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It was precisely 12.35 when Steve received a panicked phone call from Tony;
“What is it T-“
“Steve! I lost Evie, I lost Natasha Romanoff’s daughter!”
Steve smiled over to Natasha nervously, she seemed to sense something was going on and was watching him closely.
Steve had accompanied her to shield where Elijah and Henry had an appointment with the doctor, and after Pepper had taken Jacob to visit her sister; Tony had begged Natasha to let him take Evie out for the day
“Where are you?”
“The mall, please please come help me?! Don’t let her kill me!”
“Right, I’ll be there”
“Who was that?! Natasha asked
“Bruce, he needs a hand with something. You okay here?”
Normally Natasha would be able to see he was lying, but she was distracted; Clint was away, her boys were ill and the doctor was ready to see them. She nodded, taking Elijah from Steve’s lap and walking into the examination room
Steve ran to the mall, it wasn’t far and he didn’t want to leave Natasha with no car to get home with. The entire mall was on lockdown, and only because he was Captain America did he manage to talk his way past the security guards and get in. He found Tony fretting by the pretzel stand and made his way over
“Tony?”
“Oh Steve thank god!”
“What happened?”
“I was paying for the pretzels and she was here, then she was gone! Man I’m glad Clint is away in another country! I'd be doubly dead!”
“I don’t know, he might have been the only one able to convince Nat not to shoot you in the face”
“Oh she’s going to shoot me isn’t she?! I’m totally going to get shot! I need my suit!”
“Tony, focus. What’s being done?”
“Bruce is searching the toy store and Thor is looking round all the book stores; the malls on lockdown until we’ve found her. I was going to wait here in case she came back, would you take the sweet store?”
Steve nodded and wondered down towards the shop. Hundreds of people were stood about, whispering to each other trying to find out what was going on. Bewildered faces stared at him; some recognising him even without his Captain America uniform.
Something was bothering Steve; sure, Evie pulled the vanishing act at home often enough; she had her moms ability to seemingly appear and disappear at will, but she had never gone missing while out and about before. She was all too aware of the threats she faced as a child of two master assassins, spies and avengers.
He was so lost in his own thoughts he almost missed the familiar flash of blond curls. Steve felt his blood begin to boil as he watched a middle aged man dragging her through the crowd.
“I’ve got her” Steve told his teammates through the comms before stalking after her
“Excuse me” Steve said, tapping the man harshly on the shoulder
“What do you want?” he replied, he was distracted and clearly didn’t realise who he was talking to. Good, this was going to be fun Steve smiled
“What are you doing?”
“I’m waiting to get out of here like everyone else!”
“Not what I’m referring to” Steve replied calmly, nodding his head in Evie’s direction to clear up his question
The man’s grip on Evie’s arm tightened and she winced in pain; that was it. Steve punched him in the face; swiftly and with all the force he could manage, the man crumpled to the floor unconscious. He heard Tony gasp from behind him. Evie looked up at him, she had never seen Steve lose his temper before.
Steve grabbed his niece and looked her over, checking she wasn’t hurt
“Evie are you okay?”
She nodded, fighting to keep back the tears that filled her eyes
“I was scared” she admitted to her uncle, easily switching to Tony’s arms when he reached them.
He hugged her and kissed her; “You weren’t the only one Little Spider” Tony whispered to her, holding her securely
In the end Fury had to be informed, which meant Natasha found out too.
Thor escorted the would-be kidnapper back to shield and Tony never once let go of Evie.
Natasha stormed into the interrogation room, she had to admit she didn’t look all that threatening in her jeans and baggy jumper, but she’d insisted on doing this. This was personal.
Steve was stood in the adjoining room, watching Natasha work. The others were sat together in Fury’s office; Hill was with the boys and Tony still held Evelyn, it seemed to make him feel better and she was comfortable in his arms; she felt safe.
“So, that was pretty stupid... Jason” she said as she scanned the rap sheet shield had dug up on him
“I didn’t know who she was!” he stated. Blood still ran from his broken nose and his eye was fast becoming darker and swollen; Steve was pretty happy with that.
“I find that hard to believe; in a mall full of children, you just happened to grab the child stood next to Iron Man. Now either you thought that her extremely wealthy uncle would be willing to pay a lot of money to get her back...”
“I would you know” she heard Tony whisper over the comm and she smiled slightly, turning her back to Jason.
“...Or you were planning on selling her to someone else, I know more than a few organisations who would be willing to pay for her, so tell me which it was”
“I swear! I didn’t know, I didn’t know!”
“You know you’re lucky her dad isn’t here... I’m an interrogation expert you see, I want information from you so you may live if you cooperate. Her dad, he’s angry. And he would love nothing more than to end you. Painfully”
Jason gulped
“He’s on his way here, so I suggest you cooperate soon” she informed him and left the room
“Nat, you’re shaking” Steve told her as she slammed the door shut behind her
“I’m off my game” she told him, she was annoyed with herself; she couldn’t focus
“Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton has arrived” one of the agents informed her
“Good, send him in” she smiled before returning to her interrogation
“Any further thoughts?” she asked him. His demeanor seemed to have changed in the short time she’d been out the room. He was more confident, arrogant.
“I have nothing to tell you”
Natasha stared at him; his deep brown eyes met her green ones and her anger boiled again
His large hands were splayed on the table, when suddenly an arrow embedded itself in his left hand.
“I told you he was angry” Natasha said, completely unsurprised. She’d sensed Clint sitting in the rafters for the last few minutes; she was actually surprised it had taken so long for him to lose his temper and shoot.
“I have nothing to say to you. Either of you” he muttered through the pain, ripping the arrow from his hand
Natasha had had enough; it was her turn to lash out. She kicked the interrogation table, it slid backwards and the heavy metal slammed into Jason’s chest and knocked all breath out of him.
“Agent Romanoff” Fury’s calm voice cut through her rage and stopped her before she threw the man to the floor. Another arrow flew through the air and pierced the man’s calf. His shriek of pain made Natasha smile before she followed Fury from the room.
“You need to back off, this isn’t working” Fury told her
“But director!” Steve began, protesting on Natasha’s behalf
“No, he’s right Steve, but there are only two agents I trust with this, and I want them both in there”
Fury nodded and called for the agents in question.
Natasha went back to Fury’s office to be with her children, continuing to monitor the interrogation via her comm device.
Clint stayed on his perch in the rafters, arrow at the ready, while he watched Phil and Maria tear the guy to shreds. They’d both learnt a lot from Natasha in their time working with her, and although they were both furious, it wasn’t quite as personal for them and after several hours they knew what they needed to know. Clint loosed one last arrow, hitting him in the thigh. He jumped down after the agents had left and looked him in the eye.
He said nothing, his threat was clearly evident.
“So we were lucky this time, that idiot was just in it for the money. No one specifically sent him after Evelyn” Fury summarised for them.
Jason Willis was a drunk and gambling addict, struggling to feed his habits. He’d seen Evie’s picture in the newspaper the previous month when the paparazzi had caught sight of her; although she was perhaps one of the most famous children in America (the first child of not one, but two of the avengers made her a pretty big deal), they’d managed to keep her image out of the public eye mostly. Jason had recognized her and quickly hatched a plan to make some quick money. He seemingly didn’t think about the repercussions; her four angry uncles, two furious parents, as well as an entire team of agents who were not only willing, but able to lock him up for the rest of his life.
“I’m so sorry. So so sorry!” Tony repeated over and over as they made their way home.
“Tony, it’s not your fault” Natasha told him gently. The whole thing had shaken her, it could have happened to anyone... But right now the team and her family were gathered in the tower; all safe.
“Evie, I’m going to buy you a present! Any present, what do you want?”
“Anything?” she asked in wonder, she was snuggled up on her mother’s lap now, but still had Tony’s hand grasped tightly in hers
“Anything” he confirmed
“You’re gonna regret that” Clint warned him
“A pony!” she asked hopefully
“I don’ think so” Clint told her, before Tony could agree
“A puppy?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea baby girl” Natasha told her, stroking her blond curls from her face
“Oh I know! I know!” Evie stated excitedly, shifting slightly to sit up
Everyone waited for the next inappropriate request
“I don’t want a present, I want to go ice skating!”
“I think we can manage that” Tony said
“Everybody?” she clarified her request, looking round at Steve, Bruce and Thor to let them know they were included in this. They all nodded
“Sure”
“Even Pepper? Darcy has to come too! And Phil and Maria! Oh and Jane!”
“Okay okay, you make a list and we’ll start to plan it” Tony told her, kissing his niece on her forehead
Tony decided he’d buy out the whole ice rink for the day; it was safer, he wasn’t taking any chances.