A/N: Hello, everyone! So, ten days left of summer, and I haven't written this story at all. Very sorry about that... but to be honest, I've sort of lost interest in this, especially because it doesn't fit at all with Avengers 2 anymore.
Can anyone give me encouragement? Please? Pretty please?
I trudge wearily to the room, where we will apparently be getting a debriefing (and hopefully an explanation for their lax security). I am curious, but I feel the urgent need to go to my nice, comfortable bed and pass out in the form of sleeping. Nevertheless, I arrive with the rest and we are seated.
The meeting begins with the bureaucratic list of the damage done, which inventory includes humans, primarily on the enemy's side, just like any other noun in the dictionary. I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not, I tell myself. I contributed to that list, after all.
"So enough with this crap. Tell me how you allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. to be infiltrated so easily." Tony interrupts. "I'll have to give it to you, you have done an impossible achievement by being hacked with my equipment." That wakes me up quite thoroughly. Fury glares back.
"In fact, they found it quite easy. Perhaps you should consider updating your technology," Fury replies in an extremely sarcastic tone.
"Stop scapegoating me. It's your fault and you know it."
The discussion is escalating and I don't like it. This is exactly the same as the last meeting they had, and that ended in near catastrophe. And I'm tired of waiting in the sidelines, assuming that they'll take care of everything. Because evidently, they won't. And besides, who knows how else that chemical has affected their brains. It's probably still in their bodies. I glance at Barton, to see what he thinks of this situation, but he's looking elsewhere and seems lost in his thoughts. Looks like it's up to me.
"So, I'm sorry to interrupt, but could someone please explain to me one major discrepancy with this whole thing?" The spotlight is on me now, and they look at me with questioning looks. "If this guy's plan was to brainwash everyone the first time he infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., why would he make customized traps like this for the second time round?"
There's a brief pause, with no one willing to respond with the obvious answer: "We don't know". It's not easy to admit lack of knowledge, but I expected better from one of the world's most important organizations. Regardless, I've fulfilled my duty, as the discussion takes a rather abrupt turn to the chronological order of events after the first explosion.
I'm glad that Barton talks for the debriefing, allowing me to space out. His summary is soon followed by the rest's, and the only words that I hear are the repetition of dead, dead, dead. The rhythmic intoning makes the world fade. Perhaps I'll just close my eyes for a second, to rest. They won't notice.
X
Rogers stops speaking because of the small thud. With one accord, they look at Elizabeth, her head resting on her folded arms and her deep breathing treading the line of light snoring. Fury looks with unconcealed annoyance at this interruption. "She must be tired," Rogers says as way of a partial apology.
The agent next to her, nervously watching the others' reactions, tries to wake her up by nudging her knee, but is unsuccessful. "We'll continue this later. Dismissed," Fury says, finally giving up.
The agents scuttle out of the room, ready to tidy up the mess made by the attack. Rogers ponders on Elizabeth's last question. The man should have assumed that his first attack would work, since he didn't know of Elizabeth's existence. The fact that he planned a second, perhaps even more elaborate, plan as a back-up does more than just concern him. And looking back on both attacks, they were customized to the last detail. In order to have planned this, the man must have had information. But information from where? He knows he has struck an important point, but his thoughts are broken when he looks at Elizabeth's slumped posture.
He sighs at her slight figure, her jet black hair that starkly contrasts with her pale complexion, and her thin face that shows all signs of youth. She shouldn't be involved in this, he thinks. But then again, in an ideal world, none of them would have to deal with a problem like this. This is far from a utopia. Unfortunate, because that was what he had been fighting for all those years ago: a brighter future. To think of all that for nothing.
Tony comes up behind her and shakes her shoulder, harder and harder as she refuses to stir. In a brief moment of worry, he checks to see if she's breathing, and when he confirms that she's alive, let's her go in exasperation. He strides towards the table holding all the international publications and picks the top one up. He rolls it absentmindedly and with a large swing whacks it on her head. Elizabeth makes an unintelligible sound and turns her head, only to fall back asleep.
"Be gentle," Thor says, reprimanding Tom's gruff movements.
"She's not waking up," Tony says as an excuse, shrugging it off.
"Might as well let her rest then. She deserves it," Rogers says. "We should get her to her room." He looks at Barton questioningly, who has been starting unfocused towards the distance. Barton senses the stare and brings himself back to reality.
"I just met her today, too," Barton says as an answer to the unsaid question. He doesn't want to explicitly state the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't always tell him everything, unlike what they think. That would be exposing himself too much. He feels a slight distance between the rest of the team, probably because the first time they met, he was the one behind the attack. This whole repeat isn't good for his nerves, to say the least. He knows the others are remembering his role in the last attack too. He just knows it.
"Her room is right around the corner," Tony says, having looked into the more (confidential) files and having found what he was looking for. He heaves her onto her feet and, supporting her by the arms, half carries, half drags her outside. Rogers and Barton look silently on, considering helping but too absorbed in their thoughts. By the time they decide to act, they are the only ones left in the room. They glance at each other, seeing the other wanting to be undisturbed. Rogers is the first to break the silence.
"Good work today," he says, somewhat awkwardly, but this is hidden by his confident tone of voice. He walks outside the door, deciding to take a walk to clear his head. Barton immediately gets up and goes to the infirmary.
He opens the door to Romanoff's room. She's still unconscious and, to his slight disappointment, tied up. Not that it surprises him, of course, but nevertheless... He takes a seat next to her and fiddles with his bow, repairing its slight damages. He checks his watch every couple of minutes. If he didn't knock her out too hard, she should regain consciousness soon. He's right, because it's not long before she wakes up.
She opens her eyes and allows herself a moment of daze before bolting upright. She must be tougher than he is, he thinks, because he remembers feeling nausea and dizziness the minute he regained consciousness. After double-checking her eyes, he begins to untie her hands, but she stops him. "You're luckier than I am," he says, avoiding looking at her. "You didn't kill anyone."
She relaxes ever so slightly after that, and he undoes her bounds. "Fair enough," she says. "I have more red in my ledger." She stares unfocused at the wall and rubs her temples ever so slightly. "You'd think it would be easier the second time round," she mutters. He leaves her to mull over a bit, because he remembers all those talks and consolations just driving the point home that he did do something wrong.
"He got me as soon as I got to the fourth floor," she says, breaking the silence. "He was waiting for me. I didn't have time to do anything before..." she trails off, knowing that he knows what she's going to say anyway. "I should have known it was a trap. It was too obvious."
"I figured it out. Guess that means I'm sharper than you," he says, trying to lighten the mood.
She grants him one of her friendlier expressions - the ones she does without really smiling - and leaves the room, saying she needs to report to Fen. He lets her, because he wants to be alone too.
What have they got themselves into.