Cassie stood in front of her stove, making breakfast. To her right, her dishwasher sat yawing open like a hungry mouth,a reminder to herself to run it. Breakfast cooked, she sat down at her table and was just about to take a bite when her phone rang. She sighed and dropped her fork onto her plate with a clang.
"This is Flynn," she answered.
"We need you to come in," said the no-nonsense voice on the other end. Cassie didn't recognize it, but that was hardly surprising. She was never contacted by the same person twice.
"Why?" she asked. "Did Agent 31 relapse?"
"No. She's progressing exactly as you predicted, actually."
"Then why-" Cassie started to ask, then it dawned on her. "You want me to talk to Captain Rogers."
"You read my mind" the person's tone of voice told her that they were smiling. "You really are a psychic."
"I'm not a psychic I'm a psychologist," Cassie protested "There's- you know what? Never mind. What exactly do you want me to tell him?"
"You just need to... explain things."
"What things?"
"You know, psychological things."
"So you're saying you want me to talk to him about Sergeant Barnes."
"Yes."
"You do know I can't help his friend until he finds him, right?"
"Yes, what's your point?"
"I don't know, it just seems rather rude to basically tell him to hurry up and find his friend considering the amount of effort he's probably already put into doing just that."
"We don't pay you to be polite, we pay you to clean up HYDRA's mess." The voice was angry now.
"I thought that was your job," Cassie retorted.
"When it comes to the mind of our agents,it's yours."
"But Sergeant Barnes was never an agent of SHIELD-"
"He was a Howling Commando. That's close enough," the voice interrupted smoothly. Cassie sighed.
"Fine," she said. "What time do you want me to be there?"
"10:45, and try not to be late. The captain doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"He's waited sixty-nine years. I'm sure he could stand waiting a little bit longer," Cassie muttered, but the person on the other end had already hung up.