Sorry it took so long to upload! I meant to have it up a week after the last chapter, but I wanted to make sure I had something worth posting.

School is done, so I'll have more time to write. Chapter 3 should be up much quicker than this one.

Agent Cross,

Due to your new temper and worrying views of the Avengers, my superiors have been urging me to fire you. I've held them off as best I could, but you know how persistent they are. Not only do I consider you a friend, but your skills with technology are impeccable and you're by far the best gunman and interrogator in the CIA.

For these reasons, I encourage you to resign for the time being. The CIA needs your skills once everything in your life settles out. It would be much easier to rejoin after a resignation rather than a termination. Not to mention, it would pain me to fire you.

I implore you, follow my advice.

William Cross, an older man who had more gray hair than brown, set the letter back on his desk before walking to the other side of his apartment. Taking a seat in his red recliner, he allowed his rage to fester.

That letter had been sent to him two and a half years ago. He had brushed it off, thinking that the sender-whose name he refused to say-wouldn't dare give in to the demands of his superiors. A month later, he was greeted by a pink slip on his desk.

What happened next was a blur. He remembered yelling at all of his superiors and desperately refraining from punching anyone, but he didn't remember whatever happened specifically that had caused him to be escorted out of the building. Everything from his desk, including the pink slip, was sent to his home. That piece of paper had since been ripped to shreds and sprinkled in to flames.

Cross kept the letter he just read as a reminder as to who had wronged him and why. He knew he had always been easy to irritate since the accident, but it hadn't had any effect on his job that Cross had noticed. His colleagues had adjusted to his behavior in a matter of weeks. It was his lack of trust in superheroes that caused everyone to shun him.

Even before the Avengers formed, Cross didn't trust any form of superhuman. And while members like the Falcon, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Hawkeye didn't have any enhancements or supernatural abilities, they were powerful and now had allies with actual powers. If they wanted to, the Avengers could destroy governments, enslave humanity, and they have already caused collateral damage to major cities. He seemed to be the only one who understood the risk of their existence.

He shared his views with the wrong agent and was reported. S.H.I.E.L.D. had just fallen at the time, and the CIA was trying to weed out any possible HYDRA member or sympathizer. While Cross didn't support HYDRA's ideals in any way shape or form, his opinion alone was enough to cause trouble.

That was the true reason as to why he was thrown out. He knew that. His 'friend' knew that. Everyone knew that.

Sighing, he grabbed the remote next to him and turned on the tiny TV in front of him. The interview with Secretary Ross he had planned to see had already started. Even with the bad definition, Cross could see Ross' supposedly calm demeanor as he sat across from the reporter. With years of interrogations under his belt, Cross could see his true emotions. Annoyance, worry, and anger were the first three that came to his mind.

Not wanting to turn up the volume and annoy his neighbors, Cross adjusted the dial on the hearing aid in his left ear.

"Of course we immediately suspected the remaining Avengers to know," said Ross, "but after some polygraph tests, we now realize that they are just as clueless as us."

Cross chuckled at that. Lie detector tests were highly unreliable. He's seen multiple people trick them by either taking a relaxant or simply staying calm enough that their heart rate didn't get too high.

"What about King T'Challa?" asked the reporter.

"We have no reason to believe he knows where they are. Even if we did, it'd be foolish to try and interrogate someone with his kind of power."

"And the Spider-Man?"

Ross rolled his eyes, "Would be a waste of time. No evidence suggests that he would know where to find any of them."

"If you had to guess, where is the most likely place where we can find Captain America and the others?"

"Information we do find that suggest their whereabouts is classified."

The secretary fidgeted with his hands for only a split second, but it was enough for Cross to tell that he was lying. The US government had no information.

Cross could already tell that this interview had nothing useful for him and he switched off the TV. It was apparent that he knew nothing more than Cross did. Maybe even less. Nothing had gotten done in the past few months.

He decided a long time ago that if the CIA wasn't going to handle things accordingly, he'd have to do it himself.

Back at the Bartons' farm, the remaining family members were sitting around the table. Laura fed the last of the baby food from the jar to Nathaniel, finally allowing her to focus on her own meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

"I'm done!" Lila announced as she tried to get off the chair.

Laura looked at her daughter's plate. "I still see some green beans."

"I had one," she responded.

"And do you think one green bean is going to make you big and strong?"

Lila sighed as she picked her fork back up. "No."

Laura smiled. "You'll thank me someday."

Lila stabbed a green bean with a fork. She stared at it in absolute disgust before biting it. Once she had stopped dramatically cringing, she looked over at Cooper. "How come he's not eating anything?"

Laura looked across the table to see that she was right. Cooper hadn't bitten into any of his food. He was simply moving the chicken pieces around the plate with his fork.

"Cooper?" she said, "Aren't you hungry?"

He set his fork down, but didn't look up from his food, "Not really."

She couldn't deny that Cooper had been acting strangely since Clint left. In fact, she had fully expected negative reactions from her children. Cooper had gotten even quieter than usual, refused to participate in his sister's games, and was overall isolating himself to the point where it was unhealthy. However, he had never lost his appetite in the past two months. "Are you alright, Sweetie?"

"I'm fine. Just tired."

Cooper may have always been a more private person, but Laura knew him well enough to know when he was lying. "Does it have to do with Dad?"

Cooper shook his head, but she didn't miss the split second when he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He picked his fork back up and ate a piece of chicken, as if to ensure her that nothing was wrong. Laura didn't buy it.

"When will we get to talk to him again?" asked Lila.

Laura turned back to her. "Whenever Fury can set up another time for us."

"I hope it's soon," Lila said before eating another green bean. She grimaced at the taste, but chewed anyway. "I miss him."

Laura nodded. "We all do, Sweetheart. And I'm sure he misses us just as much."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cooper tentatively taking another bite of chicken. Worry overcame her. She knew she had to try something.

"I'm sure skipping green beans once wouldn't hurt," said Laura, "Why don't you go ahead and go play?"

Lila didn't waste time in getting out of her seat and out of the kitchen. Laura sighed as she looked at Cooper. He was giving no indication that he knew Lila left. Rather, he just kept looking at his plate as if lost in his own little world.

"You don't have to hide anything from me, Cooper."

Finally, he looked up at her. "I'm not."

"Sweetheart, I've known you your whole life. Don't you think I'd know if something was wrong?"

He didn't answer her. Instead, he set his fork down and leaned back in his chair.

"I know it's frustrating when your dad leaves. Sadly, it's just something he has to do when the world needs him. I realize this time is different because he's on the run, but we need to have faith that he'll come back to us. Until then, we'll just have to keep our chins up and continue our lives here. We can do that for Dad, can't we?"

"I'm fine, Mom, really. I mean I miss him, but it's not anything new, right?"

"Cooper..."

He continued, "Don't you remember how whenever he'd come back home it'd be Lila jumping in his arms while I just said hi?"

"But you'd be smiling and hugging him too."

"I can't exactly hug him through the screen." Well he's still got the smart mouth and sarcasm he inherited from Clint. So Cooper hadn't completely changed.

"I want you to talk to him more. You were giving him the cold shoulder today and I want you to actually enjoy his company next time. He wants nothing more than to be a part of your life. You know that, right?"

Cooper seemed to be deep in thought, giving Laura hope that she had gotten through to him. That hope was dashed a second later. "May I be excused?"

She sighed in defeat, but smiled anyway. "If you're not hungry. Just put your food in the fridge so you can eat it later."

He quickly followed her instructions and went upstairs. He was going to his room, no doubt. Cooper had spent a lot of time up there recently. Another factor that caused Laura to worry about him.

Clint couldn't return soon enough. Every time he had left, it was like he was taking a piece of her with him. It left her feeling partially hurt and empty. This time, however, his absence was more painful. He was a wanted man in almost every country in the world. Suddenly, thousands of people rather than a handful of villains wanted to take him away from her and their children.

Thankfully, most of the world doesn't know about their marriage and family, so no one tried to investigate the farm... yet. Laura didn't think Cooper and Lila would handle a bunch of police officers swarming their home very well.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Nathaniel giggling. Apparently, she had missed the baby food that spilled on the plastic surface of his high chair, and now he was wiping it all over with his hands.

At least he was too little and innocent to understand what was going on. Laura tried to focus on that aspect as she ate.

In the comics, Cross actually quits the CIA (depending on the version, he either quits normally or fakes his death and frames it on his fiance), but I figured having him fired would add some more frustration to his character.

We'll be back with Team Cap in the next chapter! And I promise it will be longer!