Under or Over: Hawkeye & Black Widow

CHAPTER #27

Stark was busy trying to work with the black diamond.  He wished he could contact Hank Pym, but that would mean letting S.H.E.I.L.D. know what he was in possession of.  Instead he contacted Bruce Banner and asked him to come for a visit.  They determined that the organism didn't like extreme heat or extreme cold.  Banner suggested they work on seeing if it can duplicate itself or reproduce.  They focused on that and trying to figure out a way to determine its origin.  It was something that they were both intrigued by, since the Tesseract.

Jarvis got updates from Bird on Barton's progress and reported to Stark.  "Barton was in Albania just a week and he started a bar brawl after a soccer game.  He's fine and reports no HYDRA activity in that country."

Bruce laughed, "I'm telling you that guy loves stirring up trouble when he's bored."

"He's got a solid chin I can vouch for that.  And after training with the Cap, he's got fast hands.  He can hold his own in a fight even without his arrows," Tony advised.

"Be truthful, did you send him on this trip to find HYDRA or keep him out of trouble with Fury?"  Bruce asked.

"Banner, do you really think I care?" Tony asked casually.

"You might put on a good act, but I know you care.  Otherwise Pepper would've been long gone."

"Barton can be very single minded when it comes to Romanoff.  I don't doubt that he would have eventually captured her and taken out of whatever HYRDA compound she was in.  But we can't stir up trouble right now.  So it's a little of both.  Now can you check the energy levels in that crystal?"

Banner grinned and got back to work.  Stark might come off as an arrogant ass to an outsider, but he cared about his people and team.  It didn't matter if taking care of them meant spending money or time, he'd figure out a way.  The man was as much of a genius as Banner, himself.

"Barton is on his way to Bulgaria, had a little trouble at the border crossing. He says to thank you Tony for the cloaking feature on Bird," Jarvis said.

Stark and Banner laughed and shared an amused look, before going back to work on the black diamond.  They were putting various elements, with the alien organism to see if it would replicate itself. So far the only progress was with another diamond and a crystal. The organism responded by transferring its colour.  But the microscope didn't detect any other changes.  Later on in the day, when they were working on harnessing the power of the diamond, Stark told Jarvis not to interrupt them with Barton's status unless he needed their back up.

Bird reported back to Barton this information, to which he replied, "that's cool with me Bird.  Book me a week at Hotel Light in Sofia."

"Yes sir."

"And give me some back ground information on Sofia, Bulgaria," Clint added.

The AI unit in the helmet gave him a quick summary of geography, culture, climate and war history.  "Also you might be interested in knowing that there is a local tournament for shooting this weekend. Bulgaria did well in the summer Olympics for shooting."

Clint was interested. "Where is it being held?"

"The National Sports Academy, but public is welcome. There is an entry fee of 500 BGN, which is $326.23 US."

"That's not bad.  I'll go there this afternoon to register. So what do they have; pistol, rifle, skeet and trap?"

"Yes sir.  Only first place gets prize money," Bird replied.

"It's not about the money, it's more about pride and knowing you're the best. Which I am," Clint explained.

"Your statistics show that you do have a ...." Bird began to advise him of his accuracy.