7 Chapter 7 - A dangerous but tempting offer (Part 1)

Hospital Room, Somewhere.

Ben's P.O.V.

A smile and she was gone, leaving a headache to the convalescent man. A frown turning into a sigh conveyed perfectly his current thoughts. 'What a mess. I've no idea how to handle that...' 

Feeling a bit exasperated, Ben decided that he just had to let it go. Instead of focusing on something he had no control over, he might as well try to find out a bit more about the attack. Luckily, just like in every decent hospital room, there was a TV hung on the wall. Finding its remote on his bedside table, he turned it on and switched to the News.

[..."This is Sophie Turner, for the Daily Bugle, here live in the middle of Time Square, New York. Behind me is the aftermath of the Unknown Alien Attack starting from the top of the Stark Tower a week ago. As you can see, the restoration effort is going well with most of the broken vehicles and other wreckage having been removed. 

Thanks to the many donations, the non-profit organization F.E.A.S.T. was able to help many New Yorkers hurt and/or displaced from their home. Several of their shelters have been used by the organization to house and treat a part of the victims while the situation was sorted out by the authorities.

Mayor Mccarthy allocated everyone under him to this case, whether to rescue people stuck under buildings and vehicles' wreckage or to remove the latter.

Speaking of rescue, the members of the new Superhero team 'The Avengers' were seen all over Manhattan, helping the rescuers find and extricate the victims wherever they were stuck. The Avengers were the ones who fought off the invading Aliens, even succeeding in closing that gigantic blue portal over the Stark Tower, and putting an end to the invasion."

Pausing for a second, her face tightened as it seemed that the next piece of news would be explosive. Taking a deep breath, she resumed talking. "Speaking of 'The Avengers', Mr. Stark, A.K.A. Iron Man, leaked on the internet that the explosion at the end of the attack came from a nuclear missile launched on the island of Manhattan at the behest of several political higher-ups. Their real identities are unfortunately unknown, prompting many to protest in Washington. 

A few politicians were even victims of attacks, however, most survived without too many injuries. A few sources in the white house that I won't name told me that some members of politicians' families were also attacked. The result is unknown to me at this point." Sighing a bit, she added. 

"Tension seems to rise in our country, a sad continuation of an already terrible event. We can only hope that the situation doesn't escalate even more from here on out.

This was Sophie Turner for the Daily Bugles."]

As the report ended, Ben muttered in curiosity. "The Avengers, ugh? I wonder who's in it?" Pondering a bit, his expression turned into a frown. "A nuclear missile? I knew they didn't have any integrity, but to go that far... Millions of innocents would have died, but would it have destroyed that portal? I doubt it. From what I saw during my fight, their technology seemed a lot more advanced than ours, so the nuclear missile may not have even done anything..."

Because his mind was too focused on speculating, he did not notice the door of his room opening up and a pair of feet silently moving toward his direction. That is until the person was a few meters away, disturbing his train of thought and prompting him to turn toward the new arrival. 

Looking at the woman in front of his eyes made previously half-forgotten memories come out to the front of his mind. And apparently, he was not the only one, as she seemed as distracted as him. That is, until a dozen seconds later when Ben asked in a guilty tone. "Hey, little Nat. How have you been?"

At his tone and words, the tall redhead replied with her eyes slightly narrowed. "Old man, I told you to stop calling me little. Look at me, do I look little to you?" Changing her position slightly to highlight her explosive curves, Ben could not help but have his gaze attracted to them for a second before turning his eyes back to her face.

Noticing the almost imperceptible smirk on her face, he knew she noticed his previous action. 'Whatever, it was purely automatic. Nothing more.' He thought, reminding himself of how he only considered her as a little sister, which calmed his previous agitated emotions.

After his mind relaxed, he finally noticed her body changes, prompting him to ask. "Wait a second. What happened to you? You grew taller and your body seems... different." Looking at his body from top to bottom, a small smile of pride appeared on her face.

"The same thing as you, apparently. I've become a Superhuman. That's why I grew to 6ft (182cm) and look a lot better. By the way, like what you see, Grandpa?" She winked at him in a flirty manner, making his heart miss a beat. However, his face stayed neutral, as he did not want to give the woman in front of him false hope.

Nodding his head to her, he answered in a dull tone. "Nastasia Romanovna, you look very beautiful. Now, you didn't answer my previous question. How have you been since the last time we saw each other?" As one of the best female spies on Earth, if not the best, she clearly understood his implied meaning, making a small pout appear on her face for a second before disappearing almost instantly.

"Natalia Romanov." She said cryptically. "Mmhh?" He replied, confused. "My real name. It's Natalia Romanov." She mumbled, her eyes shifting to the side with awkwardness. As the man finally understood what she meant, a smile crept up his face unknowingly. Cocking his eyebrow, he retorted. "So, you finally trust me enough to tell me your real name. I thought you'd never do it."

At his words, an expression of surprise appeared on her face. "How did you..? I mean why? I..." Seeing her flustered reaction drew a chuckle from him. "Calm down and I'll explain. Actually, I didn't notice at first. I didn't care that much either. We only worked on missions together, so whether your name was Nastasia or Sophie was not important."

She nodded at his explanation, before asking curiously. "When did you notice, then?" Gazing at her beautiful green eyes, he replied. "When we became more than simple colleagues and more like friends. Remember when I wanted to use a nickname for you? Do you remember which one?"

With an amused smile on his lips, he waited for her to find the answer to his question. However, his lips twitched a little when she crossed her left arm under her voluminous bust, with her right arm over her left hand and her right index finger tapping gently and repeatedly on her lips in an effort to recall the name. The whole scene was greatly alluring. 'She's doing it on purpose, isn't she?'

Shifting his attention came back to her face as she started talking. "Mmmhh... I think... Was it Stasia? But what does that have to do with you knowing that I lied about my own name?"

"Patience, my padawan. I'm leading to it." Cocking an eyebrow, she replied. "Since when do you know about Star Wars? I thought you were too old for that?" With a deadpan look on his face, he answered back. "You know that the first movie came out in 1977, right? I was just a little kid at that time, and not an old grandpa." That drew a chuckle from her, making some of her body parts move tantalizingly.

Ignoring the scene, he added. "And it's because May, my wife, loves that stuff. Magic and science fiction are her favorite genre. So I was made to watch some classics with her. Anyway, let's go back to the topic." Nodding her head a bit stiffly at the mention of May, she nonetheless did not say anything. "So, when I asked you if it was okay to call you Stasia, you refused. And every other nickname that had to do with the name Nastasia as well."

He paused for a second before continuing. "Instead you chose 'Nat'. Which, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with your supposed first name. After that, I recalled your job as a spy, and it wasn't hard to figure the truth out. To be fair, you weren't exactly subtle about it." He finished with a chuckle.

With a twisted smile appearing on her face, she stared at the void for a few seconds while saying. "I just wanted to hear you call me by my real name..." Refocusing her attention, she turned toward him with a fragile look in her eyes. She hesitated before her words escaped her lips. "I... I'm sorry for lying to you." 

Ben could understand the fear in her eyes, as he had felt the same way about May when he was at the lowest point in his life. Sighing, his smile turned warm before he started comforting her. "It's fine, Nat. I'm not 5, so I never resented you for that. I understand that everyone has their own circumstances. Plus, I can't exactly judge you since I bailed out of your life without giving you any heads up. I..." He shook his head a little before adding. "I'm truly sorry. I was in a bad place, but it still wasn't right of me to do that."

As they stared deeply into each other's eyes, Ben felt like he could understand her on a deeper level than he used to. Was it the new memories? Maybe the power-up? He did not really care about the reason as he understood that the dear friend in front of him forgave him, just like she knew that he forgave him. The silence lasted for a few seconds before they heard someone yelling at the entrance.

"Parker, you old ghost! You don't give any news for years and now here you are working as a rug for a gigantic space worm. I'm really disappointed!" As the man finished talking, his face appeared in Ben's vision, prompting a light of recognition in his eyes, followed by mock anger.

"Damn it, Barton! You're as old as me, so why are you focusing on my age?! And what do you mean a rug, you asshole?" He yelled back at the other blond man. As the two started to bicker, Natalia could not help herself from snickering at their friendly banter, drawing the other two's gazes. "Nat, you shouldn't laugh at a handicapped person. It's not nice."

"I'm not handicapped, I'm injured, you robin hood wannabe!" That drew a fake shocked gasp from Clint. "You dare! I'll have you know that I kill flying grey aliens. I'm not a thief. And you're one to talk mister Terminator. You had Arnold's facial expression and now you got his body size. You should have told me 'I'll be back'. That'd have saved me the worry."

Pointing his finger toward the man, Ben started in outrage. "You..." Before getting interrupted by the redhead on the side. "Alright, boys. Better calm down before you get a heart attack." The two men turned toward her while simultaneously saying with fake hurt. ""That's a low blow, Nat.""

Rolling her eyes with her arms crossed, she said. "Jokes aside, we need to talk business, Ben." Intrigued, the injured man asked. "What's it about?" With a look of seriousness, she replied. "It's about a proposition... I understand that you're retired but..." She hesitated with her question, implying the weight of that offer.