There was a knock, followed by "Hey,"
She looked up, pushing back some of her fringes and loose hair to see her father standing at the door.
"Hey," she muttered, pulling her upright leg closer to her petite body.
"How are you feeling?" he walked in and sat opposite her.
Rose shrugged, "I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel."
Tony nodded, reaching for her hand and holding it.
"did you talk to Nick?"
she nodded.
"And?"
"He's coming here to explain himself and apologize. If he didn't I'll hunt him down. He knows that."
Tony chuckled, as he looked at the scans.
"Looking for something?"
"Distractions. Anything and everything HYDRA-related. Truth to the lies Fury told us." she took a deep breath, "Maybe I can find something more about the twin thing."
"Why don't you give it a rest?"
Rose gave him a look.
"Rosie, baby, you had a long day. Stressing yourself, while you are still healing," he gestured to her arm in a sling, "is not gonna help anyone, especially you. You have done enough for the day."
Rose didn't reply, just kept working on her laptop.
Tony narrowed his eyes and then reached to close the lid of the laptop, earning another look of 'wtf?' from Rose.
"When was the last time we had dinner?"
"...last night?"
Tony tsked. "Not that. Just the two of us. Like we used to."
"I don't remember. "
"Then let's get dinner. That way Thor has to make fewer servings."
"Fewer servings?"
"Rosie, you and I both know how much you eat. It's a wonder you haven't exploded yet."
"Dad!"
Tony laughed while she pouted. He stopped laughing, running a hand over his face.
"We can call Rhodey too. He was quite worried about you."
Rose shrugged.
"alright. Get changed. I'll meet you down in the garage."
Since the afternoon, everyone was quite silent. Clint and Nat were yet to come back. Tony and Rose had left for dinner with Rhodey. Steve was nowhere to be seen. Bruce remained in the Communal, going through his tablet while Thor prepared dinner.
Everyone was disturbed and occupied with their own thoughts that they didn't have the mental capacity to talk to others.
Steve sighed, letting go of the mic button before he started pacing. Bucky was still not responding. And now, it was starting to trouble him.
He walked around and sat down on the floor, facing the cage.
He was still reeling from the fact that Fury lied about Coulson, of all people. He desperately wanted to help the people HYDRA was using as guinea pigs but he knew he couldn't, not all by himself.
Which made him think about the Avengers Inc. proposal. He just had one more day to think before the discussion on Saturday.
Personally, he still had reservations about this idea. SHIELD was one thing, but to come under a separate governing body? He was in no mood of giving up his freedom of protecting people. He wasn't going to stop fighting the wrongs because someone told him not to. He wanted to protect people. It shouldn't be a third person's decision whether a certain person was worth saving or not.
But then, most of the team was already on for the idea. Nat, Clint, Bruce were onboard. Rose and Tony came up with the idea. That just left him and Thor. He knew Thor wouldn't be much of an issue. And he had a good relationship with both Rose and Tony.
He took a deep breath.
HYDRA was growing stronger, he suspected that. Rose's statement earlier had just confirmed his suspicions.
He looked up at Bucky.
He'd first had to find to save him.
Talking was no help. He wouldn't even flinch. there must be something he could do.
He was startled out of his thoughts by a slapping sound next to him. He looked down. It was a familiar manila folder.
Next to him, Nat sat down.
"I needed a distraction," she muttered
Steve looked at her
"I called a ton of contacts. Some of them didn't pick my calls. Some blamed me for the fall of the SHIELD and told me to pound sand. Some had voicemails explicitly stating that if it is me calling, I shouldn't bother. Rest had no idea how to do it. So," she looked at him, "dead end."
"that's comforting."
"Tell me about it. how am I to blame for what happened at Triskelion?"
He shrugged.
"Any breakthrough?"
"Nothing. Won't even blink." he picked up the manila folder, "Does Rose know you have it?"
Nat gave him a blank look, "Of course she does."
"What were you doing with it?"
"I hoped there might be something that could turn into a lead. You should read it."
Steve flipped through the initial reports only to stumble upon what looked like...
"These look like diary entries," he muttered
"August 2006. She was 16. I don't suppose she knew how to write proper reports back then." Nat looked at him, "But that is not what puzzles me. These reports are pretty good. Any person with decent hacking skills can get this info. And considering her hacking skills I'm not surprised.
Her last entry is on 31st August. Then it resumes in December end and ends around mid-January. I'm presuming that she didn't get her chance of doing research when she's in school."
"Hmm-mm."
"And then there's nothing. Her next entry is on October 2009."
"3 years?"
"hmm. There's a major difference in the way the reports are written compared to the previous ones. Her writing skills and language improved, surely yes. But there are some disturbing details."
Steve looked at her and raised a brow.
Nat shifted and flipped the pages until she reached a particular paragraph. It was dated October 2009.
"Here. She mentions an op by HYDRA that was to take place in December."
Steve skimmed through the entry, "It doesn't say HYDRA."
"It doesn't but she was fixated on Winter Soldier. She knew he was HYDRA even 3 years before this op. And I don't know of any other organization that would fit the bill." she shrugged and looked at the page, "These op details seemed to ring a bell at first, so I read it entirely, twice. Then I checked my and Clint's files. Clint was a part of this mission. There was no mention of HYDRA whatsoever in the SHIELD report as well. Just a hostile/terrorist organization. But the details are uncannily similar. Some lines even have the same wording."
"Rose told Fury." Steve realized
"She did. And knowing Fury, he'd never let it slip to the world that he got this intel from a 19-year-old civilian. But here's the thing, I asked around. And no one had heard of this op. Not even a whisper. Stuff like this is gossiped amongst the intelligence community. People hear things. We just tend to ignore what is none of our business. And the fact that no one had heard about this op except her. She wasn't even a part of the intelligence community back then. She had information no one had access to and that too with great detail.
Steve, SHIELD didn't know about HYDRA, I don't think they did. Or Fury would have done something a long time ago. She did. She knew HYDRA was operating when no one else did. She did do the right thing by telling Fury, though. But I have no idea whether she mentioned HYDRA when she gave intel to Fury or not."
"Couldn't she have been a better hacker? Improved skills?"
"Even if she had improved, she wouldn't have had the time."
Steve gave her a confused gaze.
"She had just been named the CEO, in September. And she was struggling to make ends meet. A lot of people weren't ready to trust a multi-billion dollar empire like Stark Industries with a teenager. It was then I worked as Pepper's PA and I worked quite close to Rose back then. This type of research via hacking would take a lot of time. Digging around, decoding and encoding, compiling shit so they make sense. It just doesn't happen in a couple of hours.
And Rose was attending every single meeting, workshop, seminar, shareholder, board meetings, and much more. She barely had time to sleep back then. She wouldn't have had time to do thorough research like this."
Steve flipped the pages, reading the entries.
"I've marked everything in pencil which I felt was something she couldn't have found out on her own by just hacking."
"With pencil?" he chuckled
"Rose would be mad if she found out that I defaced her research. I can always erase the pencil lines." she shrugged, "Anyway, after Clint's case, I snooped around more. Some of the details are similar to high-end classified SHIELD ops. Details about those ops were on a need-to-know basis. But Rose knew these details; she didn't work for or with SHIELD back then. She was a civilian. A teenage civilian. And now that I read them, a lot of them were about HYDRA."
Steve took a deep breath.
"She was getting this intel from someone." Steve guessed as he read the underlined lines.
"That's what I think. I believe she had someone within HYDRA who gave her all this intel. Intel she later passed onto Fury."
"You really think someone in HYDRA would willingly do this?"
"You never know. People tend to surprise and do unexpected things."
Steve flipped the pages as he read them.
The entries were very meticulous and detailed. She definitely knew what she was writing about.
"Why her?" Steve asked, "Why would someone from HYDRA contact a 19-year-old civilian but not someone more mature and powerful?"
"No clue. I do wonder, though, what if this source is still out there."
Steve looked at her as his gears moved. "They could know how to break Bucky's brainwashing."
"Yeah." she chuckled nervously, "But there's a small issue."
"What, Nat?"
Nat took a deep breath, "It is not going to be easy to make Rose tell us their name. It's an unspoken rule of the intelligence community: Sources remain anonymous. Especially at this level. Rose most probably knows about this rule. If she does, she won't give up her source's name."
Steve nodded, "Is there no way...?"
"We won't know unless we talk to her. But odds are slim."
Steve nodded, as he flipped more to read more.
They must have been there for about 15 minutes when he spoke up again.
"Hey, is there a possibility that your source of KGB and her source of HYDRA could be the same?"
Nat looked at him and then shook her head, "Nah. I don't think so."
"Are you sure? I mean it would have been a long time. 2009 and 2013, Nat, 4 years."
Nat looked at him and nodded, "I'm sure of it. They are not the same."
"Alright." he muttered and closed the folder, "Where's Rose?"
"Out with Tony and Rhodey for dinner." she answered and looked at him, "I'll try to hit some of my contacts again. Why don't you go through these entries and see if there's anything that catches your eye that I might have missed."
Steve nodded while Nat got up and left. He opened the folder and began reading the entries, starting from the first. He was determined to find something, even if it took the entire night.
"Wake up!"
Rose grunted and turned in her sleep, snuggling a little more into her covers.
Knock! Knock!
"Rosie, come on, baby girl, wake up. Breakfast's ready."
She groaned and barely opened her eyes, "Five minutes."
"Five minutes and the breakfast gets cold. Come on."
"Ughhh..." she pushed herself up straight, "Seriously. Five minutes. Just five minutes."
Hearing no reply, she opened her eyes to see no one there.
"Jesus," she muttered and got off the bed and walked into the bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth and splashed her face with cold water.
After refreshing herself, she made her way downstairs while taming her bird's nest of hair with a comb and letting it remain loose, and pulled on her glasses. She couldn't wait for the day when they'd remove the plaster from her arm.
She slid into the kitchen and poured herself coffee only to hear a happy humming near her.
She pulled back and leaned against the island, looking to her right.
"You are doing that just to irritate me, aren't you?"
Rhodey grinned at her while flipping the blueberry pancake. "Spot on!"
"Huh," she grunted and began drinking her coffee.
The humming continued. She heard a thud and looked behind her to see her father walking in, looking sleepy but better than her.
"Morning, guys," he grumbled and sat on the stool while Rose passed him his coffee.
"Why is he so happy?" Tony asked her before looking at Rhodey, "Why are you so happy?"
"What? It's a nice day. The sun's nice and bright. I'm gonna have breakfast with two of my favorite people on earth. Quite grumpy, but favorite indeed."
"How are you doing this? You were playing Counter-Strike with us till 3 AM."
"Here's the thing, sweetheart, and it is called discipline."
"Boo-hoo."
Rhodey looked between the two, "Like father like daughter." he rolled his eyes, "So, who's having the first serving?"
Once they were done eating and decided to go for another round of Counter-Strike.
"So, what are your thoughts on Avengers Inc.?"
Rhodey ducked his character and then took aim. "Sounds good. For a superhero initiative."
"You want in?" Rose shifted a little to accommodate her casted arm better. she was trying her best to not break the console as she was losing. And she never lost. She'd gladly give anything to get her arm to heal and get it out of the cast.
"I'll have to consider."
Tony hummed.
Rose about to say something when her phone rang. She put down the controller and picked her phone.
"Who is it?" Tony asked
"Kevin." she got up, "You guys continue."
She walked across the room and into the balcony as she sat down on of the lawn chairs Rhodey had and pressed accept.
There wasn't a, "Hi!" or "How are you?" or "Are you alright?" or "Are you still alive?" or "Rosie!"
But then, Rose knew him better than that. Instead, she got a- "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS BLOODY WRONG WITH YOU?!" in an all-American accent. Which did not sound good, for the record.
Rose pressed her lips as she played with the hem of her shirt, "The list is too long. Where do you want me to start?"
There was a silence followed by a deep sigh.
"Rose..." he sighed again, "Alive?"
"Kicking." she chuckled
"How many bones?"
"Just one."
"Don't kid me."
"Seriously. Arm fracture."
"Hairline?"
"You wish. Oblique."
"Wonderful. Congratulations."
Rose snorted. "Ash?"
"Ash's fine. But it was Tony."
Rose peeked inside where her father and Uncle were playing Counter-Strike without her, "when did Dad call you?"
"A few days back. When you didn't answer any of my calls, which sum up to 52 by the way and worried me sick."
A smile grew on her face, "You were worried about me? Little ol' me? Tell me, Kev, were you as worried as when you were when Kate and Seth found out about you and Ash?"
"Don't push it."
That made her laugh.
"For the records, Mom and Dad were worried about you too."
"Oh shit! Did you te-"
"Already told them that you are back to being your stupid idiot self. You can cross that off your list."
"Thanks, mate."
There was a bit of silence before Kevin started laughing which made her chuckle.
"Now the main question."
"I am perfec-"
"How's Captain Rogers?"
Rose paused, licking her lips. She pressed them before answered, "He's fine. Got pummelled but he's fine."
"That's a relief."
Rose just snorted before propping her legs on top of the railing, "Everything aside, there's so much I have to tell you."
"Good. I don't have time."
"Kevin!"
He laughed, "Alright alright. Just kidding. Let me get some coffee. This seems to be a long story."
"You bet your arse it is long."
"You alright?"
Clint glared at them.
"Wrong question,"
Nat and Steve walked in and sat down near him.
"Clint..."
"I'm fine," Clint replied quickly.
"Good. Because we need a little insight."
Clint looked at them. "On what?"
Steve and Nat shared a look before Steve handed him a report.
"What are these?" Clint asked, flipping the pages, "diary entries?"
"Rose's research on Winter Soldier and HYDRA," Nat said and grabbing the folder opened the October entry. "Read this."
Clint looked at her, then at Steve, took a seat, and began reading. He flipped the pages and continued.
"This is about the Belgrade Mission," he muttered, skimming through the paragraphs before looking at them, "It was super-confidential. How did Rose know about the Belgrade Mission?"
"We don't know," Steve said, "But we believe she was the one to give Fury the intel about your mission."
Clint looked down at the file, "October 2009." he muttered, "Belgrade was in December."
"Exactly," Nat said earning a look from Clint.
"What? The files are on Stark servers. It's easier than a Google search."
Clint took a breath and looked down, reading further, "She was a civilian back then. Are you guys sure about this?"
"It's not just your mission. Another entry is about a mission I was part of, a whole month before it took place."
"And..."
"We think all of this is about HYDRA."
Clint stayed silent for a few minutes.
"Where was she getting this intel from?" Clint continued reading and then paused and looked at them, "Did she had an insider in HYDRA?"
"We speculate so."
"I still find it hard to believe that someone from HYDRA would willingly become a mole. That too to a teenager civilian."
"Well, she was targeted by HYDRA for near about 8 years, so I'm not surprised. But, just to be clear, are we sure this source was a mole willingly?"
Nat and Steve exchanged a look, "What?"
Clint took a deep breath, "I'm not accusing her of anything. I'm just saying she was quite vocal about being able to control minds like Loki minus the stick. What if she mind-controlled someone?"
There was a pregnant silence.
"Mind control is a crime in the magical world. Had anyone ever figured out Rose mind-controlled someone, a non-magical at that, she'd be having a one-way ticket to the prison for a life sentence at the least. It doesn't matter who she is or how rich she is. She knows what's at stake."
Not to mention she was the part of the committee that made the new rules for the Wizarding World after the War. Of course, she knew the rules.
"I don't think Rose did that. But something else was definitely going on. We need all the intel we could get if we want to face HYDRA head-on."
"After all that clusterfuck situation, I'd say you got lucky. I mean, if two heat-seeking missiles collided near you and all you came out with was a fracture then you really got out easy and lucky."
"Do you have absolutely no faith in me?"
"I do. Oh God, I do. I trust you to save innocent lives as much as I trust you to have a weekly repeat of the Italian eggplants-"
"Hey! We don't talk about that incident. We swore!"
"which doesn't mean that you'd develop a healthy idea of self-preservation overnight. You still have no clue what it is."
"I do!"
"So...when are you planning on implementing it?"
Rose narrowed her eyes, looking all around her, "On the eve...of the anniversary...of the...death of...Uther Pendragon? I don't why I said that."
"Your obsession with fantasy TV shows is not something I would ever understand."
"Merlin's a good show. A bit historically, and magically, incorrect, but a good show."
"Rose, you watch these shows because of the 'hot cast' and not for the plot."
"Not exactly. The plot's good. Just sculpts the characters in a better light, in my humble opinion. Have you ever seen them?"
"One of us being insane is more than enough, I believe. Besides, I don't want to freak out our parents any more than we already do. And Ash, for that matter."
She chuckled.
"I'm pretty sure Ash is more than used to our stupid antics. She loves me."
"Yeah, you stupid bitch. People just fall head over heels for you the moment they set their eyes on you, don't they?"
"Hey, no need to get jealous if I get more girls fawning over me in a single week than you did in your whole life."
"Yeah, sure. You telling an engaged man that is supposed to offend me. Really? Whatever happened to the good retorts you used to have? Are you trippin'?"
"A little on meds, I guess."
"And not liquor?"
"Dad wouldn't even let me 10ft of one."
"So you opting to be bisexual exclusively for sex with cute guys and liquor is just temporarily off?!"
Rose sat up with a grin and gasp, "You fucking dog! You saw the show! You fucking saw the motherfuckin show!"
"I will not-"
"don't even think of denying! You wouldn't have gotten that meme if you hadn't seen the show!"
"Okay, so maybe I saw an episode or two."
"You saw more than that! You lying bastard. Why won't you just admit that the show's pretty good!"
"On my deathbed."
"I'll kill you now, this instant. If that's all it takes you to admit that."
"You wouldn't dare."
"I know necromancy. I can always bring you back. Well, not exactly you, but...maybe a better version. Ash would appreciate that a lot more, I have a feeling."
"Shut the fuck up."
Rose laughed. A few seconds later, Kevin joined in as well.
"We were talking about you being a suicidal asshole. How did it turn into a conversation about you planning on reanimating my corpse?"
"Fuck if I know." she shrugged
"Back to the point. How long before you get back on track?"
"6 weeks at least. It's been one. So, five more to go."
"That's what you get for being the clotpole you are."
"You totally watch the show." she smiled. Then she heard a loud bell in his background.
"Gotta go."
"Yeah, cool."
"Don't get killed. I meant it. Necromancy or not."
"Yes, sir. Any other orders?"
"Take your meds and rest."
"Yes Sir!"
"And stop being a unilateral idiot."
"That I can't promise."
"Rose."
"Alright, okay. You get going. I gotta go too."
With that, she hung up. She sighed, looking at her phone. 2 hours and 14 minutes. That's something she wasn't used to. She saw some movement at the corner of her eyes and saw Rhodey standing at the doorway, arms crossed and looking highly amused.
"Sometimes, I really wonder if Kevin's the only boy in your life. Then I remember your social skills and realize that yes, that poor boy is gonna be tolerating you all his life."
"You make it sound bad."
Rhodey shrugged, "He's stationed in Bahrain and just spent over 2 hours on phone with you. I'd be a little surprised if he won't get a talking to by his seniors about this behavior."
"But?"
"But he's your best friend so I can't say much for sure. My friendship with Tony did grant me a few favors here and there. And I did pick up a thing or two from him. I'm sure Kevin picked or two from you too."
"Dad won't appreciate hearing that you use him like that."
Rhodey rolled his eyes, "Please. You know better than that."
"Maybe," she smiled cheekily at him.
Rhodey just shook his head with a smile, "Well, it's nearly lunchtime. And your dad wants to go the Shawarma place."
"it's always Shawarma with him."
"Good. Then help me convince him that it is a bad idea."
She laughed and got up, "Yes, mom."
Rhodey rolled his eyes with a smile and punched her right arm.
"Where's dad?"
They ended up ordering some pizza for lunch. Tony whined a little about not being able to go to the Shawarma place, but it was something both of them were used to. After that, they pulled out Assassin's Creed. Rose had always been good with such games, but with her current condition, she was getting sloppy.
They spent the rest of the day playing games and talking and chatting. Rose lost continuously, thanks to her broken arm.
Around 6 PM, Tony's phone rang. It was Bruce.
"Are you having dinner with Rhodey or coming back?"
While they knew Rhodey would love to have them around for another day or two (the trio rarely spent time together due to their schedules; Rose being the busiest of them all), they decided to head back. The Starks had just the night for preparing everything before they had to get with the meeting tomorrow.
"Yeah, we'll be there in an hour or so."
Rhodey volunteered to attend that meeting and promised about sleeping on the idea of joining Avengers.
The drive back to the tower and comfortingly silent.
Rose was smiling. Tony was right. She needed a day's break. Now tomorrow was going to be a shit show, that she knew.
The dinner was fine and everyone was quite loose. Everyone was doing their good job of hiding their own discomforts and disturbances.
After dinner, Rose retired to her floor. She went through the stack of meds and potions Hannah had prescribed her, as she flipped through a magical book looking for a lightweight spell that could tame her mane of hair without giving her body a load while she healed.
She hadn't found any as such only to pause when she heard the elevator chime.
She looked up, pushing back her hair, and saw Nat, Clint, and Steve. And she got this weird vibe from them.
"Hey," she greeted them, pulling down her glasses and folded her legs, "What's up?"
"Can we talk?"
Okay, something was off. Clint didn't joke about the plethora of potions and medicines spread on the table. Nat didn't ask about the magic book. and Steve looked like he was trying hard not to frown. What the fuck?
Rose nodded, "Sure. But if this about the Avengers Inc. don't you think everyone should be around?"
"It isn't," Clint said
"Oh alright." she shifted and asked them all to sit down. "So?"
Steve pulled out her manila folder, that Nat had borrowed from her the previous day.
"Is something wrong with it?"
"We read these reports. You had some good intel on hand." Nat said
She tilted her head.
"Are these about HYDRA?"
Rose looked at all of them before slowly nodding.
"And you gave Fury the intel."
Nod.
"Rose, where did you get this intel, all this information from?" Steve asked
Rose again looked at all three. "I had a source."
"Who?"
Rose looked at Nat and pressed her lips, "Nat, you of all people should know this. You taught me this. Sources remain anonymous. I'm sorry, I can't tell who it is."
"Was the source willing?" Clint asked, "Like did he do it of his free will?"
Rose took a breath. While that statement was offending and had someone else implied that mind-controlled some poor bloke in some terrorist organization like HYDRA and made them her unwilling accomplice, she'd have punched them square on the face so hard. But it was Clint. They were all going through a rough time. And people tend not to be the kindest when they are under stress and betrayed the way they were.
Which was the reason she didn't convey how much it hurt when Clint implied that. He had a rough history with mind-controlling. So did she. But the implication was just plain offensive.
Unfortunately or not, she has no idea, the trio took her silence and pause that she had received the sentence not so kindly and innocently.
Nat was about to speak up to diffuse the situation when Rose opened her mouth.
"Clint, I know better than to mind-control anyone, let alone from someplace like HYDRA. No, they weren't mind-controlled. Everything they did, everything they told me was complete of their own free will. In fact, to this day, I still have no fucking idea whatsoever why they did what they did." she shrugged, "Look, I can't tell you a lot who it is. But I can tell you this, they didn't work for HYDRA. Or with them. But they do have good persuasion skills." she shifted her legs, "What made you curious about my source anyway? Even Fury never asked."
"It had something to do with Bucky. I was hoping to find a lead."
Rose nodded in understanding, "Well, they wouldn't a thing about what to do about that. This ain't their niche."
"Wait. What has Barnes to do with it?"
They looked at Clint, who looked confused.
"You didn't tell him?" Rose asked the other two.
"Tell me what?"
"She didn't kill Barnes. He's alive. Down in Bruce's Hulk-proof cage."
Clint's eyes widened as he looked at Rose, then at the other two.
"Does everyone know?"
"You weren't at the tower. We couldn't tell you." Steve shrugged
Clint raised his hand, "You are telling me that the Winter Soldier, HYDRA's top assassin, is locked in Bruce's Hulk-out room?"
"Yup," Rose remarked
"For how long?"
"Near about a week now."
"And what exactly were you thinking when decided to do that?"
"Uh..." she looked at Steve, a bit uncomfortable, who also looked at her and expecting an answer. "I wasn't thinking exactly."
"Rose, you co-"
"Hey, guys!"
The four turned around and saw Bruce at the staircase, looking slightly winded.
"Everything okay?" she asked
"About that. Fury's here."
A little cameo by Kevin and Rhodey. The next chapter would be Fury's reckoning. And the fate of Avenger Inc. would be decided.
And if anyone managed to guess Rose's Source, I'd give a little surprise and answer them one question, any question. One detail. But nothing too major, because I don't want to give out spoilers and wish to maintain healthy suspense.
Do let me know what you think?
Ciao
