I took a deep breath, trying to keep my nerves calm. The number of people gathered around just to hear one man speak was astonishing. All of the people would be disappointed today. The man who came to speak, the man they came to listen to, Anthony Edward Stark, was my target and I couldn't mess this up. A quick shot to the back of the head and everyone here would run screaming, he, of course, wouldn't. He'd lay there in a puddle of his own blood. I put the thought at the back of my mind.

A hush fell over the room as Anthony made his way in with his CEO. Pepper Potts. She looked tense and uneasy, maybe she knew. Obviously, she didn't know but maybe she could feel something was off about today. She wouldn't be the first person to feel that I was lurking in the shadows. It would make a difference, though. It never did. She would try to push that feeling away and Anthony wouldn't realize what was going on. Men like him never did. They were to caught up in the fame or power or money, sometimes all three. No, Anthony would be no different.

Pepper made some sort of introduction, and then Anthony took the stage. I stayed hidden as I aimed the gun in my hand at his head. I started pulling back the trigger when I was pulled further back behind the curtain. The gun went off and the screams of all of the people there echoed. Anthony cursed and I knew that I had missed my shot. I turned to the person who had grabbed me to see Captain America and Black Widow. They looked ready to fight but that wasn't my job here. I looked at the obvious exit and then took off running the other way. I had the layout of this place in my head. There should be an emergency exit just down the hall and to the left.

I never got to the hallway, though. A sharp pain pierced my leg and I fell. Of course, Hawkeye was hiding somewhere just waiting to fire. Why can't a job ever go easy? I felt another pain hit my back and bring me face to face with the floor. Steven Rodgers had me pinned to the ground. So, their objective wasn't to kill me.

"We've got him apprehended." Black widow said. She was silent for a few moments just listening. "Alright, can do."

Damn. Any other time if I'd gotten caught then I would have gone to jail. I was fine with that, it's a risk you take as a freelancer. But now I was dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D and that didn't bode well for me. It's not like I had any information for them, the employer kept his identity a secret. Captain Rodgers pulled me up, keeping my hands held behind my back.

"Did you guys get him?" Anthony said as he came back to meet his companions. I couldn't look at him. Never before have I had to face someone who I had just shot at. But he wasn't having that, he walked over grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him. Instead of showing any weakness I held eye contact and glared. It wasn't that hard, I was rather annoyed with him.

"Fury wants us to take him back to base. Are you coming, Stark?" Steven asked. Who knew his voice was so irritating? or, maybe it was because I was already upset about missing my shot and now I was out money and my next meal. Not to mention this client had already told me failure wasn't an option and what would happen if I did fail.

"Of course, I would like to know why this punk tried to kill me," Anthony said.

I had given up on pulling at the restraints on my wrist after the area was raw and in quite a bit of pain, it wouldn't do me any good. Nobody had asked me any questions, yet. I couldn't help but wonder if the news had a hold of the story yet. I wouldn't be surprised. Gun shots fired in New York City we're on the news before the bullet left the gun.

I watched as another agent walked by hastily. They seemed to be in distress and every last one of the agents who passed were headed the same way. The guards inside of this room though weren't budging. There were six young men standing in various spots in the small room. I tugged at the restraints again.

"Stop, you're going to make yourself bleed. We'd rather not waste resources on you." One of the men said. I didn't pay attention to him. I was too nervous to sit still. It wasn't just my hands moving but my whole body was shifting repeatedly. Whatever unknown thing that was going on in the base around us couldn't be good. Even the guards in here seemed tense.

"Copy that." Said another man. He seemed to relax after getting some sort of information from his ear piece. "Director Fury says we need to get him to the interrogation room."

With that, they hauled me out of the chair and started to drag me down a series of corridors. Every hallway looking the same as the last with no real indication of where we were going. I tried to spot the differences but none appeared before my eyes. Maybe it was purposely designed this way to make escaping nearly impossible. I could still find an exit if I tried but no doors were marked as such and I would probably be found before I could find a door leading to freedom.

Finally, we made it into a room that looked like an interrogation room from shows and movies. The one-way window, the speaker that you could adjust the volume on. The metal table and chairs. The gray-green walls. No real windows. And finally, the lights that were dim and bright at the same time. A man with an eye patch leaned against the table with his arms crossed and a deep scowl embedded on his face.

"Take a seat." He commanded. His voice held authority and it was easy to see that he wasn't used to people disobeying him. If I were in any other position I would have remained standing but seeing as how I was now in their custody and they could do whatever they wished with me, I was going to obey. So, with only a little hesitation I took a seat.

"My base was just attacked by people looking for you, they weren't HYDRA, so who the hell sent you to kill Tony?" He snapped. Well, shit.

"I don't know they're a name, it was someone with a lot of money, though. They also used a voice modifier while on the phone. You could always look at my bank history but I doubt they used their own account to make the deposit." I said, not willing to get on this guy's bad side.

"How much was he paying you?" The man asked.

"Fifty grand. Half when the deal was made and the other half when they knew for fact Anthony Stark was dead." I said.

"Did they tell you why they wanted Tony dead?"

"No, but even with the fake voice some bitterness was there, I've seen it a lot. People feel wronged or cheated by someone else and then they call people like me to take care of their problem." I was hoping that giving him everything I could help keep his anger at bay.

"So, why were they looking for you?"

"Probably because I failed, they did say that I would pay with my blood if I failed to kill Mr. Stark."

"So, what is your job title exactly?" He seemed calmer

"Freelancer."

"So, you hold nothing against Stark personally?"

"No sir, just trying to keep myself alive." It was all true.

I never found joy in killing, I didn't find displeasure either. It was just something I had to do to stay alive. The man nodded and stepped out of the room and in doing so, left me to my thoughts. The person who called me was dangerous, and they wanted Anthony out of the way, while still keeping their hands clean. So, when I didn't get the job done they decided that they needed to get rid of me. They were trying to protect themselves, whoever they were. Damn, I hadn't been in this much trouble since I first got into freelancing. That wasn't attempted murder, though, no, that was only a misdemeanor and since it was my first known offense they let me off. But now I had attempted to take the life of a rich and powerful man, a man who could have me thrown in jail faster than I could blink.

Who would have been behind this, though? Anthony was notorious for sleeping around, maybe it was a jealous husband or boyfriend. Also, his clean energy company had put a lot of the other energy companies out of business. He was also an inventor, maybe he stole someone's idea. It could also be someone in the company, someone who would benefit from his death.

Fury, Tony, and Steve walked back in. They were discussing the same thoughts that were just going through my head. And more.

"This place is not fit to take care of him, we can protect him without a problem, but a long-term stay won't be possible." Fury said waving in an agent who came right over to me, she unbound my hands and started looking over the raw skin. "But we do need to set up agents around the tower."

"Or, the team could just move in. With them around and Jarvis keeping an eye on things, I think there'll be plenty of protection. " Anthony piped in.

"But there's still the kid," Steven said.

"Not a problem, as long as he isn't going to take another shot at me then he's going to join us," Anthony responded.

"I don't think so, while I won't take an another shot at you I also have no plans of joining you," I said.

"You no longer have a choice. You will stay in the Stark tower until whoever this is, is taken care of." Fury snapped at me.

"I'd rather take my chances back out on the streets." I snapped back.

"Listen, kid, I understand you want to just go home but we're trying to keep you safe," Steven said.

"I don't need your protection, I can take care of myself."

"And your request to be on your own has been denied. So get over it and follow us, we're heading out." Just then the agent-nurse finished up, I sighed inward and I got up and followed.