#natasha:thread

it wasn’t that natasha wasn’t happy to see pepper - she was - it was more that the situation that they were all under made things a little harder to see certain people. pepper was a kind soul, ruthless in business - but she had heart and she ensure everyone was treated fairly. the small stint that she played as her assistant had been looked upon with fond memories - even if she primarily around to solely keep an eye on tony. pepper had become a friend. “didn’t expect to see you here - then again, better here than anywhere else, right?” she asked, moving to stand beside her and offering a small smile. “it’s good to see you, pepper - even in dystopian nightmares.”

“no --” she held up a hand, her back facing him as she finished the second to last bite of her slice of pie she’d bought from the bakery earlier that morning. it was close to evening time and this was the first time she was able to eat all day. she’d be damned before she let anyone - let alone spider-man - ruin that moment. causing the silence to last longer than necessary, she finished the last piece of the pastry as slowly as possible before putting on a satisfied smile and turning towards him with a raised but expectant brow. “alright, what’s going on that you needed to come down here to the pit of the killiseum to see me?”

"welcome to the killiseum, i don’t think i’ve seen you around before, at least not near this section,” natasha smiled and spoke calmly, openly - as she looked around the prep rooms - or green rooms, given she believed this was mostly just deadly theater. “have you come for a tour? or just looking around?” she asked, wondering if the other had come because of rad - and she attempted to sus it out. “forgive me for not introducing myself, natasha romanoff, i... well you can say i run a lot behind the scenes here, but my official title is battle coordinator.” she smiled again, still trying to figure rogue out.

“so you’ve heard about rad?” she asked casually setting aside her files and picking up her coffee, leveling her gaze at ben as he sat opposite her. she knew her little side project that she had been carefully nurturing was becoming bigger than she could have imagined - and it was nice to see the resistance growing more and more - and all while completely under doom’s nose. “i’d love to recruit you and your team, after all the fantastic four knows the emperor best, do they not?” she knew the answer already, but wanted to hear him confirm it. “what do you say, ben grimm? care to join in the resistance or would you like to take a subtler approach?”

“wow, hey bruce.” it’d been awhile since she’d seen him, but it was nice. natasha had just finished working on the paperwork for the repairs on the killiseum since the m.o.d.o.k. of it all when her office door had opened and bruce stepped through. “i hope you weren’t standing outside and waiting or debating if you should come in,” she raised a brow, a teasing nature in her tone as she smiled. it felt like ages since the team had all been together in one area - far too long - and avoiding the parts where any of them died, well... it’s nice that some variant form of them were here. “clint’s around here too if you wanted to see him, but i suspect you’re here to talk to me about something - what’s up?”

“should i be surprised by this visit?” natasha asked, not looking up as she smiled to herself knowing entirely too well on who it was that had entered. as she organized her remaining paperwork for the day, she finally stopped and looked up to meet her friend. “peggy, please tell me you’re not here to drag me out to do something other than raise a resistance and coordinate fights...? clint hasn’t gotten ahold of you and complained about me, right?” she teased, mockingly groaning in protest and only secretly hoping that peggy would drag her out of there. “but also i actually hope this visit is in good spirits?”

“so... a little birdy told me i could find you here.” natasha spoke up as she entered his lab in the science building. it’d taken her awhile to get around to meeting up with her original avengers. tony was always a soft spot for her, an old friend - someone she valued in opinion and understanding... and she hoped he was still close to the same tony she once knew. “it’s good to see you back in your element - though i think you’re missing a few flashy neon signs and maybe a self-portrait somewhere?” she teased, smiling at him as she moved to see what he was working on. “it’s been awhile, how’re you holding up?”

still, she wouldn’t be her without teasing him a little bit. “did you get me the coffee cake? that one’s my favorite.” it wasn’t, the cheesecake was more her thing, but the chance of seeing clint momentarily pause made the effort seem fun at the time. “i wanted to thank you for not-so-subtly getting me out of work. it’s nice being reminded that there’s more to this place than the arena walls.”