Summary:
Phil Coulson is well and alive and Tony knows. But how? While Fury chooses to keep his mouth shut, the Avengers decide to take the matter into their own hands. But they need help and NYPD offers their best interrogator. But who is this interrogator and why can't Sam leave her alone? Based after CA:TWS. This fanfic will also be using a lot of information from the show Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Beta: timeywimeyslytherin.
Chapitre Un:
"He's alive, isn't he?!" Tony stormed into the quiet little apartment Fury had bought himself in the city of Rättvik, Sweden.
"What the damn hell do you think you're doing, walking in here, like you own the god damned place?" Fury asked. He was sitting on a wooden chair, with blueprints scattered all around him. Despite his retirement, he kept himself closely acquainted with the functioning of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Where is he?" Tony slammed a fist against the wall.
"If you're going to break something then do it outside. I have work to do, talk to me when you've calmed down." Unfazed, Fury turned back to the papers and completely ignored the growling man behind him. Within a minute, Tony had grabbed Fury's collar, yanking him upwards.
"The lies never end, do they? I will find him, no matter where you hide him. I'll find Phil." Tony let go of Fury and left. Fury sighed and called Hill.
Steve saw Tony enter the Stark Towers. He seemed angry, something Steve hadn't seen often. So he followed him and asked "Is everything okay Tony?"
The Iron Man looked at Steve. "I need help," he accepted.
Immediately Steve, Natasha, Clint and Sam were gathered. The rest were either unaccessible or in another realm. Tony stood at the head of the table. Once everyone was seated, he threw a few pictures on the table. Natasha raised an eyebrow but picked up the pictures.
"Make a note of that dates they were taken on," Tony advised. A gasp escaped Natasha's lips and everyone was now intrigued. It wasn't everyday that the Black Widow was surprised.
"He's alive? How?" she asked, absolutely floored. The pictures were only three days old.
"That's what I want to know too." The pictures were passed around the table and all were equally confused. "This doesn't make sense. I saw his limp, dead body," Tony continued. Everyone remained silent. "I want to find him."
"How can we help?" Steve asked.
"We'll have to investigate this on our own. Fury refuses to say anything. Natasha, Clint, can you two do that? Can you work against Fury?" Tony asked.
"It's Coulson. I will find him, with or without Fury's help," Natasha replied. Steve figured they all must've been close. Clint simply nodded.
"All right, lets do this," Steve said. "Lets start with these pictures. Where are they from?"
"From a cafe, here in New York," Tony offered.
"One of us can to go and speak to some people there," Natasha suggested.
"But we are all recognisable," Clint reminded. Everyone started racking their brains.
"We could get help from NYPD," Sam suddenly said. "I have some acquaintances, from the Veteran's Association, who have friends in the DA. I could find us someone."
"Thanks Joey, appreciate it man," Sam said as he shook the hand of his acquaintance. He was at one of the NYPD branches. The team had decided that it'd be useful if the person was also an interrogator. So here he was, looking for Special Agent Roux.
"So Roux is still interrogating someone. If you'd like, you can sit here or you could watch her in action," Joey informed.
"I think I'd like to watch her craft," Sam said. He was led into a room which had nothing but a few chairs. The wall on the right side of the door had a large glass, allowing Sam to see the other room. In the other room, a man sat facing Sam with his hands in handcuffs. He seemed to be bleeding profusely from his skull but otherwise looked okay. A woman had her back towards him.
The woman had her bright red hair up in a ponytail and her back seemed awfully tiny. She was clad in a plain, white shirt and pin-striped trousers and her hands were probably folded across her chest. "Oh Seth, you don't understand, we are truly running out of time. I want to make this easy for you but you just won't let me," she said, her French accent abundantly clear. Had Sam not known that this was an interrogation, he would've assumed this was simply a worried friend telling the person to hurry up, the tone was such. She slowly made her way to Seth and placed her hands on his shoulders. For the first time, Sam saw her face. She looked like a doll, almost frighteningly so. Her lips were small and curved perfectly while her eyes were bright blue. Her hair were pulled back in a ponytail but her bangs covered all of her forehead, making her already small face, much smaller. Her skin was white while freckles were dusted all over the bridge of her nose, like stars in a galaxy. Sam was mesmerised.
Her fingers were now massaging the man's shoulders. "Seth come on, why won't you tell me?" she pouted in a childlike manner. The man remained silent. She pressed two fingers into the wound that was bleeding. The man yelled out in pain. "Sssshhh, sssshhhh," she cooed. "It's okay. All you have to do is tell me the truth and it'll all be over." The man said nothing. The petite woman sighed audibly. "You know what Seth, I don't want to hurt you, I like you too much. But what I am going to do is bring in your 5 year old daughter." The man's eyes widened in fear. "Does she cry a lot Seth, when she's in pain I mean?" Casually, the woman opened a bag and pulled out an axe.
"No, please don't hurt her, she's so small. Please," the man desperately begged.
"Now this could be over but you choose to keep your mouth shut. Truly, you'll be the cause of her lost arm," she said as she swirled the axe in her hand. Sam was taken aback. She wouldn't actually do it, would she? She walked out of the interrogation room and within a few minutes returned with a small girl, hand in hand, probably the one she intended to chop off.
"Daddy!" the girl squealed on seeing her father bleeding. She let go of the woman's hand and ran towards a man, hugging him tight. The woman smiled in absolute satisfaction.
"Now Jane, your daddy isn't helping me," the woman said as she walked over to the girl and patted her head. "Won't you ask him to help me? He does everything you say right?"
"Daddy, why won't you tell Ms. Roux what she needs to know?" the girl asked, turning towards her father. The man was trembling, afraid of his daughter's fate. A smirk made it's way to the woman's face and she gently patted the man's shoulder as she picked up the girl and led her to the opposite side of the table. Setting her down on the seat, the woman once again picked up her axe.
"Now, do you know what this is Jane?" the woman asked with a tilt of her head.
"Its an axe!" the girl replied enthusiastically. The woman, once again, patted the girl's head.
"You are so intelligent Jane. Now-"
"What are you? Just let her go! I'll tell you everything you want to know, just let her go!" the defeated father pleaded.
"Thank you Seth, your cooperation is much appreciated. Officer Kane will ask you some questions now, please be honest," the woman said with a smile and took the girl's hand. "Come on Jane, lets get you some ice-cream. Daddy has some work to do."
To say that Sam was surprised would be an understatement. While on his tours with the 58th, he'd seen multiple interrogations but none had chilled him in this manner. This woman was unthinking, she didn't seem to care about anything but getting the offender to speak. Worried about the child's safety, he followed the woman.
They were walking hand in hand, the girl happily chatting with the woman. Suddenly the girl went silent. "Jane, what's wrong?" the woman asked, he wanted to say in a worried tone but Sam couldn't be sure.
"Whats going to happen to daddy?" the girl asked, fidgeting with her fingers. For the first time that day, Sam saw the woman's face loose it's calm. She crouched down to the girl's level and smiled softly.
"Jane, look at me," the woman said, hooking a finger under the girl's chin and lifting her head. When the girl was finally making eye-contact with the woman, she continued. "Your father loves you so very much, you couldn't even imagine. He did some bad things and met some very bad people, all for your sake. But now he has some information we need. After we get that information, he'll be locked up in a jail because he's been very mean to some nice people. But none of that means he doesn't love you. Maybe he isn't the superhero father you thought he'd be but all that he's done is all for your sake, so that you could have the best barbies and the best education. He'll come back to you after a few years. Visit him often and keep loving him, okay?"
The girl seemed a little confused but nodded anyway. She tackled the woman into a hug and the woman quickly responded by wrapping her arms around the small girl. As they were hugging, the woman looked up and made eye-contact with Sam. He'd been so surprised with the change in her nature that he had forgotten to keep himself out of the view. He quickly looked away.
The woman got up and asked a passing officer to take the girl back to her mother. Then she walked over to Sam.
"Hello, can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm Sam Wilson, I need your help," Sam said with an extended hand.
The woman smiled and placed her soft, tiny hand in Sam's, shaking it with the strength of a kitten. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Clémence Roux."
