First meetings | Guardian!verse |Closed

[stillnotlegolas]

It has been a while since Clint was assigned a mission to be someone’s bodyguard. Years, even, if he thinks about it long enough. The last one had been a two week stint in Istanbul where he shepherded some of SHIELD’s heavy hitters through what was shaping up to be civil unrest. They’d all made it out alive but complained about his mouth and his

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[ppotts]

Pepper barely looks up from her laptop when someone enters her office. Stark Industries endeavor to keep a paperless office, which is the only reason why her desk isn't currently covered with veritable mountains of paperwork. Instead, those mountains are all neatly folded away in digital form. Of course, just because they're out of sight doesn't mean that she doesn't have to deal with them. Since Tony has done little to pick up the slack after Obadiah-- after the Incident which left him fully in charge the backlog is near overwhelming. Especially when coupled with the day-to-day running of the company and having to learn about half the things she needs to know on the job. So, she is doing her best and cursing the fact that there are only so many hours in a day. The fact is that she simply doesn't have time for a death threat right now

[stillnotlegolas]

Clint reaches out a hand and shakes hers with a gentle but firm pressure, surprised at how soft her hands are--though maybe he shouldn't be. His own are a mess off callouses that come from firing his bow, and he supposes he's just used to shaking hands with people that also work with weapons or on weapons support teams. He lets her hand fall after the shake and tilts his head slightly to listen to her instructions.

It's odd, is the first thought he has, that she's apologizing, but Phil had warned him she wasn't exactly receptive to the idea of having a guard around. Still, he's never actually had someone apologize to him for a mission he's received. "Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am," he replies, hands falling into a bastardized form of parade rest behind his back. The fact that she's prepared for his arrival gives him a bit of optimism though, and then, of course, it's very nearly shattered by the words that come right after

[ppotts]

The press of the agent's big and calloused hands sends a familiar flutter down Pepper's spine. His hands aren't calloused in quite the same way as Tony's are, but in a town filled by smooth-palmed men they still file under the same category. There's something almost military about his stance, and Pepper is actually relieved to see the flash of disbelief twisting up his features. At least he's capable of emotions unlike some of the other bodyguards she's encountered

[stillnotlegolas]

When guarding someone, Clint has learned that there is nothing more dangerous than a Principle who doesn't think they're in any sort of danger. When someone is aware that a threat is real, they're much more likely to listen to instructions and take their own precautions, which makes his job about twelve times easier. People who are assigned body guards make things harder because they don't look over their shoulders, don't triple lock doors and leave themselves open for all sorts of attack. He does at least manage to keep the sigh to himself

[ppotts]

"Thank you." Pepper gives him a slight nod of thanks. She has no doubts that they'll have at least one disagreement regarding safety over her routine before Phil is satisfied that the threat is non-existent. But for now, it's nice to know that he'll endeavor to encroach on her existence as little as possible. Pushing the laptop open once more, she settles in to make a dent in her work

[stillnotlegolas]

The thing about snipers is, they make a practice of waiting. They're good at it, sitting in high places and waiting, settling into that space in their head and just--existing. And that's where he goes now. He's got Pepper as the center of his focus, aware of everything around her-- the way that the world around her is affecting her, if there could be any danger in what surrounds her.

It takes him half a moment to realize she's talked to him, and he shakes his head, as he pulls himself up out of the place he'd sunk into.

"Ah, right," he agrees, shaking his arms and loosening his stance as he tries to return blood flow to his limbs. "And--yes? I mean, you don't have to take care of my food. I can--scrounge something up, okay?"

[ppotts]

Pepper snags her purse from the floor and hitches it up on one shoulder. She rifles through it to make sure that her tablet and cellphone are both inside, and then she fishes her car keys out of the inside pocket. "Don't be ridiculous," she says, walking around the corner of the desk. "I'm getting Vietnamese for myself. I might as well order for two." She's aware that she's not going to be an easy assignment -- unwillingness coupled with the lack of an actual threat is bound to make the experience less than pleasant -- the least she can do is make sure that he doesn't go hungry.

"Will you be riding with me or did you come in your own car?" Her heels sink into the lush carpet which muffles the sound as she walks briskly past Barton towards the door. The shoulderstrap of her purse slides down and she hitches it back up again impatiently.

[stillnotlegolas]

"Alright then, yeah. I do." He replies as he falls into step behind her, flanking her right shoulder. She may not think there's any sort of threat here, but Clint's been doing this for a while and part of his briefing was looking over the letters and the 'gifts' she'd been given. He doesn't quite understand why SHIELD or her own security force isn't sorting through her mail, but he figures he can start that process first thing in the morning. But he's seen the evidence and he and Phil agree--there is someone out there that wants to hurt Pepper Potts and needs to be stopped before they have a real chance to do so.

"Ah, I'll be riding with you," he adds, because he'll need to sweep her car just as much as he did her office, and cars are statistically one of the most likely places for an attack. "I will be pretty much glued to you for the duration, Ms. Potts. If that helps. At night, I'll do a final sweep at 21:00 hours and then I'll be on passive duty while SHIELD agents are posted outside your door until morning."

[ppotts]

There's a simple reason why no one sorts through Pepper's mail and that's the fact that she hasn't thought it necessary. When she worked for Tony one of her many duties were reading his letters, making sure the important ones got to him (or, in the case of bills, were dealt with accordingly), that the fan-mail was duly answered (and available should Tony require a completely needless ego-boost), and so on. It just hasn't occurred to her that someone else should do that for her. What if she misses something important

[stillnotlegolas]

He's got information on Sandra, and the other people that enter Pepper's office regularly, in neat files in the bags that will be dropped off at Ms. Pott's residence tonight when he meets the back-up agents. He's still not entirely sure who Phil is sending over, but he can hazard a few guesses because he knows Phil and he knows that Phil knows who he likes to work with. Or who can stand working with him. Clint has a bit of a reputation for being an asshole when he wants things done a certain way, and keeping one of Phil's friends alive definitely falls under something to be particular about

[ppotts]

Pepper is used to moving through empty spaces in the dead of night. Working for Tony, one soon finds out what the world looks like after dark. He doesn't keep a 9-5 schedule and as a consequence, neither does she. Though she supposes that she could start now, if she wanted. Regardless, being at Stark Industries long after everyone else has left is common place enough that it doesn't bother her. Normally. But, see this is the bit that Pepper hates; with agent Barton's presence a certain fear has crept into her life. A fear that wasn't there until Phil put it there. So, now, she can feel an itch between her shoulderblades, and her tension rises along with the numbers on the display above the lift. When it dings open, she flinches.

"So, basically, you're moving in with me?" she asks, voice tart to hide the way her heart is suddenly beating harder than it ought to. "Remind me again why agent Coulson didn't assign me a female agent." She steps into the lift and jabs the button for the garage level.

[stillnotlegolas]

He has the decency to wince under the sharp tone, and he doesn't meet her eyes as he answers, following her into the elevator. Standard procedure would be for her to receive a female agent, but again, it came back to the fact that she was Phil's friend and he was actually calling in quite a few favors to have Clint put on guard duty. They had agents specifically trained for it, they just weren't as talented at the rest of it as he was.

"That is the plan, ma'am," He replies, with a swallow. "And, ah, the only other female agent of my caliber is already on a mission," Down the hall, actually, observing your boss. "And Ph--Agent Coulson didn't want to sacrifice skill level to make sure you had someone of the same gender."

He lets out a sigh and scrubs a hand over the back of his neck. They're in quite a confined space and he can feel her frustration radiating off of her. "I won't get in your way Ms. Potts,but if it's a real concern, I can contact Coulson and see if we can find a female agent to come in for the night shift."

[ppotts]

That wince has guilt stabbing through Pepper and she ducks her head to hide the brief flash of regret crossing her face. Her fingers curl around the strap of her purse and she gives him a quick shake of her head. "That won't be necessary." She understands Phil's reasoning and it's honestly not something that bothers her. It's just an easy thing to complain about as anyone would sympathize with her on that point. But, she doesn't really want to have to get used to two new agents invading her life; one is bad enough

[stillnotlegolas]

"I understand, Ms. Potts," he says, because he does understand. He really does, and he'd give anything to make it so that she didn't have to have 24/7 surveillance, because she seems like a nice woman, she really does, but it's because she seems like a genuinely nice human being with a good heart that he really doesn't want her to end up just another statistic in the morning's paper

[ppotts]

"Do you know how many death threats To-- mister Stark receives in a day?" Pepper asks evenly, her eyes locked on the display above the door. He doesn't really get it. Unfortunately. If this felt at all justified then she wouldn't have such a problem with it. "Twenty. Some of them are very disconcerting. Do you know how many serious attempts have been made on his life? Two." Of course she's not counting Obadiah here or any of the Iron Man related bad guys. Those are a whole separate faction. For one they don't tend to send him letters stating their intent ahead of time

[stillnotlegolas]

His boots make an interesting counter-point to the noise of her heels, and he follows her toward her car, just a hair back again and to her right. He doesn't particularly like parking garages either--too large, too empty and too easy to get into, even if you lack security clearance, but again, that's something they've had to sacrifice to keep from interrupting Ms. Pott's life as much as possible. Phil had assured him they were doing a daily sweep and had replaced the normal security guard with one of their own for a while, so he was going to have to be content in that