"It's open," Nick from an armchair in his room yelled at the door knocking. It parted Clint stepped in shutting behind him.
"Boss. You got a sec?"
"Only if you're ready to tell me what it is you and Romanoff get up to in Stark's room every couple of hours, for the past five days. And Banner too. And Rhodes?"
"If I tell you, would you do me a favor?"
"No."
"What if I said please?"
"Barton." He stops before him stiffly stating:
"We got an op." Nick raised both brows high.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"It's. Big."
"My patience is very limited agent; elaborate."
Short on time he does in brief bluntly,
and in the end in spite of himself Nick sees, they're even shorter on options.
He can't stop Tony or he can at a risk, that from the start he wasn't willing to take didn't…want to be the one,
to expose him,
less willing it seemed than Tony himself! Who appears as well to have cultivated a death wish!
…He does not want to risk a whole team neither that idiot, who one way or the other will take off and his friends even if he tries will follow, would only succeed if he tells the others but then what happens to Tony?
He knows.
What he doesn't know, is how the tribrid, will react…
It's the highest risk of all, to provoke him – it'd come very close the night of the full moon – when he'd learned the truth in full to think back then. Howard's lucky he'd that day walked away unscathed – he'd nearly shot Tony.
If that bullet had hit…
Every single one of them would've been killed was perhaps an exaggerated presumption.
Or not.
He wouldn't know would he?
He's never met this 'Loki'. And he doesn't want to.
XXX
"Hey. What's going on?" Steve asked running downstairs into James and Bruce armed up with bags on their shoulders.
"We got an op," answered casually the former.
"You too?" addressing Bruce. "Is it serious?"
"No, I just, haven't been out on the field in a while. Could use the exercise."
Steven on his phone by the kitchen window stood it's open; Steve hears and looks at the loud thud: the van's slide-door closing Nat and Tony by it stand conversing. "Just you?" absent he asks them to which warily James answered:
"Nat too." Alert at so he refaced them. Tensing James naturally has to add: "And Clint," who approaches Nick beside him.
"Rogers. Got an op for you and the Spectors. Call 'em over and come find me," he says – Steve hesitates. Something wasn't right not in the looks James and Bruce were wearing.
"Is Tony on one?"
"Yeah," calmly Nick responded.
"I want in."
"It doesn't need more than five pe-"
"So I'll swap with James. You don't mind, right?"
"Well-"
"I do. I need you on this. Find Marc and suit up. You leave soon."
"Nick-"
"Won't ask again."