The Dream Below, 2/8. NC-17
Title: The Dream Below
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: *deep breath* Steve/Bucky, Steve/Natasha, Steve/Bucky/Natasha, Clint/Natasha, Loki/Natasha, Tony/Pepper, Maria/Natasha, Jane/Thor.
Disclaimer: Not mine! Not even by a little bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: MCU AU. Based off of this AU gifset on Tumblr. Come on, a mashup of Inception and the MCU. *drools* Did you really think I could stay away from this? No, I didn't think so either. :D Title and chapter titles from Linkin Park's "Castle of Glass."
Summary: Thor of Odin Corp. hires Steve Rogers' elite dream sharing team to perform inception on his brother, Loki, and a shade of their ex-resident thief Bucky (who was killed when the team's last job went horribly wrong) tries his best to sabotage it.
Or: Steve extracts, Tony builds, Clint runs point, Natasha's a master of impersonation, Bruce concocts, Thor's a tourist, and things happen.
Prior chapter:
One - Through The Secrets That I Have Seen
Two - Wash The Poison From Off My Skin
Because it was neutral territory and highly convenient, everyone met up in Paris. The airport was large enough and anonymous enough for all of them to arrive from various places in the world; none of them were on Interpol's watch list anyway. Odin Corp's European headquarters was located in Paris, so their infiltration would work best at that location. Tony sometimes lived there because his girlfriend Pepper Potts did. Her friend Maria Hill was also a friend of Natasha's; they had met on a job years ago, and Natasha had kept up the relationship, even if it was sporadic. Maria was the second in command to a security firm that was often nicknamed The Fortress. There was quite a bit of irony in having their meeting about illegal activity in The Fortress, and Maria thought it was downright hilarious. If her colleagues and boss didn't do a thorough security check of everyone they allowed to use the meeting space, they deserved what they got as far as she was concerned. "Just so you know," she had warned them, "any funny stuff, and I will have trained agents in there inside of one minute with guns at your heads."
Natasha had merely smiled at her, as if a formal challenge had been issued. "If they can actually do that, then they're worth keeping."
Maria had snorted. "I know you, Natasha. Come talk to me if you get tired of these losers and ever want to go legit."
"Offer me a big enough payout, and we'll see."
She had laughed, because of course legitimate businesses couldn't give the same kind of payout that dream share could. Maria also knew that it paid to keep a few friends on the other side of the law in her line of work; the day might come when she needed the contacts for a job or an out if The Fortress collapsed on her.
It was odd for Clint to know he was meeting with Steve, that Bucky wasn't going to be there, that Natasha would be going home with him instead of the other two men. He hadn't been jealous of them, not exactly; they had been too perfectly in tune that a fourth would have obviously messed things up, and he hadn't wanted Bucky or Steve. He simply had wanted what they had, that sense that someone out there completely understood him, inside and out, that he never had to be anything that he wasn't. He had that with Natasha now, and it was amazing, but at what cost?
Steve didn't look awful on the outside. Clint wasn't sure if he had been hoping that Steve would have shown some visible sign of all their suffering or not.
He was smiling at them all, grinning widely as if this was a pleasant reunion and not the first time they had all willingly been in the same room together, let alone the same city. "This is wonderful," he began, teeth flashing like a toothpaste commercial. He even carried the familiar silver briefcase as if he was an ordinary businessman.
Clint wanted to knock his teeth in.
Introductions were made all around; Tony had a few real world contracts under his belt, and Steve was appropriately impressed by that, and Bruce had come in by way of Calcutta, where he had been doing research on beneficial aspects of somnacin and various other soporifics for a private pharmaceutical company. "I'm on sabbatical right now. So your timing is actually excellent," he said as he shook Steve's hand. "But me in a big city really isn't a good idea," he said, a self deprecating grimace on his face.
"Oh? Why is that?" Steve asked, not a trace of obfuscation in his expression.
"Would that be the exquisite rage issues I've been hearing about?" Tony piped up, reaching over from his seat to poke Bruce in the side. Everyone glared at him, but he didn't quite subside. Perhaps they should have let Pepper tag along with him, after all. She had said that few people could handle Tony as well as she could, and Clint was starting to see her point. Still, he had thought the team could replace one svelte strawberry blonde in designer dress suits and stiletto Louboutins. Apparently not.
Steve had merely sighed and continued shaking Bruce's hand. "I've heard about your research specialties, and that's the expertise I'm interested in. Anything else... As long as it doesn't disrupt the team, I'm sure we'll be able to get along fine."
Bruce, a touch of gray at his temples and bright eyes hidden behind wire rim glasses, had let out a slow breath. He wasn't as tall as Steve, but was taller than Tony and not built as bulkily. He had a tendency to slouch, and wore faded suits as if he was a university professor. It was likely a holdover from his old academia days; he had taught psychology, with a focus on trauma work, and also had studied in biochemistry labs. Academia, however, paid far worse than private sector, which was miles behind dream share.
"We're waiting on one more," Steve announced, looking over the room.
Clint almost expected to bristle when Steve looked at Natasha, but there was nothing more than regret and a vague longing in his eyes when he looked at her. Natasha, for her part, didn't even bother to make eye contact.
"Who are we waiting for?" Clint asked, brows furrowed as he watched Steve confidently walk over to the main desk and place the PASIV carefully onto it.
"Our employer, Thor Odinson," Steve replied, as if that wasn't a loaded grenade tossed into their midst, pin pulled.
There were variations of "What?" and "Are you out of your mind?" and "Why the fuck would he need us?" from the others, but Clint rose to his feet in his silence. Natasha had shot to her feet as well, glaring at Steve as if he had grown another head.
"We have a complicated job ahead of us," Steve said smoothly, hands raised slightly as if to placate them. "I think it's best to wait until we're all in the room together, and we can discuss the job all at once instead of piecemeal."
"Did you even clear out your own head?" Natasha hissed.
Steve shot her a look and said nothing; at once that told her and Clint everything they needed to know about the situation, and he cursed colorfully in Russian. Natasha echoed his sentiment, her jaw tight as she looked at Steve.
There was nothing quite so bitter as love turned sour, caring twisted into something foul.
"You want inception," Bruce said suddenly, staring at him. "That's why you need me. You'd have to go in three or four layers deep in order to do something like that..."
"Inception is a pipe dream. A myth," Clint insisted.
"It's been done," Bruce murmured. "Rare, and the mind has to cooperate, usually if it's a small or organic change. We've done it in our trauma work, suppressed or erased the pain of it, but this is incredibly dangerous to the psyche. You can do so much damage if you're not careful, and the dreams have to incredibly clean and clear." He shook his head. "Even in the cases where we did that back at the university, I can't say that it was a good thing that we did."
Steve tried to soothe the group of them, urging them to stay calm. Natasha was coldly telling him that he had no right to tell her to calm down, given his history. There seemed to be only one way to shut everyone up, so Clint took it.
Sweeping the silver briefcase off of the desk, Clint swiftly moved to the window. "I swear to god, Steve, I will drop the PASIV out of this fucking window if you don't tell me right now why you thought taking this goddamn job was a good idea, what with Bucky running around in our heads trying to shoot us out of our dreams."
"Can't you feel it, Clint? You're antsy. We're all antsy. We've been the best dream share team there is out there since Cobb's disbanded, and we haven't gone under in over a year."
"Jesus Christ, you guys haven't gone under in a year?" Tony cried.
"We have," Clint said, pointing at his chest and then Natasha. "He hasn't."
"This is going to be a disaster. I should have stayed in Calcutta," Bruce sighed.
"Oh, come on, now. You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha told Bruce, irritated.
"The more important question is," Tony said, cutting off Bruce's reply, "is who the hell is Bucky? And why would he shoot us out of our dreams?"
Steve grit his teeth and didn't answer.
"What the hell did I sign up for?" Tony asked, frowning. "Other than a six figure payout, because that is always good promise. If it's real."
The office doors had opened as Tony spoke, and the golden goose of the job walked in.
"Oh yes, it is very real," Thor Odinson promised gravely. "And if things go better than I hope, it could even be a seven figure payout."
That got everyone very quiet and very alert.
Now Thor grinned. "Well, then. Now that I have everyone's attention, let's begin."
***
Sitting in a conference room, chairs arranged in a semicircle in front of a whiteboard, Steve tried to rally their enthusiasm. But once the thrill of a potential million dollar payout each wore off, the reality of it sank in.
Change the nature of a man the business world was starting to call amoral and sociopathic; for the business world, that was saying something.
"This is impossible," Clint said. "The stories that are out there are just that. Stories."
"We did it in research based facilities," Bruce said, shaking his head. "But their minds were fragile to start with, unstable. The trauma they experienced was worth the risk. Severe torture, trauma you don't even want to imagine... We had to go in there, box it all up, see that the children could have something resembling a normal life... This isn't that. This isn't any kind of humane act that you propose to do."
"No offense, Dr. Banner," Steve said in quiet tones, "but you aren't working on humane acts right now. You moved out of academic work into the private sector. And the people your company tests its products on aren't exactly willing participants."
He went frighteningly pale, hands curling into fists in his lap. "Mr. Rogers..."
"If we're done posturing," Natasha cut in, voice icy and disapproving in Steve's direction. "I think we need to be honest here. You took the job. Today wasn't to ask if we were on board, you were hoping to hook us into a job you already accepted."
Steve's silence spoke volumes.
"Son of a bitch," Tony said, leaning back in his chair. "Wow. That is a total dick move."
"Seven figures," Steve said into the ensuing silence.
"He upped it today because he heard us arguing," Clint snapped. "Don't pretend that it was your play all along."
"Come on! We're the best, aren't we? We can do this. I know we can. We may not agree on this, we may not even like each other. But each of us is the best and brightest in the field right now. We're more than up for this challenge, more than ready to work on this. They say that inception is impossible. Or damn near to it. I say we can do it. I say we can make it work, do the impossible, then go our separate ways that much richer."
"Maybe they all say it can't be done because it shouldn't be done," Bruce said softly. "We have no right to break someone's mind and play around with it just because we can."
"How much more harm would he do if we didn't?" Steve asked in a tone that was just as soft, just as reverent. "If we go into this, yes, the money is going to be a draw. I don't think we should ignore that aspect of it. But if we go and fix this man's mind, get rid of the hatred and grief and despair, wouldn't we be doing him a favor? Wouldn't it be like years of therapy?"
"What right do we have to do this?" Tony asked, frowning.
"If he keeps going, he destroys every business he sets his sights on. Hundreds of thousands of people out of jobs, just because he's pissed off at his dead father. Just because he can't stop grieving and he can't let go."
Natasha leaned in close to Clint's ear to whisper "Pot. Kettle."
He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. The move seemed to throw Steve for a moment, and he finally took a deep breath. "Please," he said finally. "There are a thousand reasons I could come up with why we should do this, from humanitarian to because we can to the challenge of it. I resisted taking this job at first, I really did. But Thor got to me. He's hurting, he's in pain." He turned to look at Clint and Natasha. "I can never say I'm sorry enough, I know this. But the least I can give you is this: a job to put on your resume, leave you flush with cash and maybe the opportunity to add to your reputation."
Clint stared at Steve for a long moment. "I think you actually mean that."
"I do."
Exchanging a wordless glance with Natasha, Clint turned back to Steve. "That helps. It's not enough, but it's a start. We're in."
***
There was a certain thrill in the start of a job. The preparation was intense, delving into the subject of the job with such a fervor Clint never felt for legitimate work. He loved being able to go into financial records, social media and hacking into computers for private files. The data didn't lie, and he could spread it all around him and rearrange it into patterns that made sense. It normally was a rather conceited thought, that he could reduce a person to nothing but data points and patterns, but this was part of what he was good at. The other was playing point once he was under in the dream below. His vision sharpened, and he could see threats before they arrived, could predict where a mind would put its security. It was an underappreciated skill as far as he was concerned, but everything ran smoothly when he did his preparation right.
Natasha went undercover to see how Loki behaved, who the important people were in his life and get a better sense of who she would forge once they dropped down into the dream. She had been brought in as a legal assistant; one benefit of having Thor be their employer was that he could push through her paperwork by bullying HR into it. She would have had a fairly sweet setup with the corporation if she was actually a legal assistant.
Loki was certainly paranoid. The first time she arrived in a stylish white blouse and high waisted black pencil skirt with high heels, courtesy of a shopping spree with Pepper, he had glared at her with thinned lips. "You're new."
"Yes, sir," she said with a brisk nod. "Sarah is out on maternity leave right now, so I was hired on to cover her cases." She handed him the clipboard with the paperwork in question. "I need you to review these files regarding the acquisition off-"
"Who's Sarah?" he asked sharply.
Blinking in surprise, Natasha had the same innocent expression on her face. "Sarah Miller in legal. She's on maternity leave. She took the full twelve weeks so I was hired to cover that time."
He frowned, obviously trying to place Sarah Miller. In front of her, rather than taking the clipboard from her, he went on the company website to look her up. But Sarah Miller really did just have a baby and take twelve weeks of leave; Natasha liked making her cover stories as plausible as possible, just in case she had paranoid subjects like this.
This meant odds were good that he would be militarized, even if he had no formal training.
Snatching the clipboard from her, Loki scrawled his signature in all the flagged spots and handed it back to her without even checking what he was signing. "I know those files inside and out," he said at her blink of surprise. "Legal was simply double checking the verbiage."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that," Natasha said, taking the clipboard back.
"Who are you?" he snapped, irritated with her. She had been aware that he had very little patience, but this was a little ridiculous.
"Natalie Rushman."
"So how did you get to temping in my legal department?" he asked, practically crackling with tension as he looked her up and down.
"It's a locum position," she said, tucking the clipboard against her chest. "Once Sarah's back, I'll be heading to a new location."
"No loyalty," he sneered.
"Varying experience," she corrected. "I've been in a dozen cities with a lot of different sized companies, each with different needs. It's a good way to gather a lot of experience in a short amount of time." She pasted a polite smile on her face. "Is there anything else you might need from me, Mr. Odinson?"
Loki scowled at her. "They should have told you."
"Told me what?"
"Do not ever call me Odinson. Or sir. Just Loki."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Is there anything else you need, Loki?"
His jaw remained tight, but his eyes were assessing. "No, not right now."
She knew he would access her personnel file as soon as she left, and his paranoia would lead him to possibly look into interacting with her again. She would have to play this very carefully, and make sure she wasn't as memorable as she feared she might be.
***
Thor Odinson and his girlfriend Jane Foster sat in the company cafeteria. She often visited from the university where she taught classes in astronomy and astrophysics, a competitive field and one notorious for having few women in it. She was quite gifted but also very approachable. It was sometimes almost comical how absentminded she could be, not keeping track of her cell phone or names of people she just met, but she was usually juggling some kind of complex formulae in the back of her head as she went about her day. Her pockets were usually full of notepads and pencil stubs, and it was a common occurrence for her to stop what she was doing, take out the pad, jot something down, frown at it, make corrections, then put everything away and continue as if there had been no interruption at all.
They had met at a charity event at the university, where Thor had gone to personally gift the school with the Odinson endowment for business graduates. He knew nothing about STEM, but had literally bumped into Jane and been mortified at spilling his drink all over her. They wound up talking, and he had offered to have his driver take her home and pay for dry cleaning. She hadn't particularly cared for the dress she had worn to the event, and didn't care about the niceties of its care. Instead, she was more taken with him, finding him charming and sweet. They had talked all night, exchanged numbers, and soon enough were an established item. While the casual observer might not have understood it, Thor was clearly in love and adored her. He nodded at intervals when she explained her research in interstellar phenomena, and she also gave him rapt attention when he explained a business takeover.
It was also clear from Odin Corporation events that Loki was insanely jealous of them.
Loki sought out Natasha at an event they were sponsoring at the business school, where she was working with Sif, the head of Thor's public relations team. She was a tall, statuesque woman with flowing dark hair, porcelain skin and a no nonsense demeanor.
"This is a legal assistant," Loki told Sif with some disdain in his voice.
"Yes, and she has been invaluable in assisting me," Sif replied, dismissive of Loki. She signaled for the security team, led by Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral. Hogun was the more taciturn of the three, but they were fiercely loyal to Thor and the Odinson family; Natasha wasn't sure if Loki would count as part of that family due to his own actions.
"If there's a problem, I could leave," Natasha offered.
"Absolutely not. You are here at my request." Sif glared at Loki. "He never stays for these, so don't worry about his sour attitude."
"Forgive me for thinking this is ridiculous and petty," he sneered.
"Your complaints are petty," Sif replied, lip curling in aggravation.
"I believe the provost would want to speak with you," Natasha said to Sif, eyeing the gentleman in question across the party. She glanced down at the clipboard she had. "He did have questions about the endowment."
Nodding at Natasha, she went off in search of the provost. That left her with Loki, who appeared irritated at her intervention. "Can I help you, Loki? I wasn't aware you would be here tonight."
He scowled at her pleasant expression. "You. Everywhere I turn, there you are."
She shrugged at him. "The others in Legal all had things to do tonight."
"I find it hard to believe that you don't."
"I'm not from this area. Everyone else knows what's around town to do."
"So why don't you ask them?"
"I'm only going to be here another ten weeks. Why bother? I'll be moving after that."
Loki frowned at her. "It's a rather lonely existence."
"Maybe. But it works for me." She gave him a polite smile and gave him her full attention, pen in hand and poised over the clipboard. "You never did answer my question, though. Is there something you needed tonight?"
The frown deepened into a scowl. "No," he finally snarled, hands curling into fists at his sides.
She watched him stalk off from the party, wondering about his mental stability.
***
"Why are there no personal photos of you or your family in the company database?" Loki asked abruptly, coming to Natasha's cubicle.
Was he stalking her? She wasn't supposed to be this memorable to him. Discussing it with Clint the night before, the two had thought it best that she continue with her persona rather than pretend she was being yanked out early. Natalie Rushman was a very skilled legal assistant, and so far those she worked with were very pleased with her flexibility in being pulled into other areas. Most of the other legal assistants whined and pleaded to leave. She just pasted a smile on her face and saw it as an opportunity to see more of Loki's interactions with the rest of the Odin Corporation staff.
Damn. She was probably going to have to go under as Natalie, then.
"Are there supposed to be? I'm the one working here, not my family." Natalie didn't even look up from her computer, where she was comparing changes in documentation for one of Loki's upcoming business mergers.
"Look at me."
Startled, Natasha jerked her eyes from the screen and looked at Loki. His expression was one of intensity, and her heart sank. He was obsessed, then. She was definitely going to have to go under as Natalie.
"Did I do something wrong? My supervisors-"
"No," he snarled. "You have excellent credentials and your supervisor already plans to give you a glowing recommendation when you move on to your next locum tenens position."
"I don't understand. What is it, then? I'm trying to do everything asked-"
"And no one else does. Why is that?"
She blinked. Of all the silly things to latch on to... "I have a strong work ethic?"
Loki's lip curled in derision. "Something is off about you. I'll figure it out."
Something in Natasha's chest seized with anger. Not at the thought of being caught; she was skilled enough in a variety of combat techniques that she knew she could defend herself. But her Natalie persona was flawless and she was busting her ass at this job. Natalie was fucking pissed that this self absorbed rich boy thought he was better than her and could harass her with impunity.
Well, fuck that.
"Just because you run the company doesn't give you the right to stalk me and harass me," she snapped. "I am doing my job and whatever other inane things that are asked of me. You have no right to belittle my efforts just because you're bored!"
Natalie sat back after a moment, almost horrified with herself for the outburst. Natasha wanted to sigh, and hoped this didn't mean her carefully crafted character had to be thrown away.
But Loki straightened, a ghost of a smirk on his lips as he contemplated her. "You surprise me, little Natalie. Not many can do that anymore."
"Do I need to call security on you?"
He laughed outright, drawing attention from the other legal assistants. "They work for me. What do you think they would do for you?"
"Serve as witnesses if I have to file a police report," Natasha replied sweetly.
Loki laughed again. "You are a balm, meant to soothe."
"How is being threatened with harassment charges soothing?" she wondered aloud.
"Because unlike the other fools here, you actually say what you think."
And with that pronouncement, Loki left the room.
Yep, she was definitely going to have to be Natalie Rushman in the dream.
***
Clint frowned at Natasha, lo mein hovering an inch away from his mouth on the end of his chopsticks. "This can't be a good thing."
"Well, Natalie is only going to be there for a temporary amount of time, and seeing her in the dream can be written off as just seeing her in the company on a regular basis," Steve reasoned. He was sitting in front of the whiteboard, where he kept track of everyone's thoughts as they were trying to put together the plan of attack.
The current plan was splitting the resolution of Loki's grief into three parts. "Like a three-act stage play," had been Tony's comment at Steve's suggestion. All eyes had swiveled toward him, but he unapologetically shrugged at that. "Pepper and I date, you know. She happens to like theater, so we've gone to a few plays. And you losers better not make me miss date night. She was disappointed that I'd forgotten our last one. I owe her."
Act one was labeled "Setting the Stage" after Tony's play comment. Act two was labeled "Descent" and Act three was labeled "Letting Go," meaning Loki's grief. No one mentioned the specter of a shade running around in Steve's dreams.
"If we set the stage, so to speak," Steve began, "we use his attention to Natasha as Natalie. He knows nothing about her. So in the dream, we have them meet up somewhere informal, outside of the company. Not as strict, drinks can be had. Discuss Natalie being adopted, and she's obviously very well adjusted about it. It drops the hint that being adopted isn't horrible, and we test his response to that."
"Stage two would be what, then?" Clint asked, narrowing his eyes at Steve. "Because if stage three is the grieving, how do we transition from the adoption thing to that?"
"I'm guessing that's why it's called descent," Tony called out from his desk. He was pored over a number of sketchbooks, already running with the idea of a business meeting. "Economics convention, you think? Do they even have those? What am I asking? Of course they have those, there's a convention for everything."
"Well?" Clint prompted. "How do we transition it?"
"It has to be a natural transition," Bruce reminded them. "This entire thing is traumatic for him. You just don't tell someone that adoption is okay and then hit them with the grieving. A lot of times, there might be acting out. So we'd need to give him space to be angry and complain that it's not fair."
"Basically, the stages of grief, then," Tony said. "You just spread it out over two layers. Or do we even need two layers for that? Can we just do it as a dream within a dream?"
"For our trauma patients, we did it in three or four layers, but the deeper in you go, the more unstable it is. It-"
"Okay," Steve said with a nod. "So maybe just two layers? Or if we keep it three, it gives him more time, more of a gradual way to deal with the process. So then by the third layer, we can also reintroduce the concept of Thor and Frigga Odinson as his family again."
Clint nodded. "That is a useful thing to put in there."
"Sounds good to me," Natasha said with a shrug.
"Another thing," Steve murmured, a grimace on his face. "I'd hate to bring it up, but..." He sighed. "Maria's making noises about us using the office space. I know Thor's footing the bill, so getting shorted on the fees can't be it. She hates me, or else I'd ask what the deal is. We need someone persuasive."
All eyes swiveled toward Natasha. "What?"
"You're the one that always says you can be persuasive," Bruce pointed out.
"Yes, but sometimes that means seducing people!" No one seemed surprised by that. "Wait a second. You guys don't expect me to seduce Maria, do you?!"
"I'll watch if you do," Clint offered. He ducked the empty fried rice carton she chucked at his head and grinned.
"Can I join you? Maybe it'll give Pepper ideas!" Tony chimed in.
"You guys all suck."
"She likes you," Steve said earnestly. "I just expect you to talk to her, find out what's going on. Maybe it's just that her boss doesn't want us around, maybe she doesn't want to even tangentially be associated with dream share anymore. Or maybe it's just me."
"Well, if you've been a dick to us," Clint began in a musing tone of voice, "I am incredibly not surprised by you being a dick to other people."
Steve sighed. "Okay, okay. Can we get off the 'beating up Steve' train right now?" He rubbed at his face tiredly. "If she doesn't want to deal with me, I can always try to arrange it so that she doesn't have to. But if I ask her, she'll probably kick us out."
"Why does she hate you?" Bruce asked.
Steve sighed. "I made her look bad in front of her boss by pulling a fast one on the security she hired and digging around in the secure storage facility they were hired to protect. It was full of stolen weapons, and that was a day of awkward explanations."
"So we need Natasha to use her feminine wiles to clean up your mess?" Tony asked.
"Do you guys honestly think it's always about sex?" Natasha asked, rolling her eyes.
"Of course it isn't!" Steve replied, affronted. "But if it is, you're really good at it."
At her snort, Clint laughed. "C'mon, Tash. You are gorgeous and you know it. Hell, if she's not gay, she'd totally go gay for you."
"I have to admit, I find it more than a little disturbing that the two of you discuss sleeping with other people like it's not a big deal," Bruce said. "I guess I'm old fashioned that way."
"We're not exclusive," Clint said. "But she's my best friend before anything else."
She grinned at him and blew him a kiss. "You say the sweetest things sometimes."
"But no, seriously. If it does turn into sex, feel free to use my place so I can watch."
"And then you say some fucked up shit like that," Natasha said, throwing a pencil unerringly at his head. It bounced off, and she studiously ignored Tony's chuckle. Looking over at Steve was a mistake, because he was using the puppy dog pleading gaze that always used to have her getting suckered into whatever plan he had. True, most of them involved tag teaming James when the three of them had all been together, but not all of those schemes had been bad. Maybe this one wouldn't be so bad, either. She and Maria were friendly enough to begin with, and it was only to figure out what was going on.
She sighed, knowing she was probably going to regret this anyway. "Fine, fine, I'll talk to her. Just talk. I'm sure you're making a big deal for nothing."
Steve beamed at her, and for a moment it felt like old times. "Thanks, Nat. You're wonderful."
Oh, Jesus. That hit her in the gut like a sucker punch, but she made sure not to wince at the memories that were pushing to the fore. She simply smiled and tucked into dinner.
Fuck, she was regretting this already.
***
***
To Chapter Three - Warm Me Up In A Nova's Glow
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: *deep breath* Steve/Bucky, Steve/Natasha, Steve/Bucky/Natasha, Clint/Natasha, Loki/Natasha, Tony/Pepper, Maria/Natasha, Jane/Thor.
Disclaimer: Not mine! Not even by a little bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: MCU AU. Based off of this AU gifset on Tumblr. Come on, a mashup of Inception and the MCU. *drools* Did you really think I could stay away from this? No, I didn't think so either. :D Title and chapter titles from Linkin Park's "Castle of Glass."
Summary: Thor of Odin Corp. hires Steve Rogers' elite dream sharing team to perform inception on his brother, Loki, and a shade of their ex-resident thief Bucky (who was killed when the team's last job went horribly wrong) tries his best to sabotage it.
Or: Steve extracts, Tony builds, Clint runs point, Natasha's a master of impersonation, Bruce concocts, Thor's a tourist, and things happen.
Prior chapter:
One - Through The Secrets That I Have Seen
Two - Wash The Poison From Off My Skin
Because it was neutral territory and highly convenient, everyone met up in Paris. The airport was large enough and anonymous enough for all of them to arrive from various places in the world; none of them were on Interpol's watch list anyway. Odin Corp's European headquarters was located in Paris, so their infiltration would work best at that location. Tony sometimes lived there because his girlfriend Pepper Potts did. Her friend Maria Hill was also a friend of Natasha's; they had met on a job years ago, and Natasha had kept up the relationship, even if it was sporadic. Maria was the second in command to a security firm that was often nicknamed The Fortress. There was quite a bit of irony in having their meeting about illegal activity in The Fortress, and Maria thought it was downright hilarious. If her colleagues and boss didn't do a thorough security check of everyone they allowed to use the meeting space, they deserved what they got as far as she was concerned. "Just so you know," she had warned them, "any funny stuff, and I will have trained agents in there inside of one minute with guns at your heads."
Natasha had merely smiled at her, as if a formal challenge had been issued. "If they can actually do that, then they're worth keeping."
Maria had snorted. "I know you, Natasha. Come talk to me if you get tired of these losers and ever want to go legit."
"Offer me a big enough payout, and we'll see."
She had laughed, because of course legitimate businesses couldn't give the same kind of payout that dream share could. Maria also knew that it paid to keep a few friends on the other side of the law in her line of work; the day might come when she needed the contacts for a job or an out if The Fortress collapsed on her.
It was odd for Clint to know he was meeting with Steve, that Bucky wasn't going to be there, that Natasha would be going home with him instead of the other two men. He hadn't been jealous of them, not exactly; they had been too perfectly in tune that a fourth would have obviously messed things up, and he hadn't wanted Bucky or Steve. He simply had wanted what they had, that sense that someone out there completely understood him, inside and out, that he never had to be anything that he wasn't. He had that with Natasha now, and it was amazing, but at what cost?
Steve didn't look awful on the outside. Clint wasn't sure if he had been hoping that Steve would have shown some visible sign of all their suffering or not.
He was smiling at them all, grinning widely as if this was a pleasant reunion and not the first time they had all willingly been in the same room together, let alone the same city. "This is wonderful," he began, teeth flashing like a toothpaste commercial. He even carried the familiar silver briefcase as if he was an ordinary businessman.
Clint wanted to knock his teeth in.
Introductions were made all around; Tony had a few real world contracts under his belt, and Steve was appropriately impressed by that, and Bruce had come in by way of Calcutta, where he had been doing research on beneficial aspects of somnacin and various other soporifics for a private pharmaceutical company. "I'm on sabbatical right now. So your timing is actually excellent," he said as he shook Steve's hand. "But me in a big city really isn't a good idea," he said, a self deprecating grimace on his face.
"Oh? Why is that?" Steve asked, not a trace of obfuscation in his expression.
"Would that be the exquisite rage issues I've been hearing about?" Tony piped up, reaching over from his seat to poke Bruce in the side. Everyone glared at him, but he didn't quite subside. Perhaps they should have let Pepper tag along with him, after all. She had said that few people could handle Tony as well as she could, and Clint was starting to see her point. Still, he had thought the team could replace one svelte strawberry blonde in designer dress suits and stiletto Louboutins. Apparently not.
Steve had merely sighed and continued shaking Bruce's hand. "I've heard about your research specialties, and that's the expertise I'm interested in. Anything else... As long as it doesn't disrupt the team, I'm sure we'll be able to get along fine."
Bruce, a touch of gray at his temples and bright eyes hidden behind wire rim glasses, had let out a slow breath. He wasn't as tall as Steve, but was taller than Tony and not built as bulkily. He had a tendency to slouch, and wore faded suits as if he was a university professor. It was likely a holdover from his old academia days; he had taught psychology, with a focus on trauma work, and also had studied in biochemistry labs. Academia, however, paid far worse than private sector, which was miles behind dream share.
"We're waiting on one more," Steve announced, looking over the room.
Clint almost expected to bristle when Steve looked at Natasha, but there was nothing more than regret and a vague longing in his eyes when he looked at her. Natasha, for her part, didn't even bother to make eye contact.
"Who are we waiting for?" Clint asked, brows furrowed as he watched Steve confidently walk over to the main desk and place the PASIV carefully onto it.
"Our employer, Thor Odinson," Steve replied, as if that wasn't a loaded grenade tossed into their midst, pin pulled.
There were variations of "What?" and "Are you out of your mind?" and "Why the fuck would he need us?" from the others, but Clint rose to his feet in his silence. Natasha had shot to her feet as well, glaring at Steve as if he had grown another head.
"We have a complicated job ahead of us," Steve said smoothly, hands raised slightly as if to placate them. "I think it's best to wait until we're all in the room together, and we can discuss the job all at once instead of piecemeal."
"Did you even clear out your own head?" Natasha hissed.
Steve shot her a look and said nothing; at once that told her and Clint everything they needed to know about the situation, and he cursed colorfully in Russian. Natasha echoed his sentiment, her jaw tight as she looked at Steve.
There was nothing quite so bitter as love turned sour, caring twisted into something foul.
"You want inception," Bruce said suddenly, staring at him. "That's why you need me. You'd have to go in three or four layers deep in order to do something like that..."
"Inception is a pipe dream. A myth," Clint insisted.
"It's been done," Bruce murmured. "Rare, and the mind has to cooperate, usually if it's a small or organic change. We've done it in our trauma work, suppressed or erased the pain of it, but this is incredibly dangerous to the psyche. You can do so much damage if you're not careful, and the dreams have to incredibly clean and clear." He shook his head. "Even in the cases where we did that back at the university, I can't say that it was a good thing that we did."
Steve tried to soothe the group of them, urging them to stay calm. Natasha was coldly telling him that he had no right to tell her to calm down, given his history. There seemed to be only one way to shut everyone up, so Clint took it.
Sweeping the silver briefcase off of the desk, Clint swiftly moved to the window. "I swear to god, Steve, I will drop the PASIV out of this fucking window if you don't tell me right now why you thought taking this goddamn job was a good idea, what with Bucky running around in our heads trying to shoot us out of our dreams."
"Can't you feel it, Clint? You're antsy. We're all antsy. We've been the best dream share team there is out there since Cobb's disbanded, and we haven't gone under in over a year."
"Jesus Christ, you guys haven't gone under in a year?" Tony cried.
"We have," Clint said, pointing at his chest and then Natasha. "He hasn't."
"This is going to be a disaster. I should have stayed in Calcutta," Bruce sighed.
"Oh, come on, now. You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha told Bruce, irritated.
"The more important question is," Tony said, cutting off Bruce's reply, "is who the hell is Bucky? And why would he shoot us out of our dreams?"
Steve grit his teeth and didn't answer.
"What the hell did I sign up for?" Tony asked, frowning. "Other than a six figure payout, because that is always good promise. If it's real."
The office doors had opened as Tony spoke, and the golden goose of the job walked in.
"Oh yes, it is very real," Thor Odinson promised gravely. "And if things go better than I hope, it could even be a seven figure payout."
That got everyone very quiet and very alert.
Now Thor grinned. "Well, then. Now that I have everyone's attention, let's begin."
***
Sitting in a conference room, chairs arranged in a semicircle in front of a whiteboard, Steve tried to rally their enthusiasm. But once the thrill of a potential million dollar payout each wore off, the reality of it sank in.
Change the nature of a man the business world was starting to call amoral and sociopathic; for the business world, that was saying something.
"This is impossible," Clint said. "The stories that are out there are just that. Stories."
"We did it in research based facilities," Bruce said, shaking his head. "But their minds were fragile to start with, unstable. The trauma they experienced was worth the risk. Severe torture, trauma you don't even want to imagine... We had to go in there, box it all up, see that the children could have something resembling a normal life... This isn't that. This isn't any kind of humane act that you propose to do."
"No offense, Dr. Banner," Steve said in quiet tones, "but you aren't working on humane acts right now. You moved out of academic work into the private sector. And the people your company tests its products on aren't exactly willing participants."
He went frighteningly pale, hands curling into fists in his lap. "Mr. Rogers..."
"If we're done posturing," Natasha cut in, voice icy and disapproving in Steve's direction. "I think we need to be honest here. You took the job. Today wasn't to ask if we were on board, you were hoping to hook us into a job you already accepted."
Steve's silence spoke volumes.
"Son of a bitch," Tony said, leaning back in his chair. "Wow. That is a total dick move."
"Seven figures," Steve said into the ensuing silence.
"He upped it today because he heard us arguing," Clint snapped. "Don't pretend that it was your play all along."
"Come on! We're the best, aren't we? We can do this. I know we can. We may not agree on this, we may not even like each other. But each of us is the best and brightest in the field right now. We're more than up for this challenge, more than ready to work on this. They say that inception is impossible. Or damn near to it. I say we can do it. I say we can make it work, do the impossible, then go our separate ways that much richer."
"Maybe they all say it can't be done because it shouldn't be done," Bruce said softly. "We have no right to break someone's mind and play around with it just because we can."
"How much more harm would he do if we didn't?" Steve asked in a tone that was just as soft, just as reverent. "If we go into this, yes, the money is going to be a draw. I don't think we should ignore that aspect of it. But if we go and fix this man's mind, get rid of the hatred and grief and despair, wouldn't we be doing him a favor? Wouldn't it be like years of therapy?"
"What right do we have to do this?" Tony asked, frowning.
"If he keeps going, he destroys every business he sets his sights on. Hundreds of thousands of people out of jobs, just because he's pissed off at his dead father. Just because he can't stop grieving and he can't let go."
Natasha leaned in close to Clint's ear to whisper "Pot. Kettle."
He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. The move seemed to throw Steve for a moment, and he finally took a deep breath. "Please," he said finally. "There are a thousand reasons I could come up with why we should do this, from humanitarian to because we can to the challenge of it. I resisted taking this job at first, I really did. But Thor got to me. He's hurting, he's in pain." He turned to look at Clint and Natasha. "I can never say I'm sorry enough, I know this. But the least I can give you is this: a job to put on your resume, leave you flush with cash and maybe the opportunity to add to your reputation."
Clint stared at Steve for a long moment. "I think you actually mean that."
"I do."
Exchanging a wordless glance with Natasha, Clint turned back to Steve. "That helps. It's not enough, but it's a start. We're in."
***
There was a certain thrill in the start of a job. The preparation was intense, delving into the subject of the job with such a fervor Clint never felt for legitimate work. He loved being able to go into financial records, social media and hacking into computers for private files. The data didn't lie, and he could spread it all around him and rearrange it into patterns that made sense. It normally was a rather conceited thought, that he could reduce a person to nothing but data points and patterns, but this was part of what he was good at. The other was playing point once he was under in the dream below. His vision sharpened, and he could see threats before they arrived, could predict where a mind would put its security. It was an underappreciated skill as far as he was concerned, but everything ran smoothly when he did his preparation right.
Natasha went undercover to see how Loki behaved, who the important people were in his life and get a better sense of who she would forge once they dropped down into the dream. She had been brought in as a legal assistant; one benefit of having Thor be their employer was that he could push through her paperwork by bullying HR into it. She would have had a fairly sweet setup with the corporation if she was actually a legal assistant.
Loki was certainly paranoid. The first time she arrived in a stylish white blouse and high waisted black pencil skirt with high heels, courtesy of a shopping spree with Pepper, he had glared at her with thinned lips. "You're new."
"Yes, sir," she said with a brisk nod. "Sarah is out on maternity leave right now, so I was hired on to cover her cases." She handed him the clipboard with the paperwork in question. "I need you to review these files regarding the acquisition off-"
"Who's Sarah?" he asked sharply.
Blinking in surprise, Natasha had the same innocent expression on her face. "Sarah Miller in legal. She's on maternity leave. She took the full twelve weeks so I was hired to cover that time."
He frowned, obviously trying to place Sarah Miller. In front of her, rather than taking the clipboard from her, he went on the company website to look her up. But Sarah Miller really did just have a baby and take twelve weeks of leave; Natasha liked making her cover stories as plausible as possible, just in case she had paranoid subjects like this.
This meant odds were good that he would be militarized, even if he had no formal training.
Snatching the clipboard from her, Loki scrawled his signature in all the flagged spots and handed it back to her without even checking what he was signing. "I know those files inside and out," he said at her blink of surprise. "Legal was simply double checking the verbiage."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that," Natasha said, taking the clipboard back.
"Who are you?" he snapped, irritated with her. She had been aware that he had very little patience, but this was a little ridiculous.
"Natalie Rushman."
"So how did you get to temping in my legal department?" he asked, practically crackling with tension as he looked her up and down.
"It's a locum position," she said, tucking the clipboard against her chest. "Once Sarah's back, I'll be heading to a new location."
"No loyalty," he sneered.
"Varying experience," she corrected. "I've been in a dozen cities with a lot of different sized companies, each with different needs. It's a good way to gather a lot of experience in a short amount of time." She pasted a polite smile on her face. "Is there anything else you might need from me, Mr. Odinson?"
Loki scowled at her. "They should have told you."
"Told me what?"
"Do not ever call me Odinson. Or sir. Just Loki."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Is there anything else you need, Loki?"
His jaw remained tight, but his eyes were assessing. "No, not right now."
She knew he would access her personnel file as soon as she left, and his paranoia would lead him to possibly look into interacting with her again. She would have to play this very carefully, and make sure she wasn't as memorable as she feared she might be.
***
Thor Odinson and his girlfriend Jane Foster sat in the company cafeteria. She often visited from the university where she taught classes in astronomy and astrophysics, a competitive field and one notorious for having few women in it. She was quite gifted but also very approachable. It was sometimes almost comical how absentminded she could be, not keeping track of her cell phone or names of people she just met, but she was usually juggling some kind of complex formulae in the back of her head as she went about her day. Her pockets were usually full of notepads and pencil stubs, and it was a common occurrence for her to stop what she was doing, take out the pad, jot something down, frown at it, make corrections, then put everything away and continue as if there had been no interruption at all.
They had met at a charity event at the university, where Thor had gone to personally gift the school with the Odinson endowment for business graduates. He knew nothing about STEM, but had literally bumped into Jane and been mortified at spilling his drink all over her. They wound up talking, and he had offered to have his driver take her home and pay for dry cleaning. She hadn't particularly cared for the dress she had worn to the event, and didn't care about the niceties of its care. Instead, she was more taken with him, finding him charming and sweet. They had talked all night, exchanged numbers, and soon enough were an established item. While the casual observer might not have understood it, Thor was clearly in love and adored her. He nodded at intervals when she explained her research in interstellar phenomena, and she also gave him rapt attention when he explained a business takeover.
It was also clear from Odin Corporation events that Loki was insanely jealous of them.
Loki sought out Natasha at an event they were sponsoring at the business school, where she was working with Sif, the head of Thor's public relations team. She was a tall, statuesque woman with flowing dark hair, porcelain skin and a no nonsense demeanor.
"This is a legal assistant," Loki told Sif with some disdain in his voice.
"Yes, and she has been invaluable in assisting me," Sif replied, dismissive of Loki. She signaled for the security team, led by Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral. Hogun was the more taciturn of the three, but they were fiercely loyal to Thor and the Odinson family; Natasha wasn't sure if Loki would count as part of that family due to his own actions.
"If there's a problem, I could leave," Natasha offered.
"Absolutely not. You are here at my request." Sif glared at Loki. "He never stays for these, so don't worry about his sour attitude."
"Forgive me for thinking this is ridiculous and petty," he sneered.
"Your complaints are petty," Sif replied, lip curling in aggravation.
"I believe the provost would want to speak with you," Natasha said to Sif, eyeing the gentleman in question across the party. She glanced down at the clipboard she had. "He did have questions about the endowment."
Nodding at Natasha, she went off in search of the provost. That left her with Loki, who appeared irritated at her intervention. "Can I help you, Loki? I wasn't aware you would be here tonight."
He scowled at her pleasant expression. "You. Everywhere I turn, there you are."
She shrugged at him. "The others in Legal all had things to do tonight."
"I find it hard to believe that you don't."
"I'm not from this area. Everyone else knows what's around town to do."
"So why don't you ask them?"
"I'm only going to be here another ten weeks. Why bother? I'll be moving after that."
Loki frowned at her. "It's a rather lonely existence."
"Maybe. But it works for me." She gave him a polite smile and gave him her full attention, pen in hand and poised over the clipboard. "You never did answer my question, though. Is there something you needed tonight?"
The frown deepened into a scowl. "No," he finally snarled, hands curling into fists at his sides.
She watched him stalk off from the party, wondering about his mental stability.
***
"Why are there no personal photos of you or your family in the company database?" Loki asked abruptly, coming to Natasha's cubicle.
Was he stalking her? She wasn't supposed to be this memorable to him. Discussing it with Clint the night before, the two had thought it best that she continue with her persona rather than pretend she was being yanked out early. Natalie Rushman was a very skilled legal assistant, and so far those she worked with were very pleased with her flexibility in being pulled into other areas. Most of the other legal assistants whined and pleaded to leave. She just pasted a smile on her face and saw it as an opportunity to see more of Loki's interactions with the rest of the Odin Corporation staff.
Damn. She was probably going to have to go under as Natalie, then.
"Are there supposed to be? I'm the one working here, not my family." Natalie didn't even look up from her computer, where she was comparing changes in documentation for one of Loki's upcoming business mergers.
"Look at me."
Startled, Natasha jerked her eyes from the screen and looked at Loki. His expression was one of intensity, and her heart sank. He was obsessed, then. She was definitely going to have to go under as Natalie.
"Did I do something wrong? My supervisors-"
"No," he snarled. "You have excellent credentials and your supervisor already plans to give you a glowing recommendation when you move on to your next locum tenens position."
"I don't understand. What is it, then? I'm trying to do everything asked-"
"And no one else does. Why is that?"
She blinked. Of all the silly things to latch on to... "I have a strong work ethic?"
Loki's lip curled in derision. "Something is off about you. I'll figure it out."
Something in Natasha's chest seized with anger. Not at the thought of being caught; she was skilled enough in a variety of combat techniques that she knew she could defend herself. But her Natalie persona was flawless and she was busting her ass at this job. Natalie was fucking pissed that this self absorbed rich boy thought he was better than her and could harass her with impunity.
Well, fuck that.
"Just because you run the company doesn't give you the right to stalk me and harass me," she snapped. "I am doing my job and whatever other inane things that are asked of me. You have no right to belittle my efforts just because you're bored!"
Natalie sat back after a moment, almost horrified with herself for the outburst. Natasha wanted to sigh, and hoped this didn't mean her carefully crafted character had to be thrown away.
But Loki straightened, a ghost of a smirk on his lips as he contemplated her. "You surprise me, little Natalie. Not many can do that anymore."
"Do I need to call security on you?"
He laughed outright, drawing attention from the other legal assistants. "They work for me. What do you think they would do for you?"
"Serve as witnesses if I have to file a police report," Natasha replied sweetly.
Loki laughed again. "You are a balm, meant to soothe."
"How is being threatened with harassment charges soothing?" she wondered aloud.
"Because unlike the other fools here, you actually say what you think."
And with that pronouncement, Loki left the room.
Yep, she was definitely going to have to be Natalie Rushman in the dream.
***
Clint frowned at Natasha, lo mein hovering an inch away from his mouth on the end of his chopsticks. "This can't be a good thing."
"Well, Natalie is only going to be there for a temporary amount of time, and seeing her in the dream can be written off as just seeing her in the company on a regular basis," Steve reasoned. He was sitting in front of the whiteboard, where he kept track of everyone's thoughts as they were trying to put together the plan of attack.
The current plan was splitting the resolution of Loki's grief into three parts. "Like a three-act stage play," had been Tony's comment at Steve's suggestion. All eyes had swiveled toward him, but he unapologetically shrugged at that. "Pepper and I date, you know. She happens to like theater, so we've gone to a few plays. And you losers better not make me miss date night. She was disappointed that I'd forgotten our last one. I owe her."
Act one was labeled "Setting the Stage" after Tony's play comment. Act two was labeled "Descent" and Act three was labeled "Letting Go," meaning Loki's grief. No one mentioned the specter of a shade running around in Steve's dreams.
"If we set the stage, so to speak," Steve began, "we use his attention to Natasha as Natalie. He knows nothing about her. So in the dream, we have them meet up somewhere informal, outside of the company. Not as strict, drinks can be had. Discuss Natalie being adopted, and she's obviously very well adjusted about it. It drops the hint that being adopted isn't horrible, and we test his response to that."
"Stage two would be what, then?" Clint asked, narrowing his eyes at Steve. "Because if stage three is the grieving, how do we transition from the adoption thing to that?"
"I'm guessing that's why it's called descent," Tony called out from his desk. He was pored over a number of sketchbooks, already running with the idea of a business meeting. "Economics convention, you think? Do they even have those? What am I asking? Of course they have those, there's a convention for everything."
"Well?" Clint prompted. "How do we transition it?"
"It has to be a natural transition," Bruce reminded them. "This entire thing is traumatic for him. You just don't tell someone that adoption is okay and then hit them with the grieving. A lot of times, there might be acting out. So we'd need to give him space to be angry and complain that it's not fair."
"Basically, the stages of grief, then," Tony said. "You just spread it out over two layers. Or do we even need two layers for that? Can we just do it as a dream within a dream?"
"For our trauma patients, we did it in three or four layers, but the deeper in you go, the more unstable it is. It-"
"Okay," Steve said with a nod. "So maybe just two layers? Or if we keep it three, it gives him more time, more of a gradual way to deal with the process. So then by the third layer, we can also reintroduce the concept of Thor and Frigga Odinson as his family again."
Clint nodded. "That is a useful thing to put in there."
"Sounds good to me," Natasha said with a shrug.
"Another thing," Steve murmured, a grimace on his face. "I'd hate to bring it up, but..." He sighed. "Maria's making noises about us using the office space. I know Thor's footing the bill, so getting shorted on the fees can't be it. She hates me, or else I'd ask what the deal is. We need someone persuasive."
All eyes swiveled toward Natasha. "What?"
"You're the one that always says you can be persuasive," Bruce pointed out.
"Yes, but sometimes that means seducing people!" No one seemed surprised by that. "Wait a second. You guys don't expect me to seduce Maria, do you?!"
"I'll watch if you do," Clint offered. He ducked the empty fried rice carton she chucked at his head and grinned.
"Can I join you? Maybe it'll give Pepper ideas!" Tony chimed in.
"You guys all suck."
"She likes you," Steve said earnestly. "I just expect you to talk to her, find out what's going on. Maybe it's just that her boss doesn't want us around, maybe she doesn't want to even tangentially be associated with dream share anymore. Or maybe it's just me."
"Well, if you've been a dick to us," Clint began in a musing tone of voice, "I am incredibly not surprised by you being a dick to other people."
Steve sighed. "Okay, okay. Can we get off the 'beating up Steve' train right now?" He rubbed at his face tiredly. "If she doesn't want to deal with me, I can always try to arrange it so that she doesn't have to. But if I ask her, she'll probably kick us out."
"Why does she hate you?" Bruce asked.
Steve sighed. "I made her look bad in front of her boss by pulling a fast one on the security she hired and digging around in the secure storage facility they were hired to protect. It was full of stolen weapons, and that was a day of awkward explanations."
"So we need Natasha to use her feminine wiles to clean up your mess?" Tony asked.
"Do you guys honestly think it's always about sex?" Natasha asked, rolling her eyes.
"Of course it isn't!" Steve replied, affronted. "But if it is, you're really good at it."
At her snort, Clint laughed. "C'mon, Tash. You are gorgeous and you know it. Hell, if she's not gay, she'd totally go gay for you."
"I have to admit, I find it more than a little disturbing that the two of you discuss sleeping with other people like it's not a big deal," Bruce said. "I guess I'm old fashioned that way."
"We're not exclusive," Clint said. "But she's my best friend before anything else."
She grinned at him and blew him a kiss. "You say the sweetest things sometimes."
"But no, seriously. If it does turn into sex, feel free to use my place so I can watch."
"And then you say some fucked up shit like that," Natasha said, throwing a pencil unerringly at his head. It bounced off, and she studiously ignored Tony's chuckle. Looking over at Steve was a mistake, because he was using the puppy dog pleading gaze that always used to have her getting suckered into whatever plan he had. True, most of them involved tag teaming James when the three of them had all been together, but not all of those schemes had been bad. Maybe this one wouldn't be so bad, either. She and Maria were friendly enough to begin with, and it was only to figure out what was going on.
She sighed, knowing she was probably going to regret this anyway. "Fine, fine, I'll talk to her. Just talk. I'm sure you're making a big deal for nothing."
Steve beamed at her, and for a moment it felt like old times. "Thanks, Nat. You're wonderful."
Oh, Jesus. That hit her in the gut like a sucker punch, but she made sure not to wince at the memories that were pushing to the fore. She simply smiled and tucked into dinner.
Fuck, she was regretting this already.
***
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To Chapter Three - Warm Me Up In A Nova's Glow