Chapter Two: Into the Fray
"I'll find my own bravado." -Lorde
September 3, 2012
While it was New York that catalyzed Audrey's transformation into a hero, it was Europe that kicked the process into full gear. The mission was her first one since she'd begun training with Natasha, and her first in the field. Even though she wouldn't be doing it alone, she was still terrified.
The call had come while she was on a jog with Steve. It was early September, and they were trying to find some semblance of a routine. Usually, they'd have breakfast together with Darcy in the common kitchen, spend the morning exploring New York, and dedicate the afternoon to their respective training. Audrey appreciated the regularity of it all, but after the whirlwind of the past few months, it almost felt dull. And if anything, it just gave her more time to think back to New York. Back to how close she'd come to dying.
Audrey knew it didn't make complete sense-wanting to hurl herself back into the field to avoid dealing with trauma from her last mission-but it was the only solution she'd been able to come up with.
The rest of the team seemed to be much better at coping than she was. Natasha disappeared on missions every few days. Clint devoted his time to training Kate. Steve would take it out on a punching bag. But Audrey just stewed in her thoughts, struggling to sleep, and feeling homesick for a life and an apartment that she'd lost to an alien invasion.
When she got the call, she was almost excited at the chance to get back into work. Even if it was dangerous. Even if it was completely out of her depth. It was something.
"How would you feel about an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris?" Maria Hill asked from the other end of the line.
"Wait, what?" Audrey asked, slowing to a stop and pulling over to the side of the bike path.
"Chitauri weapons have been found on the European black market. We need to contain them. You're being called in."
Steve shot Audrey a look of concern. She got the feeling that he knew what the call was about-either he could hear it, or he could read her well enough. But he stayed quiet.
"Who else is being called?"
"You, Barton, Romanoff, and Bishop. We're partnering with the DGSE on this one, too."
The DGSE? S.H.I.E.L.D. just didn't do interagency partnerships. They'd refused to cooperate with domestic agencies like the FBI for, like, seventy years. "We're suddenly friendly with other investigators?"
Hill laughed. "The world is different now. Back when we could keep all the weird shit under wraps, we would do our best. Loki kind of shattered that whole plan."
Well, there certainly was that. Keeping a highly televised, intergalactic battle that had caused billions of dollars of collateral damage contained was significantly more difficult than a few 0-8-4s here and there. Audrey blew out a breath. "What do you need from me?"
"Briefing at the Tower in ten. You head out with Barton and Romanoff tonight at nineteen-hundred."
"Copy that," the blonde replied, and then hung up the phone. "Change of plans," she said. "Apparently, we have to head back. They're sending me on a mission."
Her father's brow furrowed as they crossed to the other side of the bike path as they started the walk back to the Tower. They hadn't gotten far into the jog, just a few minutes, so Audrey did her best not to rush. Her anxiety had gotten increasingly worse over the last few months, with everything changing, and she had to try a lot harder to keep it under control than before.
A crisp gust of wind hit her then, effectively pulling her from her trance. She didn't get cold often, and though it was a gray morning, today was no exception. The breeze did, however, remind her that this would be Steve's first autumn since the crash. They had a lot of firsts to get through, still, and Audrey was almost sad that she would have to miss some of them. Almost.
"Where to?" Steve asked, keeping pace with her.
"Paris. But it might end up bigger than that. It's a problem with the European black market, so who knows where I'll end up." She blew out a breath. Besides her regular visits to London, Audrey hadn't been to Europe in a while. A few decades. She recalled a trip in the early nineties to Monte Carlo, where she'd managed a team taking down a corrupt heiress running experiments.
"How long will you be gone?" Steve asked, looking mildly concerned.
"Hill didn't say. We might find out at the briefing, though." Audrey glanced up at her dad again, who was trying to hide his worry but was still furrowing his brow. "You'll be okay, Dad. I'll make sure Darcy's able to help you out."
He smiled down at her, softly. "I'm not worried about myself, kiddo."
"Oh," Audrey said, realizing. "I'll be okay. I've been an agent for, like, fifteen years. It'll be fine."
"You're just...you're so young," Steve remarked. He was clearly holding back what he really wanted to say, but Audrey managed to shove down her curiosity enough not to pry. "I know you're not really young, but...you're so young to me." Audrey looked up at him, waiting for him to elaborate. A beat passed, and Steve laughed. "I can kind of see how Bucky felt, now."
"What?"
Steve did the head-tilt-shrug that he always did before recalling stories of people he used to know. "I was always getting into trouble. He was always worried about me. I always thought he was overreacting, but with you throwing your life in danger for the dozenth time in four months, I kind of see where he's coming from."
Audrey started laughing then, too. Peggy had always detailed Steve's boldness, even when it was completely out of his depth. It seemed to be something she had inherited.
The two super soldiers spent the rest of the walk in relative silence. The father and daughter were both on edge while still trying to relish the last moment of calm before the storm. When they returned, the Tower's lobby was a busy mess of Stark Industries employees rushing around from meeting to meeting.
Audrey headed for the Avengers' elevator, placing her palm over the scanner. When the doors slid open, she and Steve stepped inside.
"What floor is the briefing room on?" Audrey asked.
"I think it's fifty-one," Steve replied. "I'm pretty sure it's fifty-one."
Of all the Avengers, they were the only ones who hadn't yet returned to the field, excepting Bruce. But then again, he'd never really been in the field in the first place. Audrey hadn't seen the briefing room since they came back from their road trip, and even then it had been during Tony's tour of the entire renovated building. The floors had melted together by then.
She pressed the button for fifty-one. Her stomach dipped as the elevator cabin glided up through the building, passing floors of offices, labs, and more offices. When they finally arrived, she took a deep breath.
"See you later?" she asked Steve.
He nodded. "Let me know how it goes."
With that, Audrey stepped into the briefing room, trying to shift back into her role as an Avenger. It felt like there were always twenty different Audreys inside her head-daughter Audrey, friend Audrey, Avenger Audrey, spy Audrey. She was constantly switching back and forth between them, and it always seemed to take her a while.
She did her best to put her Work Face on, even though her conversation with her dad lingered in the back of her mind. It was strange to be worried about. Howard, Tony, Jarvis-everyone she grew up with knew about how strong she was, and how she would be able to take care of herself. And Claudia, Lindsey, and Caroline always saw her as smart enough to get out of tough situations. Besides Peggy, Steve was the only person who didn't see her as a super-soldier or a SHIELD agent, but as herself.
"Hey, Carter," Maria greeted when Audrey pulled a chair out at the table. Across from her was an Asian girl-maybe in her early twenties-dressed in a purple leather jacket and folding a piece of printer paper into a hat. "You've met Bishop?"
The girl looked up from her hat at Audrey, offering a confident smirk. "We haven't met yet. But I've heard a lot about you."
Audrey smiled politely. "I've heard a lot about you too. Clint says you've been making a lot of progress."
Kate's smirk widened into a grin, but she still shrugged, feigning humility.
"Alright, don't feed her ego too much," Clint announced, strolling into the room and dropping a file onto the conference table. Nat was behind him, smirking. "Kate's great, but she's like nine years old and spoiled rotten. I don't even know if she's legally allowed to work for SHIELD at that age."
Kate rolled her eyes. "At least I didn't pick a deaf dog as my hearing guide," she retorted, folding her arms across her chest.
"Hey!" Clint protested, dropping into the seat next to Kate. "Lucky's a great dog."
"I love Lucky. I didn't say he wasn't great, I just said that he can't hear."
As they continued to bicker, Natasha sat down in the seat next to Audrey. The redhead raised an eyebrow and offered some remnant of a smile. "You ready for this?"
Audrey did not hesitate with the lie. "Yes."
Before Natasha could reply, Hill arrived, holding several file folders in her hand. She took her seat at the head of the table, and in the presence of their superior, the room grew silent.
"Welcome, everyone," Maria greeted. She started passing the files around the table, thick folders full of pages and pages of documents. Audrey flipped hers open and found pictures of a handsome man in tailored suits, diagrams of cell-phone models, and several SHIELD issued notices of suspicious behavior. "This man," she said, pointing to the presentation screen next to her, "is Julian Bardot. Premiere technology developer, Stark's biggest rival, and recently-"
Audrey flipped to the next photo in the folder. A Chitauri weapon.
It sent something twisting in her stomach. She'd known what this mission was about, but seeing the weapon that had nearly killed her so many times made her nauseous. But she was in too deep to have second thoughts, so she swallowed nervously and tried to hide her worries.
"-the highest bidder in an auction for Chitauri weapons." Audrey glanced at Clint. What she'd been through with Loki was nothing compared to what they'd done to him. His expression remained stoic, and Audrey mustered up as much bravado as she could to match it.
"I thought Bardot only worked with phones and computers and stuff," Kate interrupted. "What's he going to do with Chitauri weapons?"
"DotTech primarily works with communicative technology, that's true," Maria agreed, "but DotTech houses another company called Arbitrator that's developing missile technology. If Bardot can figure out how to replicate the effects of the Chitauri weapons, he could get extremely rich selling his weapons to the military."
"Stark left him an opening?" Natasha asked.
Hill nodded. "When he left the weapon development field, Bardot took his place. We also have reason to believe that he'll try and incorporate Chitauri energy designs into his other technology, which could prove incredibly destructive. The tests that SHIELD has conducted on Chitauri weapons show that they're extremely volatile. They cannot be put into the hands of civilians.
"There's a launch party at his mansion tomorrow night celebrating the launch of the new DotPhone. You will be gathering intel. Bishop, you were already invited thanks to your father's connections."
Kate stretched her lips out into the shell of a smile, and deadpanned, "Thanks, daddy."
Wait. Audrey stared at Kate, trying to figure out where she recognized her from. When it clicked, she wanted to slap herself in the face. Kate Bishop. Derek Bishop's daughter, heiress to the Bishop Corporation, and popular subject of the People Magazine gossip column. She was always depicted as some airhead, trashy, party girl who passed out drunk in bars. And yet-she seemed nothing like that. For starters, she was training to become a spy under Hawkeye himself. That alone was a fair indicator of integrity and talent.
Hill continued instructing them, telling Kate, "Your mission is to distract Bardot. This will give Carter an opening."
Audrey knew her strengths and weaknesses fairly well, and knew that undercover was not one of her talents. At all. Even when she was being herself, she tended to come off as if she had something to hide. But she waited for Hill to continue.
"You're going undercover as a waitress for the catering company."
It occurred to Audrey then-"How are we going undercover if we're...public figures?"
Hill smiled, like a cat that had the canary. "SHIELD has developed technology to resynchronize the appearance of your face through a complex carbon-based process that utilizes photon refractors to, in a sense, rebuild your appearance based on a pre-uploaded visage."
A beat passed, where Clint and Natasha seemed to be silently communicating. "So...masks?" Clint said finally. "They're just masks?"
"Yes. To put it in layman's terms, they're just masks. All of you, except Bishop, will be wearing them. Audrey-when Kate has distracted Bardot, the DGSE agent we'll working with will swipe Bardot's keys and pass them to you. You'll then go upstairs to his study and collect any intel you can find. By this point, Barton and Romanoff will have...taken care of...any guards that would be in your way."
Audrey tried to stop the question, but it flew out of her mouth anyways. "Are they going to kill them?"
The two assassins gave her looks of mild amusement. "No," Clint answered. "We'll just knock 'em out and make sure they don't start any trouble with you."
Audrey could not tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Are you being sarcastic?"
At that, Clint gave her a funny look. "No. No, I'm being serious."
"Oh. Okay." Now, she felt stupid for asking.
"How are we getting in?" Natasha asked.
"You'll be going as members of his security. We've already identified two guards matching your height and build, and synchronised their appearances to the masks. The DGSE will take care of making sure they can't make it."
Again, Audrey wondered if that meant killing them, but could not bring herself to ask the question. She guessed it was probably not that. With their orders, they were made to sign the liability forms and released from the meeting to prepare for their departure. Audrey hung back until Clint, Natasha, and Kate had all left.
"Do you think I'm ready for this?" she asked Maria.
Hill shuffled her own papers to straighten them out, replacing them in her folder. When she looked up at Audrey, it was with curiosity. "Do you think you aren't?"
"No...I think I'm ready," she replied. God, even I wouldn't believe me, she thought.
"If you're not, you shouldn't go. It could endanger the whole team. But according to Romanoff, you're ready."
Well that was validating. Knowing that the Black Widow thought she was adequately prepared for field work was almost enough to banish her anxieties. She feared Natasha too much to believe that she could ever be wrong about something.
"I think I'm ready," Audrey said, more confidently. "I'm ready."
Maria nodded, clearly not sharing the same emotional connection to Audrey's revelation. "That's good." She lifted her eyebrow, as if waiting for Audrey to say something else.
She had nothing else to add, so Audrey turned around and left, pressing the button and stepping inside the elevator.
September 4, 2012
Hours later, as the SHIELD-issued jet touched down on a private runway in Paris, Audrey stretched awake and checked her phone to see what she'd missed. A text from Steve, reading, Good luck, sweetheart. Stay safe. -Dad. A photo from Darcy of her smiling into the camera, as Jane and Tony argued behind her, accompanied by the caption Science!
The plane's lights switched on and Natasha picked up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She looked almost unrecognizable to Audrey, fitted into a black wig and a trench coat. Clint, next to her, looked equally covert, clad in jeans, converse, and a button down with the sleeves rolled up. In fact, the only one in the group who looked like herself was Kate, in a long purple dress and a black leather jacket. Audrey supposed that made sense, considering the roles they were all playing.
The Avengers' celebrity had expanded greatly in the last few months, with Audrey barely able to leave the tower without getting hassled by reporters. The other day, she and Steve had gone out to get groceries with Darcy and a swarm of people in Captain America tee-shirts had followed them through every aisle, asking for pictures. Although living at the Tower was comfortable, and saving the world was an honor, Audrey did sometimes miss living in a shitty Brooklyn apartment, where she was free to go into a mini-mart in her pajamas at midnight without it being splashed across the covers of every tabloid.
Like Clint and Natasha, Audrey had been trained on how to disguise herself. She left the Tower wearing office-attire, and in a swarm of other Stark employees, most of the time. Other times, she threw on a brown wig and something fitted and very not-Audrey. She admitted, she hated most of those outfits. They chafed or they were itchy and uncomfortable, and it would bother her all day long.
"Ready to go?" Natasha asked her.
Audrey went over her checklist in her head. Fake glasses? Yep. Iron Man hoodie? Yep. Converse? Check. She nodded at Natasha, and lifted up her own bag.
Deplaning didn't connect them to a terminal, but instead to a runway where the sun shone brightly over the concrete. Two sleek cars waited for them, a woman leaning against one and speaking to a tall, bald man in French. Audrey picked up their conversation, mostly just logistics and going over plans.
"Bonjour," Natasha greeted. "Agent Romanoff," she introduced. "This is Agent Barton, Agent Bishop, and Agent Carter."
"Hi," the woman greeted, smiling almost bashfully. "Delphine LaMontagne, it's nice to meet you." Her delicate French accent struck Audrey. Delphine was not what she expected. She did not seem strict or uptight, as Audrey had predicted. Instead, there was a gentleness and authenticity to her, from her soft brown eyes to her wavy hair to her slight smile. As Audrey took note of these things, two things occurred to her. The first was that Delphine was clearly a new agent to the field, but she must have been good if she was working a case this important. The second was that Delphine was strikingly beautiful.
Audrey was so lost in thought that she took a moment to notice that Delphine was offering her hand for Audrey to shake. "Oh, je suis tellement désolé!" she apologized, and then winced. She was usually good about keeping her languages apart. "I mean, I'm sorry." She reached for Delphine's hand and shook it, her calloused palm rough against Delphine's soft one.
"Votre français est bon," Delphine complimented.
"J'espere. Je parle depuis quinze ans," Audrey replied. Delphine dropped her hand and moved on to Kate.
The man took her place, standing in front of Audrey. He was gruff looking, wearing glasses and a suit. "Jaspar Montesquieu," he introduced simply. This was more the agent that Audrey expected.
Audrey shook his hand. "Audrey Carter."
After introductions had been made, and bags packed, the group separated. Jaspar took Clint and Natasha in one car while Delphine, Audrey, and Kate climbed into the other.
"You'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit starstruck," Delphine said as she started the engine. "You aren't what I expected from an Avenger."
Audrey raised a brow. "What did you expect?"
Delphine shrugged. "I guess I assumed you weren't so...personable. That you were more mythic than human." A beat passed as Audrey considered this. "Sorry," Delphine apologized.
"No, it's okay," Audrey assured her. "I understand."
"The other two are how I expected," Delphine admitted. "They're very uptight."
From the backseat, Kate snorted. "Clint's an absolute idiot," she commented.
Audrey wrenched around in her seat. "What?"
"I mean, he's very smart," Kate elaborated, not moving her gaze from the window. "But he's also kind of an idiot. So he's not as scary as you'd assume he is."
"What about Agent Romanoff?" Delphine asked.
"She's very scary," Kate said. "I think I know her better than I did at the beginning of training, but she's just as terrifying."
Audrey considered this, before nodding in agreement. It was true that she and Natasha were significantly closer now than they'd been in the Helicarrier back in May, but the hours of sparring and training only further demonstrated how lethal she was. She knew she'd managed to earn some of the assassin's trust over the last few months, but she hadn't entirely won her over.
It was only a short ride to the hotel, where Delphine pulled into the valet line and chirped something in French to the parking attendant. Before Audrey could decipher her words, they were being ushered into a service elevator.
"What did you tell him?" Audrey asked.
"We're special guests," Delphine explained simply. "Private elevator."
Of course, as soon as she said this, the elevator slowed to a stop. A pair of maids with their cart stepped into the elevator, forcing Audrey and Delphine to sidle up against the wall.
"Private elevator?" Audrey teased.
Delphine shrugged with a grin. "More or less."
They continued their ascent to the hotel's penthouse suite. The doors slid open and spat them out into a narrow corridor bordered by two walls, the elevator, and another door. Delphine scanned a key card and pushed the door open, revealing a massive suite. Two bedrooms were off to either side of the foyer. Further back was a state-of-the-art kitchen, and a dining room. Above them was an ornate chandelier with at least thirty bulbs.
"Jesus Christ," Audrey said. "This is a lot."
"This is just for Kate," Delphine said.
Audrey spun around. "How?" she asked Delphine, and then turned to Kate. "What are you going to use two bedrooms for?"
"My lovers," Kate replied coquettishly, winking at Audrey. The blonde rolled her eyes. She knew that Kate was rich, but this was extremely excessive. "It's just because it's only accessible through the elevator. Makes it easier to monitor," she admitted finally.
"Our rooms are a few floors down," Delphine told Audrey as Kate wandered around the suite, tossing her things on every piece of furniture she could fine. "Not quite as grandiose, but I'm sure they'll do."
"My apartment had a square footage of 100 until a few months ago, so I'm sure that'll be fine," Audrey said.
"What are we doing for the rest of the day?" Kate asked. "We have hours until the gala."
"Intel," Delphine responded. "Agents Barton and Romanoff are at DGSE headquarters learning more about the logistics of the mansion and how to scope it out. Agent Carter-"
"Audrey is fine," she interrupted before she could stop herself, hating the formality of how it sounded. "From you, it's fine."
Delphine flushed slightly. "Okay, um, Audrey and I need to be at the mansion at four to begin catering setup. You'll get there around seven, a little after the gala starts. Agents Barton and Romanoff will be stationed outside beginning at five, during the security shift change."
"Well, that's hours away," Kate commented airily, her voice echoing throughout the room from her spot in the kitchen. She appeared in the doorway holding a room service menu. "Brunch, anyone?"
a/n: Thank you all for being so patient with me with this chapter. Work and classes got me crazy busy, and I was going through some writer's block for how I wanted the chapter to go.
As always, your feedback and criticism means the world to me. If you're able, please leave a review on the way out.
review replies:
Purplestan: Thank you for the reviews! And yes I'm a big Darcy/Steve shipper. And yes I've decided to centralize the series to make it easier to keep track of :)
monkeybaby: thank you! and thank you for consistently reviewing it means a lot to me :)
Piper and Snippy: First of all, thank you so much for your review! It made me smile so hard. Natasha and Audrey training sessions will be frequent in upcoming chapters! And that's such a Nat thing to do, she's always making sure the team is never relaxed, lol. I'm so glad you enjoyed the Tony/Audrey scene! I have so many headcanons for those two. They were sneaking out to movies and experimenting with Tony's inventions around the house and scaring all of Howard's guests.
Emilia Christine: I'm so happy you enjoyed the end of Monachopsis! I'm probably gonna post a oneshot of their roadtrip at some point if I ever get around to it. I love writing the Natasha/Audrey training scenes so much, and this chapter was really fun for me to write so I'm glad you liked it too. Civil War is gonna hurt a lot lmao,,,,because Audrey is so close to Tony and Steve, it makes it almost impossible to pick a side, and even when she does, it breaks her heart. The compass is going to end up being very significant in the future if all goes to plan. Thank you so much for the review ahhh