The Monster Inside part 1
A phone buzzes, disturbing you from your book, you sit up as the horse underneath you shifts his footing. Sighing, you lean back again, head resting on your horse's withers, feet on his hindquarters and knees in the air. You swipe your mobile and put it to your ear.
"Yes?" You ask simply.
"We have a mission for you (name)." Director Nick Fury replies.
"Really, right now?" You groan inwardly and slide off the dun coloured stallion.
Nick ignores that.
"There is a rogue Chitauri soldier causing problems in Colorado, the details will be sent to your mobile, we need you to take care of it." He carries on.
"How the hell did it get to Colorado? I saw them all die when Stark blew up their mother ship." You say louder now.
"That's need to know." He states annoyingly.
"I have the same clearance as Maria Hill, I think I have the need to know." You say raising your eyebrows despite not being face to face with Fury. "Actually, wait don't answer that. Does the answer start with 'C' and contain 'mental' in it somewhere." You continue sarcastically.
"Compartmentalization, Agent, you should look it up."
"I am not your 'agent' anymore," you snarl, "I quit being your 'agent'." With that you hang up.
"Sorry Desert baby," you say to the horse kissing his silky muzzle, "I will get Sadie to ride you extra-long while I'm gone!"
An hour later you are sat in your white Audi r8 dressed in skinny, black military pants, a low-cut white tank tee, black leather jacket and high heeled aviator boots. Around your waste is a belt made of ammunition and hanging off either hip are two fingerprint controlled guns. Two sword style weapons are concealed between you shoulder blades and one knife is hidden in your boot. All in all you were dressed suitably for the occasion with 5 weapons and a smart phone for contact.
The drive from your home in a secluded private forest in Virginia to SHIELD headquarters in DC (where you would be flown up to the helicarrier) gave you time to think and plan over the mission ahead. The mission consisted of getting information from the locals without alerting the Chitauri soldier to your presence, undercover was your specialty along with combat and espionage which was why you were given the mission. You have also been assigned to work with Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, or rather you were put in charge which would be weird when working with two capable members of the Avengers team. You weren't too worried about working with the Black Widow, you two were friends or as close as that can be in SHIELD, and when Clint Barton had first asked Fury employ her as a spy for SHIELD you had been one of the only two agents to support that. Her first mission for SHIELD had involved working with you and at the prospect of death after you had both been captured and tortured you grew close. In the end you did escape (obviously) but your friendship had developed and you worked together many times since and shared many dangerous and scary situations.
Captain Rogers on the other hand was a different matter, you had heard about his old fashioned charms and gentle persona. However he was a born leader and probably used to giving orders so while being put in charge of him was an honour it was also awkward. You had never actually worked with him on a mission before; you had only been in the background during the battle of New York, helping the police and the National Guard rescue civilians. Since then you had been working as a private investigator in Virginia, having quit SHIELD because, after a member of your team had been killed in a fight, you were haunted by his memory blaming yourself for his death and couldn't face up to working without him. This would be your first mission since then.
HQ was busy this morning despite it being 5:00am. Fury was awaiting you on the bridge and after a short night's sleep and hot shower you decided it would be a good idea to get there early before Natasha and Steve. Applying the finishing touches of makeup to the dark circles under your eyes you exit your quarters and make your way to the bridge. You suspected that Natasha might already be there even though you were an hour early but was surprised to find both of them there before you.
Swallowing your nerves you walk out of the corridor, heels clicking on the tiled flooring and strode right up to them.
"Captain Rogers, I heard we would be working together." You greet him confidently.
"Yes Ma'am, I look forward to it!" He replies giving you a genuine smile that makes you want to smile back. Instead you incline your head respectfully.
Turning to Natasha you smile.
"Hey!" You say simply.
"Hey (name)!" She replies with a subtle smile.
Fury walks over.
"You done with your meet and greet? He asks while you roll your eyes and turn to look at him.
"No, were not done yet, we aren't even on to the customary hugs and kisses, maybe you should join us." You challenge him.
"This isn't a joke, agent." He emphasizes the last word making you give him a cold stare.
"Right, you have two days, one to gather intel from the locals at the last known location of the rebel and the other to find it and eliminate it." He continues without giving you a second glance. "Accommodation has been organized for you," he hands you a screen, "(Name) and Steve, you will share a room at 'Lazy Lays' and Natasha will stay at this motel." He hands her a screen as well.
"In other words this is not deep cover?" You state the question.
"You must not be seen as a three unless you meet at the pre-agreed safe location or when you take the rogue down. Got it?" He says by way of answer.
You all three nod in response.
"Transport leaves at 8:00pm, you will be dropped at the safe location and then Natasha, you will get to your motel twenty -two minutes after Steve and (name). (Name) is in charge."
"You got us up at 5:00am to tell us that our transport leaves at 8:00PM, seriously!" You huff in mock annoyance and walk out. Once you reach the door you hear footsteps and turn around to see Captain Rogers briskly trying to catch up to you. You slow down and wait for him.
"Captain?" You were never great with new people.
He nods at you, "I thought that seeing as we would be working together we should get to know a little about each other, maybe over breakfast?"
"I... look," you take a deep breath, "I don't do the whole 20 questions thing, or breakfast for that matter." You sigh awkwardly.
"Well where are you going now?" He doesn't seem at all put out.
"Gym."
"We should train together."
"Wow if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to hit on me, Captain Rogers." You say dryly. The kind glint in his eye disappears at that and you immediately regret saying it.
"I only like to know who I am working with Ma'am." He says turning away. If he was embarrassed he didn't show it.
You stop as he walks on feeling guilty for being rude. He sees that you stopped and turns around.
"Coming?" He asks.
You nod and move to lead the way to the gym.
The helicarrier gym was quite large despite being on a transport vessel and contained workout apparatus, sparing ring and punch bags. You head straight to a treadmill and turn it on. Getting on it you begin with a slow jog to warm up and then move to a reasonably fast pace. You turn you head slightly and watch Steve as he gets onto the one next to you and sets his on to sprint mode. Turning back to your own treadmill you see him look at you out of the corner of your eye and become aware of him staring at you. Self-consciousness was not a feeling you were accustomed to but as he analyses you, you begin to feel slightly embarrassed. Pulling an IPod and head phones out of your jacket pocket you turn it on loud and plug them in, drowning out the noise of the gym with running tracks.
After 30 minutes you stop and breathe deep. Pulling out your head phones you smile coyly at Steve.
"Hey Stars and Stripes, you wanna go a few rounds?" You challenge him.
He looks at you and nods. Walking over to the boxing ring you feign exhaustion hoping he would take the bait. He steps in behind you and walks to the far corner. Facing him you bend your knees and lean down slightly to anticipate his attack.
"Your move!" You hiss.
He moves towards you and you come to meet him. Aiming a simple hit to the left, Steve moves around you trying to find a weak spot. He faces you again and this time you move to him and using a fake kick to the stomach you shift your foot at the least moment avoiding his block and place your foot on his hip, swinging the other foot round you climb so that you are standing on his hips with your hands on his shoulders. Slipping your right leg around his neck you avoid his hands trying to get you off and them launch yourself over his shoulder and drop down his back so that you are hanging from his neck by his leg. Your shift in weight unbalances him slightly and you use it to your advantage, grabbing the back of his legs and pulling his neck down. Releasing your leg hold on him you drop neatly to the floor and flip his leg out from under him successfully causing him to fall to one knee. You use this chance to get up onto your feet and face him again, that move had been more for show than to actually do anything but the admiration in Steve eyes made you smile.
"I haven't seen that before." He says
"It's a little unconventional and can be quite messy if it is not done right but it is effective, especially with a knife." You smile coldly.
Your sparring session lasts about an hour with both of you fighting equally despite Steve's heighten strength and speed. By the end you are breathing hard but as you look over at Steve you see that he is barely tired and only a slight sheen of sweat over his muscular arms shows the long fight you had just had. You decide that that would conclude your workout, not wanting to tire yourself out before a mission.
You slip out of the ring and grab your IPod from the corner where you had left it. Feeling a little thirsty you head towards the door but catch yourself, remembering your manners you turn back to where Steve had exited the ring.
"I'm heading to the canteen for a drink, you wanna come?" You invite him.
"Sure." He replies and with that you both leave.
The canteen was quite small, most missions did not involve staying on the helicarrier overnight so there had been no need to include a large eating area in the plans. However to say that the food was limited was an understatement. Everything was all healthy food, high in carbohydrate for energy. This did not bother you, you never had breakfast nor did you indulge in unhealthy food but you did wonder what all the young navigation staff ate.
Turning to the drinks bit you grab a bottle of water and place your finger on the fingerprint scanner to pay. (Yup, SHIELD use your fingerprint for you to pay for food, they are that cool.) Steve comes over having bought food and the two of you grab a table.
"I thought you didn't do breakfast." He says nodding to the water bottle in your hand.
"I don't, this," you hold up the bottle, "isn't breakfast."
"You should eat something though, we just worked out and we have a mission and you are missing the most important meal of the day." He looked concerned.
"Well I never have breakfast. I used to do more training than this every day and I am still alive. Anyway what are you, my health advisor?" You raise your eyebrows.
He holds your gaze levelly before you roll your eyes, get up and grab an apple from the fruit basket.
"Happy now?" You ask sarcastically. He ignores that.
You sit in silence for a few minutes, you munching your apple and Steve eating his healthy breakfast. You begin to feel a little uncomfortable and regret your previous snarky comments. After a while Steve finally speaks up.
"You and Fury get along well?" He looks curious. You sigh knowing where this would lead.
"I don't take orders very well, as you've probably noticed. Director Fury is very good at giving them and giving them often. Also he is one of the two people who know about my past and I don't trust him for that." You reply cryptically.
Steve thinks this over and then answers.
"You don't trust people who know you then?"
"I don't trust people full stop." You reply.
"Why?"
"Am I being interrogated?" You look up at him your eyes glinting.
"No." He stares back equally.
"I don't like to talk about my past." You look away to avoid him seeing the ghosts hidden behind your eyes.
"Ok, well your file says that you were born in Scotland and lived in England, what made you want to come to the USA?"
"You read my file?"
"Like I said, I like to know who I am working with." He replies evenly.
You shrug.
I don't know, Margaret Carter did it." You reply nonchalantly. Steve looked at you strangely when you said that. You knew you shouldn't push but the look in his eye made you want to know.
"She meant something to you?" It was more a statement than a question but it made him look away.
You grab his empty plate, your empty bottle and apple core and take them to the bin. When you come back he had already left. You feel guilt knot in your stomach but remember that he had also asked personal questions of you.