Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel: IM, IM2, Avengers, SHIELD, etc. Just Anna.

Chapter 9
Compromised

The only time Tony ever got to himself in the lab nowadays was after Annie went to sleep. Generally, Pepper would make her appearances during regular work hours, and Anna made herself known around breakfast, as well as afternoons and dinner, but from around ten in the evening and five in the morning, the house was relatively silent for Tony to work.

Not that the lab was ever really silent to begin with. It Tony wasn't working on something, leaving sounds of hammers, welding, and fixing from the various activities he got up to, it was the blaring music that replaced the sounds of tinkering. When he wasn't doing any of that, there was the sound of newfields playing over the computer or television.

JARVIS would pipe up every now and again too, just to inform Tony that something was ready, or something along those lines. Half the time, JARVIS was just there to keep Tony company, sarcastically replying to whatever nonsense Tony spewed out of his very large, very loud mouth.

Tony leaned back in his chair, his feet resting on top of the desk, while his hands went behind his head, fingers interlocking to make sure they stayed in place. His eyes were focused on the specs on the center monitor. AC DC's Thunderstruck rocked loudly over the speakers installed throughout the workshop. His ears were picking up the notes, but really, his mind wasn't taking it all in. Once he had a thought in his head, he couldn't get it out.

His mind wasn't actually on the data in front of him though. His eyes shifted to the photograph facing him. In the glassed frame was the photo Annie had given him on Christmas. The two of them were in that very lab. Tony had been sitting on the couch with one of his Iron Man gloves on, calibrating part a part in the repulsor when Annie had come up behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and stuck her phone out in front of them to take a very quick, very cute picture of them both. Tony wasn't necessarily smiling. His brow was raised, and he had an amused smirk as he looked at the phone, but it honestly seemed to represent the two of them the best.

Annie was a puzzle to him. He never had been good with kids, and when Pepper sprung the whole ward situation on him. And even then, he hadn't actually thought she was being serious, not until the day she told him that Annie would be there. It took quite a while for the two of them to even tolerate to be in the same room as one another, and it was a bit rocky, even after, but soon enough, Tony couldn't imagine a night not eating a dinner Annie made for him in the lab, or not being there to make sure she corrected the problems in her homework (which there always were).

She was always so appreciative of the help and whatever was provided to her too, which was weird to see too. Kids were supposed to be the complete opposite, right? Tony didn't know. He didn't know kids.

He wondered if she had ever been to Disneyland. Probably not, since he knew she was from NY, and she grew up with little to no money. He supposed that was something they could do this weekend. They could take a trip to Anaheim….She's like that, wouldn't she?

"Sir, I believe I have something that may interest you," JARVIS spoke up.

"Bring it up on screen, JARVIS ," Tony instructed, his position at his desk never changing.

JARVIS brought up an online newspaper article, the headline in a language Tony wasn't fluent in. His eyes briefly scanned the bold foreign letter in the headline before moving down the article for a mere few seconds, finally determining that it was Russian, or something like it. It wasn't until his eyes landed on the black and white photo of two individuals.

The first individual was a young adult male, no older than twenty-one, but no younger than eighteen. His hair was light in the photo, but not as light as his companion, most likely indicating that his hair was blond, or dirty blond. He was muscular, that was for sure, and a bit taller than average, about 6'1." He had high cheekbones, and a strong jaw. A very handsome face. Though it was clear by the notch in his nose that it had been broken several times.

He wasn't the most interesting part of the photo, however. No, his attention was on the young girl, no older than sixteen, walking with the young man, whose arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Her hair was very light, no doubt blonde, and it hung down elegantly in perfect ringlets. Her bangs hung down over her forehead, and slightly over her eyes. Her light tinted coat's collar was pulled up in an attempt to cover part of her face either from the people taking the photo, or from the cold.

Her pretty little face was no doubt familiar, and it didn't take more than a few seconds of staring at her face to recognise that it was the same pale, pretty face of the teenager that was sleeping upstairs. What Tony didn't understand was why she was blonde, or why she was even in this picture with this stranger.

"What am I looking at, JARVIS ?" Tony asked.

"Upon your usual request to find any news in regards to your current associates, I connected facial recognition with Annie O'Connell on this new clipping from Russia, published this morning," JARVIS answered.

"Translate," Tony instructed.

"My pleasure, Sir."

It only took a couple of seconds for JARVIS to complete his task, and the second he was done, Tony was instantly reading through the article. What he found left him with even more questions, and he knew once he figured out the answers, he wouldn't be a happy man.

"Trouble in Paradise!

It's been almost six months since local hottie Yassan Mogilevich, nineteen year old Moscow modeling son to restaurant mongrel Gregor Mogilevich, has been seen out on the town with his younger girlfriend, Yana Yerkhov. The young couple had been the hottest topic and heartbreak for many young girls. Despite the heartbreak, the young player seemed to settle down his wild tendencies when the hot young blonde came into the picture.

The young couple appeared to be dating for eight months before Yerkhov's disappearance from the public eye. Whatever the cause for the separation may be, we wish the best to both of them."

"JARVIS , do a background check on Yana Yerkhov," Tony instructed, leaning closer to the monitor.

"Yes, Sir," JARVIS answered, though he wasn't silent for long. "There are no results found for Yana Yerkhov on any known database other than this article."

No results, that wasn't a good sign. Obviously she had been in articles before this one. This Yassan character was in the papers a lot, it seemed, but whatever articles that had been posted before on both Yassan and Yana had been erased from history, apparently. He knew the internet was forever, but if JARVIS couldn't find them, that only meant one thing...

"Son of a bitch…"

It was always such a relief getting home from school in the afternoon. And being a Thursday meant she was that much closer to having the whole weekend to do whatever she wanted, be it nothing at all or cleaning the whole house if she wanted. She could do whatever, and that was such a nice feeling.

It took Anna a bit longer than it should've to notice the very small pile on her things in the center of the living room. And it wasn't everything from her room either. Just the bag she had brought with her on her first day assigned there. And she assumed the contents were exactly what she had packed too. Why it was there in the living room, on the other hand, was a mystery to her.

Anna narrowed her eyes and walked up to her things, placing her backpack on the floor next to them. She turned around, looking around for any clues as to why they were there.

Tony was sitting at his computer in his lab, furiously typing on the computer. From the looks of it he was changing all the electronic locks and key codes on the house. Anna found him there once she got downstairs. Though she nearly ran into the glass door when it didn't open after she entered in her code.

"Hey, Tony," Anna started to greet, knocking on the door. "What's going on? Let me in."

Tony obviously heard her but was not acknowledging her at all, just going through the computer before getting up and taking a sticky note. He walked up to the glass and slammed a hand written note onto the glass. 'I know', was all it said.

"I know?" she mumbled, her expression confused, though her head obviously was screaming at her, wondering what she did wrong in her mission to get compromised. In that exact instant, her palms got sweaty, and she needed to think of a way to cover this up. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The next thing slammed onto the glass was a photo of her, in Russia with Yassan. Again he slammed the I know note in the glass as if to reiterate the statement. He was so livid he wasn't speaking to her, and for someone like Tony that way saying something.

"What the hell is that?" she asked. "Is that Russian?" she asked, playing dumb. Her performance was phenomenal too. She could've won a Tony Award had she been in a movie.

Tony flung the things into the air and stomped away, at his desk he picked up stacks of papers and the glass slid open just long enough for him to throw the papers at her before slamming shut again. Holy shit he was having a full mental breakdown and acting like a tantruming child.

Anna bend down and picked up the scattered papers. She knew he found something, obviously her cover as Yana, but she was sure she could deny that and keep her cover if that was all he found. But her worst fear was met when he found her SHIELD record and papers. Including all of her past mission records, excluding the Palermo mission, which was a level 10 clearance level.

"Tony…." Anna mumbled, desperate to talk to him. This was her worst fear. Hurting Tony was the absolute last thing she wanted to do. And here he was, acting his shoe size instead of his age.

"I'm sorry Agent Carr, but Mr. Stark is refusing to talk to you and has designated me to help you off the property." JARVIS explained to her actually sounding regretful.

That was understandable. Very unfair to her, though she supposed she didn't really get a say in all of this after hurting him like she had. "I don't even get to explain myself?" Anna asked the AI.

The AI was about to respond when Tony lost it, interrupting as he yelled at her through the glass. "There's nothing to explain. You lied. You get the hell out."

"Don't you think you deserve an explanation?" Anna said. "I owe you that, especially after all you've done for me!"

Of course he wouldn't listen to her. Why should he when she was a spy? And spies, obviously, were known for their lies and deception. But they had gotten close, and all she wanted to do was prove to him that everything wasn't a lie. That caring for him had been completely and utterly true. She just needed a chance. "No, I'm done hearing anything. If you want to pay me back for all I've done, you can leave!"

"I will, I promise, if that's what you want…." Anna said, her throat closing. Even if it's not what I want… "But if you could just hear me out, Tony…"

Tony waved her off as he sat back down at his desk.

"The only thing I lied to you about was my name, okay?" Anna said. "Yeah, and maybe it wasn't all Pepper's idea to have me come here…"

Tony rested his chin in his hand as he went back to glaring at his computer screen as he worked.

"You honestly think I was faking all of this?" Anna pressed. "That I'd fake getting close to you? That I'd fake caring about you?"

"Yeah, that's all you SHIELD agents do. You lie to get what you want in the end!" Tony said glaring, it obviously not being the first time SHIELD has tricked him.

"That's like saying every pittbull is a bloodthirsty monster, Tony, and you know it!" Anna pressed.

"It is not the same thing and YOU know it." Tony said. "You were ordered to come here right? So you used me, you lied to me, I figured you out. I win. Now get out."

"Oh, so it's a game to you?" Anna said. "You managed to crack the code and that's it? Everything else gets thrown out the window and lost? All because you won't let me explain myself? To prove myself?"

"I let you in! That's what it's about! I let you in on false pretenses so excuse me for being a little to upset to listen to more excuses." Tony said tossing a look at the glass.

"It was my job to make sure you were okay, alright! It was my job, after all of the shit you've been through, to make sure you were getting help, getting better!"

"I. Am. Not. A. Job." Tony said slamming his hand down on the table with each word. "I was fine! Just gone before you showed up. If anything you made things worse."

"I'd hardly call what you were as fine, Tony!" Anna protested. "PTSD is nothing to mess with! And much of what you've done after you got back from Afghanistan has been because of survivor's guilt and your PTSD!"

"I said get out!" Tony said with a sense of finality.

Anna was already breathing heavily from how heated this was getting. Hot tears had built up in her eyes and were threatening to spill out of her eyes. She knew he'd win if he saw her cry, just as much as she knew how anything else she'd say would go in one ear and out the other. No matter how much she wanted to tell him that she truly cared for him, she knew it wouldn't do him any good right now. He needed to hate her, and if that's what he needed, that's what she'd be.

"I'm sorry, Tony," she muttered. She didn't even know if he could hear her as she whispered, but she knew Jarvis had. Finally, with no response to her final words, Anna turned away and headed back up the stair to grab her things.

Once upstairs, Anna didn't hesitate to grab her things and head directly out the door. Halfway down the driveway, Anna pulled her phone out and dialed Coulson. There was only one thing left for her to do, after all.

"Anna, you're not supposed to check in until Sunday," he answered.

"I've been compromised."

And so ends her undercover work with Tony as Annie O'Connell. There's some more SHIELD busy work in the next couple chapters, but then we hit the events of IM2, Thor, and then Avengers, so that's exciting! I hope you guys liked the chapter. Please drop a review below and let me know what you guys think.

Thanks to the following for their review(s) on the previous chapter:

19irene96- I hope it was worth the wait!

Jedi Jelsa777- Oh, yay! Thank makes me so happy. I'm so glad you feel that way. And yeah, one of the main reasons for this story was to get more Phil, and Tony, since there isn't as much of them in Jamie's story.

Fangirling007- Thank you! I'm glad you like it. I really like how smooth this chapter/story, the planning process, and everything just lock together so well. It's one of my most planned out series I've ever written. And I'm so excited to get to MY Phase 2, which is where the romance comes in.

WriterGirl1198- You thought there was heartbreak before? And now I throw you this? Man, you should see some of the stuff I have planned for Anna. So many feels!