Author's Note: I'm still ever so excited people are reading this. It just means a LOT to me. And thank you for those who have reviewed, it also means a lot to me! So thank you so, so much.
I hope y'all are enjoying it still. Here is the 7th chapter, where a bit more of Remy's life comes out. This chapter is almost one continuous scene, so.
Chapter Seven
"What family?" Remy asked as she forced herself to look at the other woman, otherwise she feared she'd deck Jameson. "If you look at my file, it states I have no immediate family."
"That information is redacted." Jameson cut in, a smirk on his face. "I was curious about you so I put your picture in the facial recognition software." Hill rolled her eyes; Remy looked at him, her face unreadable. Obviously this was some lame attempt at revenge after Brock scared him the other day.
"The software we use to track the bad guys. You put my picture in it." It was a deadpanned statement and Remy was wondering what the hell was with this other agent. Jameson still looked smug, as though it was the most brilliant idea ever. "You do know I'm not a bad guy, right?"
"I did. And your picture did come up in the system. However, it was you from when you were 16." He told her. "That was, oh, 12 years ago, wasn't it, Rosemary Paterson?" Remy narrowed her eyes, but she refrained from throwing the coffee at him because she couldn't bring herself to waste the beverage, plus she wanted to see where he was going with this. "You were the daughter of Robert Paterson, who was detained by SHIELD 12 years ago after it was discovered he was funding a bunch of U.S. militia who were essentially homegrown terrorists."
"And?" Remy asked, gritting her teeth. She knew all of this, obviously. She was the damn reason SHIELD was able to get the evidence to arrest him.
"Well, shouldn't SHIELD be worried about someone like you and your history be working here?" Jameson questioned, trying to look thoughtful. It didn't work and Remy turned her attention to Hill.
"Why am I really here exactly?" She asked. "Clearly not for Sherlock Holmes, Jr. here to be telling you something you already knew, Agent Hill." She glanced back at Jameson. "As for that comment, about 'someone like you and your history'? You ever say that to Agent Romanoff or Agent Barton? I'm sure they'd love for you to say that to their faces."
Hill shook her head. "That wasn't the real reason you were brought here, Agent Black. Though, unfortunately, it does tie in with your family."
"I don't have a family." Remy snapped, narrowing her eyes. Hill fixed her with a look that made Remy recoil a bit. "The only person I can call family is Agent Coulson, and even that's pushing it."
"You do, you really do. And this family member is our target for our big mission." Jameson said, sounding a little to excited. "Oh, did you not read the file that was delivered to you on Friday? It held the information on our target."
"Stop saying target. You make it sound like you're going to assassinate her." Hill ordered, rubbing her forehead. She was regretting this meeting right now, and she was about to throw them both out of the office if they didn't get to the main purpose of the meeting. "Agent Black, if you didn't read the file, then you wouldn't have known that Nora Clark is actually your cousin, Nora Paterson, from your father's side of the family. She married five years ago to Joel Clark, who runs a successful travel agency out of California that caters to the rich."
"Oh my god." Remy blanched and she quickly set her coffee on Hill's desk to keep from dropping it on the floor. "Are you serious? You know she'll recognize me. I mean, she is like, 10 years older than me, but that woman was pretty good at recalling people's faces and details of their personal life. Do you really think I should go on this mission then? I could end up really screwing this up."
"And that is why I brought this to your attention, Agent." Jameson announced, his smugness increasing tenfold. Hill just rolled her eyes again. "Agent Black is a big risk to us."
"This is precisely why Agent Black will be leading the team on this mission." Hill told him pointedly, gesturing to the folder on her desk. "She is not only close to the subject, but she will be able to get into the subject's apartment without to much trouble, which will allow the mission to go off without any problem, understand? Agent Black is skillful at charming people, Agent Jameson, something you sufficiently lack."
Jameson flushed in embarrassment at that and looked at Remy. "Are you sure you can do this? Grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth, but you've been out of that lifestyle for 12 years now, so how can we be sure that you can fool her into getting that close to you? Hm? Will we be able to even trust you?"
Remy rolled her eyes and slumped back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. "Maybe you'll trust me, maybe you won't, Agent Jameson. But you know, I don't care. I hate to say this, but I don't need a team to get the item back if it's Nora we're confronting, but I know SHIELD wants us to work together to complete this." She told him, still looking at the ceiling. She was trying to keep herself from wanting to punch him in the face. "So we are going to work together and pretend to get along. If all goes well, we will only be there a few days before we're flying back here, okay? I mean, who knows, the worse that will happen is I realize that, oh, I miss my family sooooo much that I decide to reconcile with them and live with my cousin and it's all happily ever after bullshit, but come on, that ain't gonna happen."
Jameson looked speechless and turned to Hill helplessly. Hill gave Remy a look as she sat back in her chair. "You two are free to leave. I do not want to hear about any animosity between the team, understand? Agent Rumlow will keep me informed about what is going on, and I will put you on desk duty for two months if you step out of line, Agent Jameson." She told them. "And you, Agent Black, will be sent out into the field on recovery missions that involve a lot of gunfire. Understand?"
The two nodded. Remy grabbed her coffee, bid Hill farewell, and hurried out the door. It didn't completely surprise her that Coulson was waiting outside the office for her. Agent Jameson followed her out of the office, and looked like he had more to say to her, but one look from Coulson had the younger agent heading down the opposite end of the hallway.
Remy groaned softly and finished off her coffee, which was now room temperature and kind of gross tasting. She discarded the cup in the first trash can she saw, trying to wait until they got to the elevator before she spoke to Coulson. Thankfully, the elevator was empty, and the moment the door was closed and the floor selected, she rounded on Coulson, who seemed to have expected a reaction from her.
"Did you know about this mission?" She asked, raising her voice. "Did you? Did you know Nora was involved in this? Did you think how I would feel about that?! I told you I never wanted to see them again, no matter who it was, but you threw me into the shark pool!"
Coulson nodded, his hands in his pockets as he looked her in the eyes. "I did, yes. Which is another reason I recommended you for this mission. It's been 12 years, Remy, and you never really closed the door on that part of your life." His voice was steady as he spoke, and for some reason, that frustrated Remy even more.
"What the hell, Phil! You knew I wanted nothing to do with them when I left with you!" She was yelling down, her voice filling the elevator. "I wanted nothing to do with them or that lifestyle, that's why I went with you, remember?" Tears started to form in her eyes. Remy was feeling overwhelmed from everything right now, and being on her period did not help in terms of how she was handling this. Everything just seemed worse right now. "I want nothing to do with this stupid mission or stupid Nora and her stupid item, or stupid SHIELD and their stupid everything."
She dissolved in tears, covering her face. Coulson sighed and pulled her into a hug. It wasn't often that this happened, but when Remy cried it was because she had pent up a lot of frustration over a few months. He knew that there was the stress and fear of the mission, not to mention the animosity between her and Jameson, which was really unwarranted. And now to throw her back to the very family she had hated since he first met her all those years ago was really the final nail in the coffin. He just hoped this wouldn't set her back to far in how well she had recovered from them.
He patted her back gently as she cried, not really sure what he could say to comfort her. It was likely she just needed to cry it out for a few minutes, which was fine by him. When they hit the 7th floor, she was finally able to start calming down, and when she did, she pulled away from him and sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She was like a scolded child when she looked back at him.
"'m sorry for yelling." She mumbled, sniffling loudly. Coulson shrugged. The elevator dinged when they got to their floor. He walked her to the office, only to stop her before they approached the door.
"Look, you need to understand that this was all done with your benefit in mind." Coulson assured her. "I want you to know that you can do more for SHIELD than just type up things, okay? That's why I recommended you or this mission." Remy nodded, sniffing again before she walked past him and to her office. Coulson sighed and went back to the elevator, leaving her.
When Remy walked in the office, she was surprised to see Agent Romanoff sitting in her chair, talking to Clint. Both agents paused their conversation to greet her, but Clint shot up from his chair, banging his bad arm on the desk as he did. He swore, clutching it as he walked over to her. It was a small office, and it only took him a few steps before Remy was backed up against the door frame, looking up at the broken marksman.
"What's wrong?" He asked, wincing in pain as he studied her face. Remy almost started crying again, touched by how concerned he was, but instead she snorted and covered her mouth, eyes wide. "Dammit, woman, stop laughing at my pain!" He returned to his desk, now sulking as he cradled his throbbing arm.
"How'd your meeting go?" Natasha asked, eyebrow raised. Remy looked slightly alarmed that she knew about it. "Clint told me when I came here to see you."
"Oh, uh, it sucked." Remy admitted with a shrug. She took a moment to wipe her face with her sleeve before looking back at her. "But why'd you come to see me?"
"I know you've had minimal combat training, but Agent Rumlow asked me to work with you a bit before you take off." Natasha said as she stood up from Remy's desk. "I'm free for the next week, so we can meet in the morning before you start your work here. Six in the morning okay?"
Remy groaned while Clint snickered, his pain now forgotten. Natasha raised an eyebrow and looked between the two, awaiting an answer. Eventually, Remy nodded. "Yea, sure, six will be fine."
"Good. We'll start first thing tomorrow." The assassin said with a nod. She said her goodbyes before leaving the office, shutting the door behind her. Remy let out a frustrated groan and fell into her chair. Clint rolled his chair over to her, bumping into her.
"What's wrong?" He asked, still rubbing his arm.
"Nothing and everything all at once." She grunted, going limp in her chair. "I gotta be real right now. Can you handle it? Can you handle this woman being real right now?"
"Depends on how real..." Clint said, looking slightly suspicious at what was about to happen. Remy took that as a yes, taking a deep breath before she let it all out.
"I'm on my damn period right now, I got taken up to a very pointless meeting that basically brought forth a bunch of emotions I've kept locked up for a while, I screamed at Coulson, I then cried on his shoulder, and then I come here and now I have to be at the gym at six am to get my ass kicked by Romanoff." She whined, gesturing wildly as she spoke. "I hate eeeeverythiiiiiing." She sighed. "Especially Agent Jameson."
"Well, everyone in this particular room hates Agent Jameson." Clint chimed in, spinning a bit in his chair. "And I'm sorry you're on your period. That would really suck, I can't imagine." Remy nodded, sniffling just a bit. "Do you need me to do anything? I mean, I can't make it go away, but like. I'll buy you chocolate? Heating pad? Whatever you need to make it feel better."
"Wow, you're a keeper." Remy said with a sniff as she sat up in her chair. "I've had plenty of guys shy away and freak out when I mention my period. You're one of the rare ones that isn't fazed by it."
Clint shrugged. "Doesn't bother me. It's just blood. Nothing I've never seen before. Hell, I've had to use Natasha's tampons before to plug up some bullet wounds before."
"Wow, okay, no need to tell me that." She said, covering her ears. "I don't need to hear about you being shot at, geez."
He chuckled and wheeled himself back over to his desk.
Closing Note: I freaking love writing Hill as just being so done with everyone's shit, so I will have more of her in it. And I also enjoy writing Jameson as well.
And in general, I enjoyed writing this chapter. So, I hope you liked it! I felt it was good to have Remy reach a breaking point with every thing going on, because you know, she is only human. She has her limits of what she can take. And Coulson understands that which is why he didn't reprimand her to much when she yelled at him. But more will happen as time goes on.
