We sit on Dad's quinjet and I go to change. It's time to don the clothes of a punk rock singer. I take out my ripped tank top with a faded skull on it, my red lace bra, and a pair of distressed and ripped black jeans. A pair of black combat boots goes on next and I stand to focus on the physical looks. I figure a dark brown or raven black hair will work best and I put in my nose and lip piercings. Fixing my makeup which includes black eye shadow and dark red lipstick, I study my reflection. Jason didn't want me to leave, but I explained that he'd be safe with Vision, Lys, and Wanda. I have some My Chemical Romance playing on my phone but I stop it as I step out into the hall, fixing my tank top to how I want it. I run into Steve, who quickly freezes, studying me over.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" I tease. Steve sighs heavily, shaking his head.
"I think something does," he chuckles. "I can see your bra."
"That's kind of the point," I argue, rolling my eyes.
"So the point is to look revealing," Steve assumes. I close my eyes.
"I'll get there with you one day, old boy," I shake my head. We both laugh.
"Have you said a word to Sharon yet?" Steve asks.
"Oh so that's Sharon," I sigh. Steve raises an eyebrow.
"I never went out with her," Steve reminds me.
"You two seemed rather friendly yesterday. I'm staying out of it," I reply, walking over to meet the others in hopes of going over things one last time.
"We got you in to have a gig tonight," Dad tells me as I enter the room. Everyone stares. "I was hoping I'd never have to see you dressed like that again," Dad sighs.
"Wait, again?" Steve inquires.
"I was a very different person right before I met you," I point out, staring at the information before me. "We might actually be able to pull this off."
"How'd you dye your hair so fast?" Daisy asks.
"I'll let him explain that," I sigh, pointing at Dad. He motions for Skye and Fitz to follow him. I look up at Sharon. I don't like her. I can't explain why. I just don't.
"Woah, look at you," Nat laughs, joining us. I turn to face her.
"What can I say? I can easily slip into old habits," I remark.
"How are you holding up with this?" Nat asks Steve.
"I'm a little bit in shock," he breathes.
"You just wait until you see her on stage," Nat winks. Steve raises an eyebrow and I just shrug. Soon we're just waiting to land. We don't have much time between landing and getting us on stage to relax. This is one of those impromptu missions. We can't really waste time. Thankfully I've sung with Mia, Artie, and Rowan before so all I'll have to do is let them know what songs we're doing. My gift really does come in handy some times, especially when working undercover.
Soon I find myself on stage singing a mix of MCR, Panic! At the Disco, and Breaking Benjamin songs like no tomorrow. I end on "My Last Breath" by Evanescence, which is by far one of my favorites, and take my leave off the stage. I'm sweating. Nat is sitting on her phone backstage. I grab the bottle of water she holds up for me and take a huge gulp. I've sung recently, but nothing like that in a long time, since I was about 15 right before I entered SHIELD. Needless to say, it's taking a lot out of me. The door opens and Sharon walks in.
"We have eyes on Ward. He's slowly making his way back here," Sharon announces. She glares at me. "I'm starting to wonder how someone like you got the eye of Rogers," she muses. I chuckle.
"Ask me that again after I deal with Ward. I'll give you all the details," I wink, leaving the room and entering the hall. I catch Ward's eye.
"You know, I'm not much for punk rock, but I think you're changing my mind," Ward flirts. My skin crawls, but I keep a cover.
"That's always a good thing to hear. So, what name does such a handsome man have?" I ask. Ward smiles.
"Grant Ward," he replies. I nod slowly. "You seem like a decent girl, Anneliese. Maybe we should talk." Great, I've turned on my charm the perfect amount. I smile.
"I'm a bit busy tonight, but how does tomorrow over lunch sound?" I counter. He thinks for a moment.
"What's your number?" he asks. I grab his hand and a pen out of my pocket, writing down the number of the burn phone I'm using.
"Don't keep a girl waiting, Grant Ward," I wink. He raises a hand to wave goodbye and walks away. Sighing, I lean back against the wall. I feel sick to my stomach.
"What's the word?" Dad asks through my ear piece.
"Number is in play," I mutter, slipping back into the room. Rowan, Artie, and Mia have now come back stage as well.
"What do we do now?" Mia asks, hands on hips.
"We wait," Nat replies.
"I think I owe you a story, Sharon Carter," I coo, raising an eyebrow. The blonde stands, her eyes locked on mine. We go back to the dressing room. I pull back a curtain and grab a change of pants and a hoodie. "I was assigned to help Steve adjust to modern day when he came out of the ice," I begin.
"I'm aware of that," Sharon snaps.
"For a while we just remained friends, and all the while he would talk about Peggy. He really missed her and wondered what happened to her. I decided to do a little research of my own, see what I could dig up on the subject. I know what grief is like. Answers help," I explain as I change.
"So you played the hero? That's how you got him?" Sharon asks. I shake my head as I step out.
"No, I didn't want him at first. I had just gone through a messy break up. I found Peggy, and I told Steve what I found out. Around that time Fury had called and said he had a new mission for me. I would be leaving soon to go out of the country. Steve and I decided that before that we would visit Peggy. This was the day before I would be leaving," I continue. I take another sip of water, sitting down across from her. "The three of us talked for a while. She was only just starting to have her memory issues. At the end of the afternoon she took a good long look at me and said that Steve should consider giving that promised dance to me instead of her."
"You really sound like some stuck up innocent hero right now," Sharon points out.
"I was the one who asked that night to have her," Steve cuts in. I was so caught up in the story that I didn't even hear him walk in. "If you're jealous, Sharon, then you need to take that out with me, not Annie. What she did that night was help me out. I was adjusting, and she knew that even though she'd be gone that next morning, that she had to help me." Sharon turns to face him.
"So it was a one night stand," Sharon sighs.
"I, um, I should go. I promised Jason I'd call him before he went to bed," I stumble.
"I still don't know who Jason is," Sharon remarks. I look at Steve.
"The result of that one night stand," I muse, kissing Steve quickly before I go to call Lys. Jason is eager to talk.
"Momma, I drew you a picture!" he exclaims. I can't help but laugh. He's so much like Steve sometimes, artistic ability being one of them. "You met the bad man," he suddenly remarks.
"Jasie, don't worry about it, okay? I'll be home as soon as I can, and Daddy too," I assure.
"He's gonna hurt you," Jasie whimpers. I sigh heavily.
"Momma is going to be just fine, Jasie. I'm going to come home and I'm going to see that picture you drew me," I tell him. Finally I get him to calm down. After hanging up, I go to walk down to my hotel room. Dad is sitting on the bed.
"You always did have an amazing voice. Your mother and I could never figure out who you got it from," Dad muses. I sit on the bed next to him.
"Ward creeps me out," I mutter.
"He has that affect on people," Dad sighs, looking over at me.
"So I haven't asked. What's with the robot hand?" I ask. He laughs.
"That's a very long story. One of these days I'll let you in on it. I owe you a major cookie dough ice cream night anyways," he answers. We both laugh. Growing up with two SHIELD agents as parents was difficult, but Dad always tried to make it up with regular cookie dough ice cream nights where we would sit and eat my favorite ice cream and talk. I really could use one right around now.
"Jason said something when I called him. He said Ward would hurt me," I confess. Dad looks at me.
"You seem really concerned," Dad points out.
"Look at both his parents and tell me not to be," I remind him. He sighs, standing up.
"Get some rest. You have a long day tomorrow," he orders. I swallow hard and prepare for bed. He's right. Tomorrow is going to be rough.
A/N: I now realize that somewhere along the lines I must have misnumbered the chapters in my document... Oh well. And we're back! This is the chapter in which I realize how much I adore Annie. I love all the bands mentioned in this chapter (if I need to say favorites: MCR- either Nanana or House of Wolves. P!ATD- Victorious *at the moment*. Breaking Benjamin- Lights Out. Evanescence- unlike Annie it's What You Want). I actually wore one of my two MCR shirts yesterday that was an early Christmas present... Back to plot stuff. Yeah, I had to have some tension between Sharon and Annie. Do I like Sharon? Meh. I sort of do but not really. I find it strange that Steve would like someone related to his old crush he almost dated. It's just weird. Also, could Jason be on to something? We don't know... Ward is in the story now, though to be perfectly honest, I hate his guts so don't expect him to stay too long. I also finally mention Coulson's hand. Speaking of which, yes we will have the cookie dough night thing. It may not be for a while (I'd have to check out my plot overview), but we will get there! What will happen next though? We will have our Ward showdown and stuff will go down! That should be fun! Also, since Christmas will be coming up I may write a Christmas special chapter for all ongoing fan fictions including this one. For this fan fiction it will probably be a not my fan fiction "canon" thing, but it'll be a good way to get to know some of my characters. So that will be coming out soon as well. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and as always, please leave a review!