Marvel: Starting with Dumbledore's Template at Kamar-Taj

Morning light had begun crossing the bed when Natasha shifted against Ethan and muttered a quiet curse. She tried to sit up, stopped halfway, then carefully pulled his loose shirt farther down her thighs before attempting the movement again.

Ethan opened his eyes and watched her adjust her weight. "Professional injury?"

Natasha gave him a flat look. "Employer misconduct. Any further commentary will be included in the official complaint."

Ethan reached around her waist and drew her back toward him. Natasha allowed one slow, warm kiss, but caught his wrist when his hand slipped beneath the shirt.

"Not until I can sit without remembering your handprint," she murmured against his mouth.

Before Ethan could argue, someone knocked sharply against the bedroom door.

Gwen entered with a coffee pot, three cups, and a plate of toast balanced across a wooden tray. She made it two steps into the bedroom before stopping.

Natasha was sitting in Ethan's shirt. The folded maid dress lay across the nearby chair, while the lace headpiece and empty oil bottle remained on the nightstand. Gwen's gaze moved from them to the careful way Natasha was keeping her weight off one side.

"The massage took longer than expected," she said.

Natasha accepted the coffee Gwen poured without reaching for the blanket. "His condition required additional work."

Gwen glanced at Ethan before looking back at Natasha's uncomfortable position. "Apparently the treatment was difficult for everyone involved."

Ethan reached for his own cup. Gwen placed it on the bedside table hard enough to make the ceramic clink, though the corner of her mouth had already begun to rise.

She sat near the foot of the bed and poured herself some coffee. The conversation remained light. Gwen asked whether Ethan's back had improved, Natasha confirmed that the treatment had worked, and Ethan's attempt to praise the room service earned him Gwen's heel against his shin and a warning look from Natasha.

Half an hour later, the three of them were downstairs in the kitchen. Natasha had showered and changed into dark trousers and a fitted top, leaving Ethan's shirt upstairs.

They had barely started breakfast when her secure S.H.I.E.L.D. phone rang on the kitchen island. Natasha checked Hill's name on the screen, answered, and placed the call on speaker after confirming Ethan was present.

Hill had compared the battlefield photographs with the inventory completed at the New Mexico storage facility. A thin outer fragment visible beside one of the damaged vehicles had never reached the final container.

"It is not the core," Hill said through the speaker. "It is a small piece from the outer armor, but it still carries Asgardian metal and residual energy."

Ethan set down his cup. "Could anyone outside the perimeter have reached it?"

"No. The area had already been closed."

Natasha leaned against the island, her attention sharpening as Hill sent the records directly to her phone. One recovery truck appeared twice. The first entry showed it leaving the battlefield normally. Several minutes later, the same truck number had been entered again under a different team.

"Stark's drone records only show the first departure," Hill said. "Our final inventory does not match. The duplicate came from one of our secure terminals."

Natasha read the second entry twice. "Someone created a clean reason to enter the evidence area."

Hill agreed and asked whether Ethan could locate the missing metal.

Ethan could recognize the Destroyer's energy if the stolen metal was activated or brought near the Plumber analyzer, but the battlefield had been covered with fragments carrying nearly the same traces.

"I can confirm whether a recovered piece came from the Destroyer," he said. "I cannot open a map and point to where the missing one is."

That was enough for Hill. She told him to bring the analyzer and ended the call after confirming that the original transport records would be waiting.

The call ended, and breakfast was abandoned.

Gwen carried her damaged Spider-Woman suit toward the workroom while calling Matt. She asked him to check the Fisk transport routes they had already marked. If the stolen metal had entered Hell's Kitchen through one of Mason's existing channels, their investigation might catch the movement.

Natasha collected her bracers and secure phone. Hill had already sent the transport files, and she continued reading them as she followed Ethan into the main hall.

Ethan retrieved the Plumber analyzer from his study and joined her there.

Gwen paused at the workroom door and told them not to start another government conspiracy before lunch. Natasha glanced up from the records on her phone and pointed out that this conspiracy appeared to have started without them.

Ethan opened the portal before either woman could find a way to blame him anyway. The gateway formed inside the secured S.H.I.E.L.D. command post in New Mexico, where Hill was already waiting beside the central table with the original transport records displayed across the main screen.

Natasha moved directly to the main screen while Ethan placed the analyzer on the table. The first entry matched Stark's drone records: the truck had collected debris and left the battlefield normally.

The second entry used the same vehicle number several minutes later, placing it back inside the recovery zone under a different team.

Hill opened another file beside it. The number had appeared again that morning, attached to an East Coast storage transfer.

Natasha compared the time stamps against Stark's drone records. The real truck was still moving away from the recovery zone when the second entry placed the same vehicle back inside it under another team.

The East Coast record used that number again before the actual truck could possibly have crossed the country.

"They copied a legitimate truck number and turned it into a ghost transport," Natasha said.

Hill folded her arms as she looked at the three records displayed together. "And someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. has been using it to move cargo."

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