Shadowfax (An Avengers fanfic)

Tracking a Shadow

          Tony had been up all night searching for some record of Sphinx and Shadowfax, almost tearing out his hair when he couldn't find one. So far, he had drunk eleven cups of coffee, six Red Bulls, and two glasses of wine, both recreationally and to keep himself awake. So when he finally came across something, (at five in the morning) he almost missed it.

          Through extensive research on recent apartment purchases (a lot, considering it was New York) within the year, he discovered a "Jade Tarrow" had moved into Harlem eight months previous. He would have discarded the file along with other failures, if it hadn't been for one thing: A) The firewall shielding the records almost rivaled his own hacking skills, and B) Upon further investigation, Jade Tarrow appeared to have several identical siblings all living under aliases in every corner of the globe. Actually, according to her extensive collection of forged documents, she seemed to have been born in France, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, the Himilayas (what the ever-loving heck?), some place in Africa he couldn't pronounce, and also Scotland. As if that wasn't a huge warning bell already.

Tony dug a bit more before he found...one metric ton of nothing. There was a few accidental photobombs, a couple other records of rental homes (this included a trailer in the Himalayas. Seriously. What. The. Heck?) and one more recent record of a speeding ticket in Paris. Other than that, nada.

"Argh!" Tony yelled, frustrated.

           Natasha entered the room. "You Hulking out there, Stark?" The Russian threw him a coy smile, passing him another cup of espresso.

           Tony chugged it down, running his hands through his hair. "I can't find a thing." Stark said. "Maybe you need a fresh perspective."

           Widow gently nudged him aside, asking Jarvis; "Can you run a search on any low-key part-time jobs associated with a Jade Tarrow? You know, like an auto shop, gas station, etcetera?"

           Jarvis was quiet for a moment. "Nothing found, Miss Romanov." Widow thought for a moment. "Try anyone with the initials JT, cross-referenced with Tony's search parameters, and link it to Harlem."

           This time, Jarvis made a cheerful blip, and informed the pair; "There's a small auto repair shop in downtown Harlem employing one Jane Todd matching my parameters."

Tony stammered. "How..."

            "Her initials are JT. Most people keep a variation of their own name when working under an alias." Natasha patted him on the side of the head, walking from the lab. "And Tony," She called over her shoulder, "Take a nap and a shower before you check it out. You look like something Monday puked back up."

                                                                ...  

            Jade walked with her hands in her pockets, staring down at her ratty black converse sneakers. Absent-mindedly kicking a pebble, she didn't notice the cat until it rubbed up on her legs. Careful not to trip over it, she picked it up and scratched its chin. Purring, it shivered happily.

          She would never understand why, but for some reason cats and most birds (with the occasional bat) flocked to her Shadow Aura like a beacon. Normally they left her alone if she ignored them long enough, but this one was persistent. It was a little black tom, and she was getting a bit attached despite herself. Sphinx and Nutsy were already calling him Smokey.

           Reaching the little auto shop she worked in, Jade set him down, throwing up her hands when he followed her in. Pulling her gloves on, she gave a small wave to Max as she approached her current project.