onto his shoulders. She might be small, but not many can withstand the full weight of a teenager dropping onto their shoulders, which meant that the thief quickly crumpled into a heap with a startled yelp, which she quickly silenced with another web to his mouth.
"Don't you know that you are supposed to respect your elders?" She asked while using a few more webs to tie up his hands and feet. The only response she was given was an angry shout as the man struggled to free himself. "Those will dissolve in like… three hours? I think? But either way I'm sure the cops will have you by then." She continued, standing up and turning towards the man who was being robbed, who just stood in shock.
"Wh-who are you?" The man asked to which Payton just shrugged, making sure to keep her head tilted down enough that the man couldn't see her face under the large hood.
"Just someone who wanted to help out. Can you call the cops to pick this guy up? I don't have a phone." She requested, turning to head back out of the alley, listening as the guy began to dial 9-1-1.
"Thank you!" He called after her, the sincerity in his voice raising Payton's spirits tremendously.
She carried the high of saving that man the entire walk back to the hideout, smiling at the fact that she was able to help prevent someone from being robbed, or potentially worse. By the time she made it back, she was staring down at the Balaclava that had stuck to her hand in the excitement. Looking at the mask, and thinking back to what she had just done, an idea began to form in Payton's mind.
"I'm ready Nat, just give the word."
Clint's voice rang through her earpiece as she waited for the elevator doors to open. The two of them had spent the past two days in the city investigating the disappearance of Payton Parker, and have thus far found very little. They had started by looking into the scene of the attack on her family, which had long since been cleaned up once the crime scene investigators had wrapped up. It had been a stroke of luck that Clint, who had been on the rooftops, found a broken piece of an arrow only half a block away. A quick call to FRIDAY told them that there work records of some kind of chase happening through Queens the night of Payton's disappearance, but the police figured it was related to recent Punisher activity in the area, especially as they found the bodies of three of the vigilante's victims in an alleyway a few blocks away.
But the Punisher wasn't known for using arrows, and the broken projectile's proximity to where Payton was attacked was suspect at the very least. Despite days having passed, there was a decent enough trail for Clint's keen eyes to follow across the rooftops, which seemed to insinuate that the girl had managed to run for a little while before being caught, evidenced by the chase's trail just stopping after a little while.
No cameras had caught anything, with many having been down for 'repairs', and despite the calls from concerned civilians who'd seemed to notice something was wrong, nobody was dispatched until the corpses left behind by Frank Castle were discovered. As such, Nat was more than a little convinced that whoever was behind this was powerful enough to pay off law enforcement to some degree, which Tony took as a sign that his and Pepper's guess of Oscorp was on the right track, despite FRIDAY not yet finding evidence of such yet in Oscorp's servers.
Tony had mentioned briefly something about FRIDAY encountering another hacker within the servers, but the AI had not been able to track them down before losing their trail. But in her and Clint's eyes that was Tony's department, and unless he came to them with something that would give them a lead on the ground, they would keep digging until they found something. Just the previous day Clint had entered Midtown High disguised as a random safety inspector, taking advantage of the weekend to make sure there was less chance of some random teenager somehow being keen enough to notice an Avenger in disguise. As it was, none of the adults who were there over the weekend took note, which allowed the spy to access Payton's locker, which, besides all her school work, held a couple books that she checked out from the school's library the day she disappeared. Each book was about spiders for some reason, but nothing that Clint found had pointed to a motive for her abduction, or that she had been aware she was in danger at all.
Nat, for her part, had infiltrated the hospital where Payton's Aunt was currently residing as a patient. Things had seemed on the up and up from her perspective, with only a single detective stopping by temporarily to speak with a nurse regarding May Parker's status. A quick background check into one Yuriko Watanabe came up clean. The detective had a reputation of taking down mafia front's across the city, and, in her eyes, was clean. Watanabe probably just wanted to question Mrs. Parker on the events of the previous Monday, though that wouldn't happen until the woman came out of her coma, which didn't seem to be coming any time soon.
All that led to her and Clint's next plan. They showed up to the Parker residence in a Queens apartment building early Monday morning to find the apartment guarded by two uniformed officers. Neither of them wanted to draw attention to the fact that the Avengers were actively looking into the kid's disappearance. Instead they looked into the two officers, mostly at her own insistence. They quickly found that while these two officers were a part of the NYPD, both of them were supposed to be on paid time-off, which they had both requested and received the morning after Payton's kidnapping.
Now, as Monday's sun set, Natasha remained in the apartment building as her partner prepared to trigger the fire alarms. They had spent much of the day brainstorming how to get the two guards away from the door without causing suspicion, and eventually came to this. Feigning a fault wire that would force a building evacuation would, hopefully, allow her to sneak into the apartment for a look around.
With the doors opening, Nat knew from the building's floor plan that the two guards were on the opposite side of the building. Once the alarms went off, her walk over there would give enough time for those two to evacuate, leaving the door free for her to pick the lock and sneak in.
"Do it." She finally replied, and moments later she was assaulted by the blaring sirens and flashing lights of the fire alarm triggering across the entire building. All around her people began to evacuate their homes, causing a pang of guilt to stab at her as she saw the worry on their faces, but she had soothed the guilt with the knowledge that it was all fake, and the people truly had nothing to worry about. Their homes would still be here at the end of the night.
Natasha walked through the halls, seeing less and less people as they all worked to flee the building, some giving her weird looks as she wasn't going for the stairs, but she ignored them. When she reached the Parker residence, the door was clear, both guards having evacuated the building as well. As such, she knelt in front of the door, and within moments it swung open in front of her, her lockpicking skills more than enough for a rundown door in residential Queens.
"I'm in the apartment now Clint, let me know if the guards start coming back." She informed him.
"You got it Nat, they are just outside, lots of residents are trying to ask them what is going on." The archer replied humorously, causing her to snort in laughter as well.
The apartment was dark and orderly. She had half expected it to have been turned over as some unknown villain searched for something that Payton had unintentionally stumbled upon, but then again, that was something that usually only happened in the movies. Instead, the apartment probably looked just as it had when the Parkers went out for dinner a week ago. A bottle of wine still sat on the kitchen counter next to an open letter. Pillows and blankets were still scattered across the couch. The entire scene was very domestic, which was soured by the knowledge of what had happened to the family afterwards.
A quick glance at the letter revealed it to be an acceptance letter to a Stark Industries internship. Pepper had brought up the fact that Payton was accepted shortly after their original meeting, but as the intern list was not public knowledge the odds that it was a motive was slim to none.
Finding nothing in the kitchen or living room, Natasha entered the bedroom that had a sign with Payton's name on the door. The room, unlike the rest of the apartment that she saw, was a complete disaster. It looked as though a tornado flew through the room with clothes, sheets, books, and more all scattered haphazardly across the floor. After her eyes landed on the sleeve of a shirt under the bed, Nat bent down to take a look, and saw something interesting.
Shoved underneath the bed was a collection of destroyed items. Multiple pieces of clothing were simply torn into shreds, some sort of chemistry textbook was torn in half with small channels that looked like fingers embedded in the covers, and an alarm clock was crushed, a deep dent in the shape of a human hand took up the middle of the now-defunct device.
"I think I've got a motive here Clint." She spoke slowly, bringing the alarm clock with her from underneath the bed.
"Oh? What'd you find?"
"I think the kid is enhanced."
"...Oh. Evidence?"
"Her room is a mess but I found multiple destroyed items shoved underneath the bed. The biggest indicator is an alarm clock that was flattened into a pancake with the indent of a hand in the middle of it." She replied, smirking as she realized that the alarm clock was from the Iron Man brand. Looking around again, she found merchandise from every Avenger, from a Mjolnir shaped lamp, to a plastic Captain America shield hanging on a wall.
"So potential strength enhancement then?" Her partner asked.
"Yeah, my best guess? She just got the powers. If she had them long term she wouldn't have destroyed her own room like this."
"So Mutant, Mutate, or something else?" Clint wondered, referring to the difference between those with the X-gene, and those who got their powers in more experimental ways that led to modified genetics.
"We won't know for sure until we get a DNA test run." She answered. "I'll gather what samples I can and then we can run back to the Tower, give Helen some work to do tomorrow."
"Well, whatever you are going to do, make it quick. Fire Department just got here, and they'll probably declare the scene safe relatively soon." She was warned, prompting her to move quickly.
Rushing back to the kitchen, Nat dug through drawers and cabinets until she found ziplock bags. She then returned to Payton's room, taking strands of hair off the girl's bed to place in one bag, and then dumping some tissues she found in a trash can in the room into another bag. Hopefully Helen would be able to get enough from these samples, as Nat really didn't want to still be in here when people started to return to their homes.
As she reorganized things so it looked as though she was never here, a small box caught her eye. Stuck to the windowsill was a motion detector, set to go off if anyone crawled in through the fire escape. Clearly to prevent anyone from accessing the place from an area the guards weren't watching. Why place them in the first place? Who would be coming to investigate the place if the police already hadn't? It ended up being a question for another time, as another warning from Clint to wrap it up came through, and she left the apartment with her newfound DNA samples. Locking the door behind her, Natasha made her way to the back of the building and snuck out through a public access fire escape. She didn't want to risk the firemen from seeing her still inside.
Once she was back down to street level, she met back up with Clint, and the two of them together made their way back to the tower. Tomorrow they decided they would pick up the trail from where they left off.