Natasha looked at my hands yet again, sighing angrily as she threw a box of cereal in the shopping trolley. I quickly retrieved the sugary messy that would surely get us killed by both Clint and Laura if we let their kids eat that. Placing back on the shelf, I grabbed the Wheaties and Cinnamon Harvest Whole Wheat biscuits that were on the shopping list instead.
"Stop your pouting," I rolled my eyes at her. "You and Clint need to stop betting on my love life."
"Yeah but I was so fucking sure he was going to do it on Valentine's Day," Natasha grumbled. She grabbed the cereal box I just put back on the shelf and dumped it in the trolley again. "I've given him an earful about it too."
I cringed and kept pushing the trolley. Natasha and I had somehow gotten roped into helping Clint do their monthly food shop. With the amount of food Clint ate himself, not to mention Natasha and I over there on a regular basis. It was a huge ordeal. I'd managed to avoid doing it until now. Riley had been away on a mission for the last 2 days and was due home in the early hours of tomorrow morning. So I needed something to keep me occupied for a few hours until he'd be home. Grocery shopping wasn't my idea of fun. But it helped Clint and Laura out immensely.
After the sniper course the rest of February flew by and somehow we'd landed into March already. I was backing flying and basically playing taxi again. Clint had been antsy enough with nothing happening that he started tagging along with other STRIKE teams for missions. I'd been sat in the Quinjet for those and not allowed to do much else. The most action I'd seen was standing on the ramp with a P30 just in case cover was needing during an extraction. And true to my luck, none had been needed. Natasha and Jared had only gotten home 2 days ago after their mission went well over schedule. But both of them had come home extremely happy that even though it'd taken longer than expected, it was a success. Natasha was currently pouting about Riley not proposing on Valentine's Day. She and Clint had a bet going that it would have happened on Valentine's Day. Thankfully it hadn't because it was just way too corny and predictable if it had. Though part of me was very suspicious that Natasha and Clint both knew something I didn't.
"He doesn't even have a ring," I rolled my eyes again. "Believe me, I went snooping after you started on this."
As soon as Natasha had started with this line of thought, I went through the entire apartment with a fine tooth comb. There was nothing at all.
"Maybe he's just hiding it really well?" Natasha suggested with a sly grin. It made me frown heavily at her as we turned into the next aisle. She looked so fucking proud of herself. I was going to start beating the answer out of her soon if she kept it up.
"Or maybe someone's hiding it for him," I shot her a pointed look. "I happen to know 2 of SHIELD's best spies. I wouldn't put anything past either one of them to be hiding something from me."
"Who's hiding what?" Jared rounded the corner with an armful of Pop Tarts before dumping them in the trolley. I grumbled at the boxes while eyeing off the list Laura has trusted me with. She left very specific instructions to stick to the list and nothing else. So far I was failing miserably at that.
"Kari thinks we're hiding something to do with her and Riley," Natasha flashed a sweet smile at Jared. "I know we're not but I love fucking with her anyway."
"I know, isn't she so gullible?" Jared smirked at me.
I threw my hands up in defeat. Those two could be infuriating while together. I should have known better to rise than to their baiting. They were both such assholes when they wanted to be. How Natasha would know that something was going on after being away for an extended time was silly to even consider.
"What's Kari being gullible about?" Clint came up from behind me and added actual real food to the trolley. All the fruit and vegetables there were included on the list. I smiled at the note added next to the apples on the list. The 'please don't forget these Kari!' note was done in Laura's terrible handwriting. Apparently apples were her favourite and always go to food. At least Clint was a good husband in that regard and there were more apples than anything else he just put in there. Maybe if we were lucky Laura would make apple pie as a reward for doing the shopping.
"We're teasing her about the lack of a ring from Valentine's Day," Jared smirked at me. I threw him a dirty look and pushed the trolley into his legs. He jumped and swore in a language I had no idea of, while now glaring at me. I just shot him an identical smirk to the one he just wore.
"Like he'd tell you two if he going to," Clint frowned as he eyed off the contents of the trolley. "Are you planning on living at my house for the next 2 weeks Jared?
"I am taking some home with me," Jared said defensively. "I just can't be bothered getting another trolley."
"Lazy," I scolded my twin. I hit him with the trolley again to make him start moving. This time he just glared at me. But started walking to the next aisle with Clint and Natasha both snickering at our antics.
"Besides, if Riley was hiding something as important as an engagement ring, it wouldn't be where you could find it," Clint added as we started to walk away. I groaned and wanted to bang my head against a wall in frustration. If we weren't in public I'd happily smack all 3 of them.
"Where is your gorgeous hunk of man?" Natasha was in a forgiving mood. She quickly dropped the subject before I got too annoyed over it. I'd missed her terribly in the month she as gone.
"I have no idea," I shrugged. "He'll be home about 0200. Where ever he is, he seems to have perfect phone reception and not much to do."
Wasn't that the truth. Unlike last time Riley was away with no phone contact, I seemed to get a constant stream of texts this time. It didn't matter what time of day or night it was either. In return I was teasing him with near constant dirty pictures that made him have to go and hide for 5 minutes of privacy. Whatever STRIKE Team Bravo were doing obviously wasn't taking up much time.
Natasha gave me a look. The look I knew too well. It was the one when I'd usually just said something really stupid and I was about to get my ass kicked for it. Or for her to laugh or start teasing me for being such a rookie.
"You know we can track his phone right?" Natasha pulled her own phone out. She began tapping on the screen. Clint quickly snatched it from her hands.
"Or we could not," Clint sounded very exasperated. "I pity the poor guy if you ever decide to date. He won't be able to wipe his ass without you knowing. Leave Riley alone."
"Fine," Natasha said sulkily. "Give me back my phone."
Clint reluctantly handed her back the phone. He eyed her until the object was shoved into her pocket and she wasn't going to track Riley. I smiled and kept walking, looking at the shopping list to cover my amusement. Clint and Riley had a bit of a bromance going on these days. It was kind of cute to watch. He shielded Riley from Natasha and Jared's insanity. In return Clint and Riley could talk for hours and hours these days about nothing in particular. It was a far stretch from the quiet guys who'd barely say hello to each other a few months ago. Somewhere along the line, Riley had slotted into this crazy little family of ours. Most people had to worry about their family liking their boyfriend. I had worry more about my extended family liking my boyfriend than my actual family.
"What's for dinner anyway?" Jared started to fiddle on his own phone. "We should do pizza night a day early. I can go to New York and get pizza if someone wants to bring beer."
My stomach gurgled in agreement to that idea. There was nothing quite like a good NY style pizza. Something with lots of cheese sounded really good right about now.
"I'll bring beer," Natasha stopped so suddenly I near ran into her. I only just managed to avoid colliding with her by veering to the right sharply. She casually tossed a few packets of Oreos in the trolley without even looking back. Thankfully they were on the list. Clint liked to add them to his protein shakes at the moment. I personally thought it was disgusting but both he and Natasha liked it. I was more than happy to stick with just peanut butter in mine.
"Pizza it is," Clint agreed quickly. "I hate cooking after doing food shopping."
So did Riley. When we food shopped it was always pizza or takeaway afterwards. There was something exhausting about having to be an adult and shop for real food. Actually this whole being an adult thing was overrated most days.
"By the way Kars," Jared looked over to me with a smug smile on his face. "Riley is in Idaho. Just in case you wanted know."
I didn't have to reach over and hit Jared. Clint beat me to it, delivering a swift cuff over the back of his head. Jared winced at the solid blow, rubbing his head scowling at Clint.
The rest of food shopping continued much the same. Natasha and Jared would throw things into the trolley. Clint and I would either fish them out, or eye it off wondering if it was vaguely acceptable. At least by the time we reached the checkout both Jared and Natasha fished out their own items. It'd barely made a dent in the near over flowing trolley. I suppose Laura basically had 3 kids to feed. Clint's daily calorie consumption put most high level athletes to shame. Then throwing Natasha and I in the mix as well. It wasn't hard to imagine after that going through this much food in a month. I cringed at what the bill came to but Clint barely blinked at it. I guess it mustn't have been such a crazy amount after all. I dreaded to think of what it was going to be like when Cooper was older. I remembered Mom complaining several times about how much food Jared could eat while he was home for holidays. My healthy appetite paled in comparison to what my brother could eat as a teenager. It hadn't exactly diminished over the years either.
After everything was packed in the car, Natasha and I abandoned Jared and Clint to the putting of everything away once they got back to Clint's place. Our weak excuse had been to go and peruse Riley's DVD collection for something to watch tonight. Being a school night we had to keep it quiet and the blood and gore to a minimum incase Cooper snuck back down after bedtime.
"How about Top Gun?" Natasha suggested with a carefree grin. We were climbing the last set of stairs into our apartment. "That one is always good."
I levelled a glare at my redheaded friend. It only made her grin even wider. Just like Clint couldn't stand movies with archers in them. I definitely couldn't deal with Top Gun. Or Pearl Harbour. Or basically any movie there was with fighter pilots. It drove me insane.
"We can always do Robin Hood Men in Tights just to piss Hawk off," I changed tactics.
"I like that ide…." Natasha trailed off as we came up the last step. Standing at the door of my apartment was a women I didn't know. She had a toddler on her hip and hadn't noticed us yet. She knocked on the door, almost frantically, shifting her weight from side the side.
"Can I help you?" my left eyebrow lifted on its own accord staring at the woman and toddler.
She spun around in fright, holding her spare hand to her chest.
"I'm so sorry," her voice was choked. "Does Riley still live here?"
My mouth opened and words failed to come out to answer her question. Beside me, I felt Natasha's hand suddenly grip my arm hard enough to bruise. It wasn't just the fact a strange woman was standing here asking for Riley. It was what covered her body. She had 2 black eyes spreading over her face, a split lip and what suspiciously looked like a handprint shaped bruise around her neck. Her hand still clutching at her chest was black with another handprint.
The toddler was a boy. His brown hair lay in messy curls. He currently had his fist stuck in his mouth, red eyed and looking exhausted. His green eyes were filled with unshed tears.
"He's not home at the moment," I finally found some words to spew out of my mouth. "Can I help you?"
"I just," the mystery woman hitched the toddler up on her hip a little higher. "I'm sorry, I had nowhere else to go."
She dissolved into tears right then and there.
I stood rooted to the spot having no idea how to deal with this situation. Thankfully Natasha's mind worked quicker than mine. When the woman started to cry, Natasha went straight for her.
"It's okay," Natasha murmured quietly putting an arm around her. "Come on, lets get you inside. Sarah isn't it?"
My eyes widened at that name. Oh no fucking way. Did Riley's psycho ex really just show up at my door? Why did the weirdest shit always happen with me? As if my life wasn't crazy enough with my job.
My hands fumbled for the keys as I struggled with the lock. I threw open the door and stepped aside to let the visitors in first. Natasha was talking quietly to Sarah as she guided her inside and sat her on the couch. It was at the moment the toddler started to cry as well.
"Kari, can you ring Coulson please?" Natasha didn't even flinch as she took the toddler from Sarah. She gently shushed him while giving him a few bounces. It didn't help. If anything his wails only reaching ear piercing levels.
"Sure," there wasn't much else I could say. Or do. I was simply too dumbstruck that Riley's ex had just shown up here. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, quickly opening my Favourites and hit Coulson's name. I walked from the lounge room and pulled the bedroom door shut behind me for some quiet.
"Sup?" Coulson answered quickly. I frowned at the very casual tone of his voice, not to mention how out of breath he was trying on not sounding. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of what I'd just interrupted. I really, really, really hoped it wasn't what I was currently thinking.
"Riley's ex just showed up here," the words flew out of my mouth. "She looks like someone has bashed her face in. Nat wanted me to ring you. Why am I ringing you?"
My words took on a slightly hysterical tone as I went on. At the other end of the phone it'd gone silent.
"I'll be there in 5," Coulson said calmly after a few long seconds. "Don't ring Riley."
Yeah right. That was the last thing on my mind right now. I dare say Riley would flip hit shit and basically run home all the way from Idaho. Coulson hung up before I could get another word in. I stood in our bedroom just staring at my phone. I had no idea what to say or do with the woman out in my lounge room still crying. I could hear hers and Natasha's muffled voices. The boy had at least stopped crying during my brief phone call. I decided to brave the crazy in the lounge room. I opened the door and stepped back into the room. Natasha and Sarah were still sitting in the same position as before.
"I'm so sorry," Sarah wiped at her face. "I didn't know where else to go. I didn't have enough money to drive all the way to California."
"We can take care of that," Natasha said soothingly. The little boy was sitting in Natasha's lap grabbing at her curls as she spoke. It was an adorable sight.
"Do you want a coffee or something?" I felt beyond awkward to be standing there. At least Natasha had an idea of how to handle this. If I'd been alone I would have still been standing outside gaping at Sarah and her child.
"No, thank you," Sarah tearful gaze finally met my face. Her cheeks were tinged with pink that wasn't from crying. "I'm so embarrassed. I had no idea Riley had a new girlfriend."
There were so many nasty retorts that I wanted to spit at her. Of course she wouldn't know. Riley had cut her from his life the second he'd found out she'd cheated. Unless she was a pretty damn good spy. She wouldn't even know what was going on in Riley's life. But I bit my tongue. This wasn't the time nor the place for any petty snark from me. Whatever had happened to her must have been bad for her to seek out Riley's help.
"Don't worry, most of the guys on Bravo team were shocked about it too," I laughed weakly. "Sam couldn't even believe he was talking to me."
Sarah just gave me a forced smile at my bad attempt of humour. The little boy started to squirm in Natasha's arms. He whimpered as if he was going to make a fuss and start crying again.
"Do you like chocolate pudding?" Natasha asked him, completely unperturbed by his fussing. She stood up with him now resting on her hip. "If I know Kari like I do, she'll have something chocolate around here for you."
Natasha moved into the kitchen leaving me standing alone with Sarah. At least she was in earshot if I did or said something stupid.
"Again I'm really sorry," Sarah's face turned down to look in her lap. "Everything has just turned into a mess. I didn't know where else to go. My parents have barely spoken to me since I got pregnant. I don't have any friends in New York."
Her breath hitched as she started to sob again. I awkwardly reached over and grabbed a box of tissues from the coffee table. I handed her the box which she gratefully took.
"What happened?" I sat down on the couch next to her. Natasha was still rattling around in the kitchen with the toddler. His whimpers had now turned into the occasional giggle as she continued with whatever she was doing.
"Isaac, my fiancé and I had an argument," Sarah struggled to get the words out. "He got angry at me. I shouldn't have pushed him like I did. He just lashed out and got me across the face. Then he didn't want me to leave and pinned my hand against the door."
Her words confirmed the suspicion I'd had since I first laid eyes on her. Shit, this was bad. I had no words to say to her.
"He's a field analyst based in New York," Natasha's calm voice came from the kitchen. "Once Coulson gets here, Jared and I will go and get him for questioning before we get the civilian authorities involved."
I glanced behind me to look at Natasha. While her face was impassive, her green eyes held a steely look of determination about them. If he hadn't of just down the lowest of low acts, I'd almost pity Isaac. Almost. The fact he was SHIELD actually helped a lot. No one would blink an eye at Natasha and Jared going to grab him to have a quiet conversation about this. I think if a few people knew they'd silently be cheering for it too.
A knock on the door interrupted a reply from me. I jumped up and raced the few steps to the door. Coulson had gotten here in record time. Pulling the door open I was surprised to see who it was. Instead of Coulson, Laura and Clint were both standing at the door.
"Not who I was expecting," I said dryly and stepped aside to let them both in. "Where are the monsters?"
On cue, Cooper and Lila both pounded up the stairs. Their laughter rang around the stairwell as they made it up to the door. Lila attached herself onto my legs straight away. Cooper barely said hi before racing inside. He skidded to a complete stop a few steps in.
"Where's Riley?" Cooper whirled around to face us. His little face looked absolutely heartbroken at Riley not being here. Riley had fast become number one Uncle, much to Jared's dismay, after Christmas.
"He's at work buddy," I reached down to pick Lila up. She giggled as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Despite the shock of everything that had just happened, I smiled and hugged her back tightly. Laura breezed past me and went straight to the couch with Sarah.
"Coulson rang," Clint murmured an explanation to me as he came in the door. "He asked Laura to come over."
That made sense. Sarah was in no condition to be dragged into a hospital ER after what just happened. The poor woman could barely keep it together just sitting on the couch. Laura was talking quietly to her. She'd taken Sarah's bruised wrist in her hand and was rotating it gently.
"Riley is going to lose his shit," I cringed just thinking of the reaction that I was going to get from my boyfriend.
"Swear jar," Lila chimed in with a giggle. She pulled back from her hug and wriggled enough that I set her back down on the ground. She ran into the room and straight to Cooper. He'd made his way to the kitchen and was already begging Natasha for a chocolate pudding. Begging was probably too light of a word to use. Her adorable smile was enough to make Natasha hand over whatever both of them wanted.
"I think we all need a beer," Clint shook his head slightly. "Gotta say, I didn't expect to be doing this on a Wednesday afternoon."
"Yeah, you and me both," I said dryly. "Fuck the beer, I need a scotch. Straight up."
I went to close the door but footsteps coming up the stairs made me hesitate. A few seconds later Coulson came into view. He was dressed in workout clothes which were still damp. Oh, phew. I didn't catch him doing what I thought earlier. He was just working out. He was on the phone, which was a fairly normal thing for Coulson. His cell seemed permanently attached to his head sometimes.
"We've got it covered," Coulson spoke into the phone. He stopped just before he got inside the door. "As soon as you're done I'll send Jared to grab Riley to get him back quicker."
Coulson paused listening to the other person, who I assumed was Evans.
"Yeah we can do that too," Coulson looked over at me with a thoughtful look. "I'll ask."
"Ask me what?" I asked with a small frown.
"Do you want to switch with Riley?" Coulson pulled the phone away from his face. "They're doing a raid in about 2 hours. All you have to do is provide cover."
"Sure," I shrugged. That didn't sound too hard. Evans and Coulson wouldn't have suggested it if it was out of my league. I was happy to get as far away from this situation as possible. It was beyond awkward having Riley's ex here. I was just going to get in the way, or have my big mouth say something really inappropriate.
"She said yes," Coulson spoke back into his phone. "I'll send her over as soon as Jared gets here. Send a photo so he knows where he's going."
On cue, Jared appeared on the top step. He didn't quite stick his teleport and flailed his arms around to keep his balance and not fall down the stairs. Noticing my stare over his shoulder, Coulson turned around to face Jared.
"Which will be in about 2 minutes," Coulson chuckled into the phone. "Thanks."
I took that as my cue to quickly go and get dressed. Ignoring the scene in my lounge room, I hastily went into the bedroom and rifled through the clean clothes basket. I hadn't bothered putting my latest load of laundry away yet. Thankfully I had a clean uniform in there suitable for a mission. I grabbed my boots and headed back out to Coulson. He was still hanging outside the door looking out over the scene.
"I'll be back soon," I said uselessly to the crowd in my apartment.
"Have fun," Natasha said in a sing song voice. She was still in the kitchen with Sarah's boy on her hip. They'd found the chocolate cake I'd hidden in the back of the fridge as a surprise for when Riley got home. I guess I'd be stopping at the bakery again tomorrow. I doubted there'd be a crumb left of that cake when I got back.
I glanced at the toddler with a small frown. I hadn't taken a good look at him. But now looking over his face, he kind of looked like Riley. He definitely had his Mom's face, but the green eyes and brown hair were 2 shades of very familiar to me. It couldn't be though. Riley said they'd gotten a paternity test done and he definitely wasn't is.
"Kari," Jared's voice snapped my attention away from the toddler. I quickly walked back out the door to where my twin and handler were both waiting.
"Ready?" Jared held his hand out.
"Never for this," I cringed in advance knowing what was coming. I grabbed his hand, holding on tightly. A second later the entire world dropped out from underneath us. The usual stomach churning feeling disappeared as soon as our feet touched solid ground again. We had teleported into a large lounge room. No doubt a safe house. Evans and Riley were both standing there. Riley didn't jump at our sudden appearance. But Evans did. The look of shock at us appearing in front of him looked like we'd nearly given him a heart attack.
"Hey," Jared smirked. "Did I scare you Evans?"
"No I just love people suddenly appearing in front of me like a fucking rabbit pulled from a hat," Evans snapped at Jared looking very irritated. He turned to look at me, his expression softening straight away. "Thank god one of you is well behaved. Thanks for coming Kari."
"Thanks for the invite to play," a bubble of excitement started to form in me. I hadn't seen any action since the hostage situation. Playing taxi in the Quinjet really wasn't that exciting. It was funny how much my first kill messed with my mind in Afghanistan. That mission when I killed Craig had barely played on my mind. It'd given me the confidence that I could do this. That I was a fit and able member of STRIKE Team Delta. It'd taken a long time to build this confidence up. Heres hoping that it wouldn't screw up along the way.
"Hey and bye," Riley stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back tightly. He looked so stressed right now. It's no wonder Evans wanted us to swap. Riley wouldn't have been able to concentrate on the mission with all this going on.
"Bye," I smiled as Riley kissed my cheek. "There was chocolate cake in the fridge for you, but Natasha is eating it."
Riley chuckled and we reluctantly pulled apart from each other. Jared didn't waste any time. With a small smile in my direction he grabbed Riley's arm. Then they were both gone.
"Of all the people he had to fall for, it had to be you with the worlds biggest pain in the ass for a brother," Evans shook his head. "Come on I'll run you through what we're doing. Sam offered to be your spotter if you want him."
"Sure," I gave Evans a small smile. It really wouldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes. Sam often acted as a spotter for Riley. If Riley trusted him with such an important job, I would too.
"Ok, lets give you a quick crash course," Evans motioned to the couch.
I sat down, eager to be doing something at last.
The mission was very straight forward and simple. It wasn't unlike the first mission I first did. The only difference was this was a secured complex. It was my job to take out the guards before the STRIKE team could move into the complex. Once the team was in, I'd be providing cover until they complex was secure. It was straight forward and simple. The few days they'd been away had already picked out a spot for me to set up. All I had to do was sit there with Riley's CheyTac and pick off a few guards. The guards were set up in a few positions. But all remained stationary during their shifts. The only moving targets I'd have to deal with if some of them got spooked and ran.
"Any questions?" Evans asked after he's given me the briefing.
"Nope I'm good."
"Good, go and get your shit ready," Evans nodded in the direction of the room behind us.
I didn't need to be told twice. I got up and scampered to where the rest of Riley's team were getting ready. As I entered the room, Sam started straight away.
"Oh wow Riley, that's a quick sex change," Sam called across the room. "Gotta say you look hot as a blonde."
"I'll tell your best friend that you're checking out his girl," I gave Sam the finger. "See how well that goes for you."
The room erupted into laughter at my quick reply. Riley was still getting teased about him punching Rollins after I came off my bike. Sam just gave me a dirty look and scooted over from where he was sitting on the floor to make room for me. Riley's CheyTac was sitting in a case at his feet waiting for me to put it together. I went over and fell to the floor cross legged dragging the case to in front of me.
"You sure you can lift that?" Nick, who was one of the closer team mates to Riley, teased me. At least I'd learnt all of his teams names by now. Nick only stood out because I remember him being the one who set Sarah up to get caught cheating. Dammit, all I could think of was Riley's ex right now. I forcefully shoved her from my mind and set myself to the task at hand.
"I can lift it and kick your ass at the same time," I just smirked at him. Nick was a nice guy, like most of Bravo team. Tall and built like a huge football player, he was one of the heavy hitters on the team. Personality wise he was more like a teddy bear though. I don't think the punches from my skinny arms would do too much damage to him.
"You know what I find really disappointing though Kari?" Sam turned to look at me as I snapped open the case. I just raised an eyebrow in question at him. "Why don't you have a catsuit like Romanoff does by now?'
"Because I know you can't resist my sexy ass and I don't want to embarrass you because you'd have a constant boner over me," I smiled at him sweetly. "It's bad enough the way you're always staring at Nat. I'm waiting for the day when she hits you with her tasers for checking her out."
Sam wasn't spared any laughter from his team. His ears turned a little red in embarrassment. I found out from Riley that Sam had a bit of a thing for Natasha for a long time. He just wasn't stupid enough to act on it. Being the awful person I am, I mentioned it to Natasha as well. Now she seemed to go out of her way to walk around the locker room in just her underwear whenever Sam was there.
There was plenty more banter as everyone got ready. It took awhile before Sam and I were ready to go. Sam was a bit of a perfectionist and wanted to triple check everything. Several times. Plus we had to wait for the rest of the team to be ready. Having a larger team meant taking a lot longer for everyone to go through their rituals before a mission. I resisted the urge to look at my phone the entire time. It only took me 2 minutes to make the decision to turn it off. I really couldn't concentrate on both things at once. Right now the mission was the only thing I needed to get through. Then I could worry about the new level of crazy sitting back at our apartment. Sam and I would take a separate car to everyone else for the 20 minute drive to the complex. We'd need to be in position before anyone else was ready. We'd park about a mile out and jog into position. From there I'd set up the CheyTac and wait for the signal from Evans.
The joking mood was gone as soon as we got into the car. Sam and I were silent the entire car ride there. Then the jog into position was quiet except for Sam pointing out where we needed to go. It was a perfect vantage point. The base was set in a small gully. The gully was completely cleared but the outer edges were left in a natural state. There was plenty of cover on top of the hill as we look down onto the facility. Sam and Riley had already cleared a spot and all I had to do was wriggle under the camouflaged bush. Put the CheyTac where I was told and dial it in.
"You good?" Sam asked me as I lay there fiddling with the species on the rifle. I was very glad for Riley letting me shoot it as often as I liked. It was a very awesome rifle. I understood why Riley liked it so much compared to anything else. I was comfortable with my AWSM. But the CheyTac had the fire power behind it to pull off the mile shots that I needed to take tonight.
"I am all set," I looked through the scope in the growing twilight. It wasn't dark enough yet to switch it to night vision. Hopefully we wouldn't take long enough to actually need it. This facility was run by A.I.M. Not an organisation I knew a lot about. But SHIELD was very keen to take out this facility and snap up whatever research they'd been doing.
There were 4 guard houses. One at each entry station around the facility. It was fenced in a big circle, putting the guards at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o' plan was to work my way from 12 o'clock and work around clockwise getting the shots off. Each guard house only had one person manning them. Each far away enough from another that they wouldn't detect something was amiss. The rest of the complex was manned with mainly scientists and tech guys. The remoteness of the facility made it unnecessary to be heavily guarded.
It was strange to be lying up here with Sam. I'd gotten to know him well enough over the last few months. But the feeling of being thrown in a new team and trusted with Riley's job was starting to sink in. I was a little bit nervous about it now. But Coulson trusted me with this. So did Evans. It shouldn't be anything I couldn't handle.
"You're going to kick ass," Sam seemed to read my thoughts. He reached over and gave my arm a small, reassuring squeeze. "You can outshoot Riley which is something I never thought I'd see. Well besides Hawkeye."
"No one can outshoot Hawk," I chuckled lightly.
"From what I hear you come pretty damn close," Sam gave me a small grin. "When Riley was being a smart ass the other day, Evans threatened to kick him off the team and take you instead."
"Yeah wouldn't you boys just love that," I shot a grin back at Sam.
"STRIKE in position," Evans voice came over the radio cutting off Sam's reply. "All yours Kari."
This was it. I blew out a breath and looked through the scope. I'd done shots like this a million times with perfect accuracy. It was just shooting at live targets I'd never actually done before. I was about to take out 4 people. People who I didn't know if they were really the bad guys. Or they were just like the majority of people and had a job to provide for the families.
The world slowed around me as I lined up my first shot. I couldn't hear anything except for my heart thumping in my chest. I fought back the natural instinct to hold my breath and made sure I kept my breathing steady. My finger curled on the trigger as I looking through the high magnified scope. The first target was sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on a desk. He was reading a hunting magazine. The lower half of his face was obscured by the magazine. I squeezed the trigger.
The pop of the CheyTac going off with its silencer on was still loud to my ears. I followed the shot for the half a second it took the reach the target. As soon as I saw him slump forward, I swung the CheyTac to my next shot.
The next 3 shots happened in a blur. I could barely hear Sam telling me each of them was a hit. I didn't pull my face away from the scope until Sam gave me a none too gentle smack on the back.
"Nice," Sam sounded extremely impressed. "All clear down there."
I pulled back from the scope and let myself take a few deep breaths. Fuck me, all that anticipation and preparation and all over in less than a minute for me. I could feel my heart pounding like crazy. But at least this time I didn't feel like I was going to throw up. There was something very impersonal about taking someone out from this distance. It was almost like a computer game in the way it happened. You're watching everything through the scope and it doesn't feel real.
STRIKE Team Bravo were in the complex with a minute of me finishing the last shot. The entire complex was cleared in 5 minutes. There was no fire fight. No struggles inside. Just a smooth running mission that went to perfect timing and precision. The Quinjet waiting to extract the prisoners flew over and landed as soon as the first person walked back out the door.
"That felt," I trailed off looking down over the scene in front of us. "Rather anticlimactic."
"Thankfully we aren't STRIKE Team Delta and everything turns to shit every mission," Sam teased me. "Lets get down there so we don't miss our ride."
I quickly packed up the CheyTac and we were both picking our way down the hill. Another Quinjet landed just as we made it to one of the gates. I forced myself not to look into the little building where the security guard was. I could see the splatter of blood on the window quite clearly from my shot. I clenched my jaw, forced myself to look straight ahead and ignore the churning in my stomach.
"You get used to it eventually," Sam put a hand on my back and pushed me along a bit faster. "I don't do throwing up, so keep moving."
I chuckled a little at Sam's teasing. Always the joker. But this time at least he was being somewhat helpful. I swallowed heavily at the bile rising in my throat. It worked its way back down into my stomach and stayed there. We made our way over to the first Quinjet that landed. Evans and a few other guys were supervision the people being loaded onto there. They'd all be taken into SHIELD custody for questioning. Beyond that I didn't know what would happen to them.
"Good job Kari," Evans turned his attention away from the Agent he was speaking to. "The Quinjet over there is all yours to take us home once this is all secured."
"What about everyone's gear back at the safe house?" I asked.
"Already being picked up. Same with the cars we came in," Evans explained. He gave me a slightly confused look. I had a feeling I was missing something important that our team never did. Coulson did so much for us that let us concentrate on just the missions. All we had to focus on was getting the job done. "Some of us aren't lucky enough to have a handler."
The last part was said as a gentle tease. I grinned sheepishly at him. At least Evans didn't have to deal with Clint and Natasha. I don't think many people would trade with dealing with the aftermath of missions in return for dealing with STRIKE Team Delta.
"I'll go and clean this before Riley kicks my ass about not looking after his weapon," I hiked up the CheyTac over my shoulder a bit higher. I felt a bit lost and awkward standing there. The rest of the team were still working. I felt like the worlds biggest slacker standing here doing nothing but look pretty. And that was debatable.
I walked over to the Quinjet and found it empty. It was a relief after being in such a crowd for the last few hours. As much as I liked Bravo team, I much preferred our own smaller team. I took my time stripping the rifle back and doing a thorough cleaning job on it. I was pretty slack with my AWSM. The armoury always cleaned weapons. But Riley was very pedantic about cleaning his CheyTac. There was no way I'd be slack and send it back to the armoury dirty because I'd be dead if he found out. Like my AWSM, no one else really used the CheyTac. It was double the weight and size compared to the standard M24. Plus it had a recoil on it hard enough to break your shoulder if you weren't careful. I'd have a bruise from where it kicked back tonight. Riley often joked his shoulders were permanently fucked from it. It was strangely relaxing to sit there and thoroughly clean it while everything went on around me outside. By the time I was finished, Bravo team were all ready for their lift home. They were all very loud and rambunctious as they climbed up the ramp. I didn't wait to be told. I jumped to my feet and headed straight to the cockpit. By the time I'd powered up, everyone was strapped in.
Today had been weird. It started off with work and food shopping. Then my boyfriends ex shows up. Then I get shoved onto a mission with only a few hours preparation. Though it went off without a hitch. Something that never seemed to happen with Clint and Natasha. It was a nice change to be walking away from a mission not banged up. Physically or mentally. The flight back took 4 hours. We weren't in a rush so air traffic wouldn't clear me for anything more than cruising speed. The conversation in the back kept me amused throughout the flight. After the serious debrief from Evans, it was story and bragging time for the boys. Being typical guys it didn't take long for the stories to end up X rated. Being away from home for a few days seemed more than longer enough for some pent up sexual frustration to happen. It was 0131 by the time I landed the Quinjet and taxied back into the hanger. Any left of excitement and adrenaline from the mission had long worn off. I started to yawn as I powered down.
"Need a lift home?" Evans voice came from behind me. I felt him lean over the back of the chair as I went through the motions of shutting the Quinjet down. It would be so much easier if it was like a car. A turn of the key and it shut off.
"Please, I didn't think to turn my phone back on to ask for one," I flicked the last of the buttons and the Quinjet went silent. My phone was still sitting in my pocket, turned off.
"Luckily for you I've been getting the near constant stream of messages from your boyfriend asking how the mission went," Evans chuckled. "Ready to go?"
"Yep," in the short time it took me to turn the Quinjet off, everyone else had already left. No doubt all keen to get home to their families. Or porn collections for the single guys.
The walk from the hanger to the garage always seemed to take forever. By the time I climbed into the passenger seat of Evans car. I was dead on my feet. I barely remembered driving out of the garage. It only seemed to take a second and we were suddenly out the front of our apartment building. The passenger door opened, jerking me awake out of my sleep that I didn't realise I was doing.
"Hey sleepy head," Riley's voice was a welcome sound to my ears. "Lets get you to bed. Thanks Evans."
My legs wobbled as I got out of the car. I murmured a thanks to Evans and gratefully fell into Riley's waiting arms. I was so damn tired. I only made it up the first flight of stairs before Riley leant down and scooped me up into his arms bridal style. I didn't protest. He just lay my head against his shoulder, letting my eyes drop shut again.
"I heard you did good today," Riley smiled as he pressed a kiss onto my forehead. "No throwing up either."
"Yeah," I chuckled sleepily. "Is Sarah still here?"
"Yeah she is, she'll fly out tomorrow," Riley hugged me a little closer to him. "Thanks for not losing your shit over this."
"S'ok," I cracked a smile. "You just owe me a really nice dinner for it."
I was too tired to hear Riley's reply. I drifted back to sleep before we reached the front door of our apartment.
Voices woke me up. One minute I was asleep and then the next I was wide awake in bed. I didn't know why I'd just gotten dragged back to consciousness so quickly. I groaned quietly and rubbed my face. Maybe I'd been dreaming. I don't remember anything if I was. I rolled over onto my side, pulling the pillow underneath my head tightly. I wasn't ready to get up. Riley's side of the bed was empty. A quick glance at the clock told me why. It was nearly midday.
"I can't thank you enough for everything you've done Riley," Sarah's voice came from the lounge room. It was a little muffled but I could hear it clearly enough. Riley had left the door open a crack. I'm sure it wasn't by accident. After my mission he'd be keeping a close ear out for any signs of nightmares.
"You can thank Jared and Romanoff more than me," Riley responded. I could almost see the shrug in his shoulders as he brushed off the thanks. "I didn't do much. But the restraining order is all in place for you. You've got all the numbers you need."
"And the photo of him all messed up," Sarah said ruefully. "Did you do that?"
"I may have helped a little," Riley sounded very smug. "It was mostly Nat though. She's terrifying when she's mad at someone. I don't think Isaac quite knew what to think when Natasha walked up to his work cubicle and pressed a gun to his head. Her reputation does proceed her."
"Still so modest," Sarah laughed tentatively. "Your girlfriend is very pretty. I'd kill to be that thin."
Ugh. I'd kill to have a body that doesn't resemble a pre pubescent boy. I snorted into my pillow but didn't move from my comfortable bed. I really didn't have the energy to go and face the scene out there.
"She works out like a machine," Riley laughed a little. "She's STRIKE Team Delta. She has to keep up with Barton and Romanoff."
"And does she?" Sarah sounded very impressed with what Riley had just said.
"Yeah, she's incredible," the pride in Riley's voice made me smile. "I'm a lucky guy."
"You deserve to be the lucky guy," Sarah sounded a little bit sad. It wasn't hard to follow what her train of thought would be. If she hadn't of slept around on Riley she currently wouldn't be in the predicament she was. "Are things serious between you two?"
"Very serious," Riley's tone changed to slightly wary. "She's perfect in my eyes. No offence, but I've never been happier. Kari is just incredible. My life will never be the same again and I don't mind it at all."
"None taken," Sarah sighed quietly. "It was my fault for messing things up between us. But I love Hayden more than anything in the world. I just still kind of wish you had been his Father."
That made me pull away from my pillow and look over to the nearly fully shut door in surprise. I swear if she upset Riley in any way I was going to leap out of this bed and smack her across the face and make her eyes a little blacker.
"We went through that when he was born," Riley said gently. But there with a firm tone in his voice. "Back then I wished I was too. But I do have a new life now. I plan on starting a family with Kari. Thats if I can ever drag her away from the Quinjet."
Sarah laughed quietly at that. There was a brief silence before Riley spoke again.
"I am really sorry with what happened with Isaac. I'm glad you patched things up with your parents and you can go home to them."
"All because of you," Sarah's voice choked up. "Even though I was a complete bitch and fucked everything up. You still came to my rescue."
"This is the first and last time though Sarah," Riley said firmly. "It took me a long time to get over what happened between us. I won't have anything come between Kari and I. I've waited a long time and been through too much shit to lose someone as amazing as her. I really mean it when I said things are serious between us."
My heart melted at Riley's words. If he thought he was lucky, I still had days where I pinched myself to see if this was all real.
"I understand," Sarah said instantly. There was a few seconds pause before she spoke again. "I'll get Hayden's stuff. The cab should be here in the next few minutes. Are you sure Laura doesn't want any of that stuff back?"
"No keep it," Riley chuckled. The firm tone in his voice all but gone now. "It's her excuse not to have another kid right now. She was more than happy to give it away. Here I'll help."
Sarah chuckled as well. Her reply became muffled as they moved out of the lounge room. I stayed in bed. I wasn't really keen to face Sarah at all. It may be a bit cowardly, but I'd rather not start to feel too sorry for her. My phone was on the bed side table, still switched off from last night. I reached over and turned it back on.
A flood of messages from Riley, Natasha and Clint all came through as soon as it powered up. I casually scrolled through them until I heard Riley and Sarah say a quiet goodbye. As soon as the door clicked shut I got up. Just as I was pulling on a clean set of clothes, Riley came in the door.
"Hey," I smiled at him. Again how did I ever get so damn lucky to have this perfect man?
"Hey yourself," Riley smiled back. "How did you sleep?"
"Like the dead," I admitted. "Whats the plan for today?"
"You and me," Riley smile grew wider. "Nachos and wings. Maybe a few pints of ice cream and a massive DVD binge. How does that sound?"
"Perfect," my smile stretched out across my face. It hurt my cheeks I was smiling so much at just how damn amazing Riley was. "Just like you."
Authors Note.
Awwww aren't they cute?
Thanks again everyone for your reviews! Wow, you guys just blow me away with every single one of them.
Its hard to write a very heavily OC featured fic sometimes. I always worry about keeping the balance between Marvel characters and my own. But I was a bit disappointed with Agents of SHIELD never dug into the actual depths of the organisation in the first season. If theres a STRIKE Team Delta…there has to be an Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc as well. Being a paramilitary side of the organisation theres a lot that goes on in their lives. And a certain mentality and camaraderie that comes with it too. It gets to be a lot to fit in.
And I like to do backstory…a lot of backstory. If you haven't noticed that.
Reviews feed my soul and make me sitting there hitting refresh all day long after I post a chapter. It feeds my creativity! Its 9pm at night here as I post this. So I may be a little sad and get excited throughout the night when I get an email to tell me I have a review. So yes, I do sit in bed at all hours reading them and thanking each one of you mentally while I do!
Until next time.