It was safe. For some reason, Natasha had always felt safe, even when she was a triple agent masquerading as Natalie Rushman. She was one of the few people who was able to push past the Tony Stark persona to see the man behind the curtain. He had felt her loss immensely.
"Happy coincidence," he replied with an animated shake of his head. "Dropped by to talk shop with my pal Bradly over there. He's very business oriented." Ten years ago, obligatory small talk with an elf would have pushed him toward the edge, but subsequent events including the talking raccoon with an attitude problem had taken the edge off as far as what was possible in the universe.