16222/The Return of the Prodigal Son. Again.

The Return of the Prodigal Son. Again.
Date of Scene:	25 April 2024
Location:	Genghis Connie's - Restaurant
Synopsis:	Natasha learns Clint is back. And he never texted her. And it's R&D's fault that he disappeared in the first place. Someone is in trouble. Or is that everyone?
Cast of Characters:	Black Widow (Romanoff), Quake

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Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
It was the day their schedules worked out for once, with Alexander actually at work. Leaving the two ladies to dine on their own. As the discussion went, they both agreed they wanted to go somewhere familiar and thus here they were. Connie was busy, as always, fielding orders on the telephone. Her husband was in the kitchen handling the cooking duties. It was a little early in the day, before the lunch rush, so Natasha had no problem getting a table for them. Then she settled down, sipping her tea as she scanned through her secured phone at some work files.

She was dressed casually. Jeans, a light blue button up blouse. No jacket as the temperatures had warmed up considerably in the last month. Her hair was still short, having been trimmed up recently into that almost boyish style.

Quake has posed:
As usual, Skye couldn't find a parking space close. After finding one two block over, she raced to meet Nat,. Of course she hadn't tried this place, yet, but she had heard good things about it from Nat.

With the pre-lunch lull, it already had Skye's vote of approval.

Quickly, she approached the booth. "Sorry. Parking." Of course she was mostly in black, with her bracers almost looking in camo because of it. "Did you order for us?" As far as she was concerned, Chinese was the perfect food to be surprised with. Especially if there was a noodle bowl.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Yeah, ordered noodles for you since you seem to get them every Chinese place we go," Natasha admitted with a smile as she watched her friend settle in. "I also ordered us some tea but you can get something else if you prefer. I won't be offended."

And on the table there was indeed a small pot of tea and an empty small ceramic cup that matched the cup Natasha had sipped from a moment before.

"You said something about you had big news in your text. So what's the secret?" Since Skye had not shared the details at all yet.

Quake has posed:
"Hey, you can't go wrong with noodles!" Just because it is just a more adult form of Mr. Noodles - which she has learned to make by hand! - doesn't make a difference, as far as she was concerned. "I look forward to being surprised!"

Of course, she accepted a teacup, and tea. Something that she began to enjoy with May gifting her the teapot long ago.

"You are not going to believe what I am going to tell you. Never in a million years." She sits back and sips her tea. "Try me."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"You learned you were Joan of Arc in a past life?"

When that didn't get an immediate response, Natasha had to grin and give a shrug. "I literally have no idea. I just know you seemed excited. I know text doesn't have a tone but just a hunch." Not to mention the use of emojis in the messages. Which wasn't something that Nat used a lot. Perhaps an indicate of her true age there somewhere. She could. She just didn't care to.

"If you want me to guess more, you have to give me a hint at least."

Quake has posed:
Oooo. Give Nat some hints?

Game on!

"Let's see. I am not a reincarnation of Joan of Arc, but you already knew that.This is about someone else. A boy, actually." Skye still shakes her head when she thinks about everything. "A bonus clue. You know him as well."

Okay. Nat knew him intimately, but no sense in giving her that piece of information.. yet.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"You finally agreed to go out with Agent Sullivan in accounting?!"

Because Nat had been trying to help her friend. But for some reason, her friends never seemed to appreciate her helping by playing matchmaker. Or even as a wingman. It was like they just wanted to be alone.

Not that she had room to point fingers. She didn't have a grand record of great relationships in her past. Currently? Yes. But that had taken decades before she found him.

Quake has posed:
"Ew. No?" Skye can't help but make a face. "He talks about sports. All. The. Time. Ewww. Thank you, but no thank you. I would rather talk about handguns, than talk about soccer or football, or that one they play in the winter."

Mind you, she actually liked the biathlon. She was getting more comfortable with the weaponry of being a full agent. It has only taken her several years?

"But close. Very, very close."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"But he's cute. In a typical jock sort of way," Natasha added. But she gave another shrug just as a server approached with their orders. A big bowl of noodles was placed in front of Skye. A matching order was placed in front of Natasha. Then a small plate with two eggrolls was put into the center of the table. There was soy sauce and duck sauce already on the table for use if they wanted it.

"So it's a guy and an agent potentially," she muses as she considers the possibilities. Then her eyes went wide before narrowing. "Is it someone that You already knew very, very well by chance?"

Quake has posed:
Mmmm noodles. Noodle with stock, and bits of things added to it.

"Definitely an agent." Skye snagged one of the egg rolls for herself. "You know him, and I know him. He outranks me. But not you."

Skye figures by her reaction that Nat has narrowed it down considerably.

"I'm crazy, right?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Why would you be crazy?"

Natasha wasn't sure where that came from but then she considered it. And Skye would see the moment that it clicked. Because for it to be someone they both know but someone that they know really well, it was only really a handful.

She narrowed her eyes a little bit and leaned forward. Then she pulled out her phone. Flicked it to life with a thumb. A frown at the lack of anything showing there and she pushed the button on the side then slid the phone back into her pocket.

"If it is who I'm thinking, I'm a tad annoyed he hasn't texted me he's back. Is it that someone?"

Quake has posed:
Skye nods, and sighs.

"I feel crazy? I mean, all he needed was to walk back into my life, and already I want to be with him." Her head shakes. "As for why? He was the usual pain in the ass at medical, trying to get out and phone me before anyone could tell me he was back. Apparently he was on a mission that screwed up the timelines? For him it was a week. For the rest of us? Two years."

"He probably is afraid of what you will do to him." Okay, that makes Skye laugh. "He's going through the usual med tests and whatever they can think of to see nothing has harmed him. They don't know why this machine did that. Probably if it wasn't a fluke? They will use it again. But that is just my own thoughts."

She slurps up some noodles.

"I want to smack him for not letting me know and disappearing. I thought I had moved on." Ha! "And the thing is, I can't even be angry with him for this, he didn't do it. I don't know what to think or to do."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I swear to God, I'm going to kill everyone in R&D one of these days. Were they involved?" Because she fully suspected they were involved. Natasha was none too happy with them. In fact, they had already faced her wrath after the last time Alexander was helping them with experimentation only to disappear for a few days himself.

At least it hadn't been two years.

"Yeah, can't be mad at him unless he volunteered to help them test whatever it was that sent him out. So where was he?"

Quake has posed:
"By the sounds of it," Skye nods as she relates the Clint as she met him on the day he got back, "He didn't have a clue. R&D might have had a clue before sending him off? But Clint?"

She shakes her head

"He mentioned the Old West? Who knows. I mean, he was gone from here a long time? It could have been the Old West. They haven't finished tinkering with the machine yet. So the odds are they won't send him again till they have tighter control over the times."

She hopes.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Time to have another discussion with R&D. I'm tired of them messing with people as if they were lab rats."

She munched a bit on her noodles before she continued. "They sent Alexander into an alternate universe not too long ago. Was maybe a week?" She wasn't positive on that but she shrugged again. "This after some other experiment they had messed with him and screwed up too. I'll have to go to the Trisk and check on Clint. Then yell at him for not texting."

She glanced toward the pocket where her phone rested. "Unless they just aren't letting him have his phone until he's debriefed?"

Quake has posed:
Skye grunted. "Probably now they have taken it. He phoned me. I don't think they were happy about /that/. But to tell the truth, I was already in the Med bay having my bracers checked. And he was oh so loud. He has no clue how loud he gets. Even when the damage from his ears was healed."

That made her think.

"He must have a weakness, even though he was healed, some of that damage has returned. I don't know. Frankly, that angel was weird."

She stabs at her egg roll with her chopsticks. "I bet he'd love a visit from you. And that makes two missions that have home wrong with time and place. What do you think they are really trying to accomplish?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Alexander's wasn't really a mission though. Due to his nature, they figure he's able to heal from most anything so they will use him to test things to see what they do. They have no idea what the item does or they want to know how it reacts to his unique physiology. So this may be something different entirely it sounds like."

Natasha wasn't sure but there really needed to be some questions answered. And with her having the higher clearance, as well as Skye's inside tracks, time to get the details they wanted. "We should go poking if they won't answer us straight."

Quake has posed:
"You know I like to poke." Skye grins slyly.

"Well, this mission that he was supposed to be on, wasn't. And they didn't seem worried about that. Mostly was he healthy. Was he the right Clint? Did he have any extra limbs and powers - things like that."

"Really," Skye, lifted up her bowl to get the last noodles out of it, "I don't even know what this machine looks like. He said it reminded him of something that Tony would have built, without the fanfare and logo."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Sounds boring if there is no fanfare and giant initials on it or Stark spelled out in capital letters." Because it was always in capital letters. No lower case.

She finished off her tea then leaned back, noodles mostly gone but still picking at them casually.

"I'll see if they will answer questions. But we should go raid the medlab and check on him. Be sure they are feeding him and see what we can learn about this machine."