Chapter 4: The Bourne Treachery (1/2)
Location: Was.h.i.+ngton D.C.
Date:January 1st 2011
-x-
Beep beep beep
Creaking his eyes open, Naruto looked over at the alarm sitting on the night stand. Groaning, Naruto flipped over onto his stomach, sliding his head under his pillow and attempted to use it to m.u.f.fle out the noise preventing him from his much needed sleep. Next to him in the bed, a figure under the covers turned over to face away from the alarm in a futile attempt to drown out the noise.
Under the covers a woman spoke, ”Nathan…alarm.”
It took a second for Naruto to remember that that was the name he used when he went out last night. Arching his back as he looked up, Naruto looked over to see a mop of dark brunette hair that covered its owner's face. Groaning once again, Naruto got up as he pressed the snooze b.u.t.ton on the alarm. Giving his arms a few testing stretches and cracking his back with a sound that resembled bubble wrap, Naruto looked around the unfamiliar room he was currently b.u.t.t naked in. It looked rather expensive, with pricey looking furniture littered with coordination around the room. Looking down at the floor, Naruto could see the trail they had made last night, with his and her under ware jumbled at the foot of the bed. Picking it up, Naruto slipped it on before following the clothing trail. One by one, Naruto put on an article of clothing before finding himself fully clothes sans his left sock. Scratching his head, Naruto looked around the room, peeking under furniture, peering between any crevice.
Making his way back to the bedroom, Naruto saw the woman sitting up in her bed, covering modesty with her covers. The woman was rather beautiful, with a healthy tan that looked natural, great cheekbones, and rather full lips, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if she were a model of some kind.
Smiling awkwardly, the woman said, ”Happy New Year.”
Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto gave a stiff smile of his own, ”Yeah uh…”
”Her name is Jennifer, you idiot.” Kurama muttered in his head.
”-Jennifer, Happy New Year.” Looking around the floor once again, Naruto asked, ”Hey uhh, have you seen my sock?” Seeing her point up, Naruto looked up and saw that she was pointing at her ceiling fan, and on said ceiling fan was his sock along with Jennifer's panties.
-x-
The sizzling of bacon and eggs could be heard as Jennifer stood behind her stove shuffling the man around to make sure the food was cooked evenly. Naruto, who was sitting behind the kitchen island, watched the woman do her thing as he pieced together what happened last night. He had just returned from another false lead on how to get home when Natasha had suggested he take a break and go to out and enjoy the New Year's celebration. Several drinks later, Naruto eventually met Jennifer, telling her his name was Nathan for simplicity, and before long the two were all over each other in the bar and then her apartment which was half a block away.
”One sip of that drink and you were acting like a f.u.c.king idiot…well, more so than usual anyway.”
”I'm not exactly proud of myself here Kurama. I don't even know this woman.” Naruto thought.
As Naruto thought this, he couldn't help but take in the woman's form with her tight fitting s.h.i.+rt obviously used for sleeping only, that cut off just above her belly b.u.t.ton. Then there was the fact she wasn't wearing any pants, only a pair of tightly fitting panties that didn't do a very good job covering her a.s.s, giving him a pretty good view. Not that he hadn't gotten an even better one last night.
”I hope you don't mind bacon and eggs, but it's all I could come up with at short notice.” Jennifer said apologetically as she looked back at the blonde she'd spent the night with.
”It's fine.” Naruto said rea.s.suringly, ”This is a lot better than what I usually make for breakfast.” Which was usually a bland cereal drenched in a bowl of milk.
The two entered into a somewhat comfortable silence as Jennifer pulled out a pair of plates from the cabinet above her and then bringing out a couple forks from the drawer a few feet to her left. Scooping the food into each plate, Jennifer gave Naruto his before walking around the island so that she could sit down next to him.
”Thank you.” Naruto said with a slight head nod before digging in to the food. Not the best food he'd ever eaten, but it was good. Especially so considering it was free.
Jennifer smiled, ”You're welcome.” Taking a few bites Jennifer looked at Naruto as she swallowed her food, ”So Nathan…I never did ask you what you do, for a living I mean.”
”Bodyguard.” Naruto said after not being able to come up with anything better.
The brunette raised an eyebrow, ”Really? Did you ever work for anyone famous?”
”Yeah uhh, Tony Stark every so often.” Naruto said with a shrug.
That got Jennifer's attention, ”You protected Tony Stark, as in 'Iron Man' Tony Stark? Seems kind of redundant don't you think?”
”Yeah, it was mostly to keep his girlfriend off his back I'm pretty sure.” Naruto said with a shrug, remembering how worried Pepper would get over Tony's safety, ”So what do you do?”
”I'm a lawyer.” Jennifer said, ”I actually live in L.A., I'm only here in D.C. for a long term case.”
Naruto nodded, ”So what kind of case would drag you all the way to D.C. from Los Angeles?”
Jennifer smiled, wagging her finger in front of her face, ”Attorney-client privilege, couldn't tell you even if I wanted to.” She said teasingly.
Naruto was about to respond when his phone went off. Reaching into his pocket, he saw a picture of Natasha on the screen. Looking up at Jennifer he said, ”I'm sorry, I have to take this.” He said apologetically. Getting up from his seat, Naruto walked into the hallway, ”What?”
”I thought I said to take a break, not let off some steam. There's a clear difference.” He heard Natasha say over the phone.
Naruto sighed as he rubbed the side of his face in agitation, ”Why does that matter, exactly?”
”There are multiple reasons for why it matters. For all you know this woman could be a Hydra spy. You're not exactly their favorite person right now.”
”We both know you did a background check the moment she sat down next to me in that bar.”
Natasha was silent over the phone for several seconds before speaking, ”…Jennifer Walters, attended UCLA, she is currently a lawyer working for the law firm Ryu, Barber, Zucker & Scott. She's clean.” Natasha said after a moment.
”So what's the problem here exactly?” Naruto asked in slight annoyance at his part time partner's prying.
”The problem is her cousin, Bruce Banner.”
Naruto almost dropped his phone at hearing that, ”Are you serious?” He asked in shock.
”We can talk about this later. Meet me outside, I have a mission I need your help with.” Natasha said before hanging up the phone.
”Dammit.” Naruto cursed under his breath as he stuffed his hand in his pocket. Walking over to Jennifer, he saw that she was was.h.i.+ng off the dishes they used, ”Hey Jennifer, I don't mean to eat and go, but that was my boss that called. Apparently we got some new client that's a big deal or something.” Naruto said, making sure to sound regretful as he made his way to the door.
Jennifer quickly washed her hands before making her way over to the leaving Naruto, ”Hey, wait.” As she caught up to the now waiting blonde, she reached into her purse that was sitting on the coffee table and pulled out a white card. Reaching him she handed him the card as she leaned up and pecked him on the lips, ”Call me.”
Looking down at her and then the card in his hand, he saw that it was her business card that had both her work and personal phone number etched in black under her name. Looking back at her, he forced a smile, ”Okay.”
-x-
Naruto stepped out of the apartment building, pulling the collar to his coat up to help guard against the cold air. His feet scrunched along the snow covered sidewalk, looking out for what he dubbed the 'Widow-mobile.' Almost on que, a black Corvette pulled up in front of him, the window facing him rolling down to reveal Natasha, wearing a red parka and wool stocking cap over her now chin length red hair.
”You getting in or what?” She asked with a smirk.
Naruto opened the door before plopping into the pa.s.senger's seat, ”So, what's this mission that 'Black Widow' couldn't handle by herself?”
”It's not seducing a middle aged lawyer, that's for sure.” Natasha quipped.
”That was a solid burn brat.” Kurama added.
Naruto scoffed, ”She wasn't middle aged. She's 30, at most.”
”And you're 20.” Natasha said, ”Which leads to the question of how exactly you got into a bar to begin with.”
Naruto gave Natasha a deadpan look, ”Do you really think I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a fake ID?” Naruto out the window at the pa.s.sing buildings, ”What's your deal Natasha, it's not like you to stick your nose in my business.”
Natasha didn't say anything at first, simply watching the road. Giving him a quick sideways glance she said, ”I don't want to pry, but you've been spiraling Naruto. If you're not turning over every rock on the green earth, you're looking for said rocks. And now you're having one night stands, drinking. We're worried for you, that's all.”
”One thousand and three.”
Stopped at a stop light, Natasha could now look fully at Naruto as she said, ”What?”
Naruto didn't stop looking outside, ”One thousand and three. That's how many days I've been stuck on this planet. That's how long I've been away from my home. From my friends.” Naruto then looked back at the red head, ”I realized a while ago that my friends are more than likely dead. Without me, there was no way to defeat Kaguya, no way to seal her away for good. Without me, there's no chance that my friends are alive right now. It was too late the moment I entered Earth's atmosphere.” The entire time he spoke, his voice was flat, dead.
”Naruto…”
”Then why are you still looking for a way back? Why not just give up, live as normal a life as you can?” Natasha asked him.
Naruto turned his head forward, ”I just do Natasha.”
HONK
Looking forward, Natasha saw that the light had turned green, spurring her to drive forward.
-x-
At the Triskelion Helipad
-x-
Naruto stood next to Natasha as they waited for their Quinjet to get prepped and ready. Natasha had her arms folded across her chest as she said, ”Last week, the NATO. anti-terrorist cell Omega Strike were sent on a mission to recover a terrorist hijacked plane. The squad was killed, with the only survivor being a man named James Bourne. Later intel suggests that Bourne had betrayed his squadron, along with killing the terrorist that hijacked the plane along with the pa.s.sengers of said plane.”
Naruto looked at Natasha, ”Why would he betray his teammates, only to turn around and kill the terrorists he betrayed them too?” He asked.
”That's where things get interesting. According to our intel, Bourne was setting up his own terrorist cell in West Germany. It's our belief he was killing two birds with one stone by taking out his team and killing a rival group while he's at it.”
”Even still, this isn't s.h.i.+ELD business. NATO should be the one taking care of this considering it was their man that went turncoat.” Naruto said.
”And that's where things get interestinger. The agents of Omega Strike were all implanted with cybernetic chips directly to the brain, linking them to their adrenal glands. Those that survived were given the ability of mild teleportation.” Natasha said as the door to their Quinjet opened up, allowing the two to walk in.
Naruto walked over to his equipment locker, pulling out a pair of combats pants and boots, a tight black s.h.i.+rt, and a grey leather coat jacket with black highlights along the zipper and collar. Taking his clothes off as Natasha got behind the wheel, Naruto said, ”So how mild is his teleportation?”
”He can jump short distances in a frequent pace and is able to jump up to several miles but is incapable of doing so simultaneously due to fatigue.” Natasha explained, ”It's kind of like your Body Flicker technique.”
Naruto nodded, ”So, I'm a.s.suming he's been spotted. s.h.i.+ELD doesn't do wild goose chases.”
Natasha nodded back, ”He's been spotted in Queens, visiting his childhood home.” Natasha said, ”Novice mistake for someone on the run.”
Naruto zipped the jacket up, finis.h.i.+ng his ensemble, ”You think there might be more to it?”
Natasha shrugged, ”Why would a man wanted for treason and terrorism go back to his neighborhood home, in a city that is one of the most vigilant and thorough terrorist surveillant cities in the world? Why the obvious risk?”
”There could be something there he needs, something he couldn't get anywhere else.” Naruto suggested.
Natasha nodded, ”Or, he doesn't know he's a wanted man.”
Naruto walked toward the c.o.c.kpit, sitting down in the copilot's chair, ”That's a pretty big claim Natasha.”
Natasha shrugged as she pulled the Quinjet up, the jet rocketing forward in the direction of NYC, ”NATO had been in the middle of investigating another member of Omega Strike named Gabriel Gant for possible treason himself before his death by Bourne's hands.”
”Well that's suspicious.” Naruto said. Looking into the bright blue sky and the clouds pa.s.sed them by and parted around them.
”Exactly.”
-x-
In Queens, New York City, New York