Caitlin and Rebecca Brown stood attentively in the sparsely furnished office. They tried very hard to avoid the scowling gaze of the tall and imposing man who was pacing behind his desk, but it was rather difficult to do so. Both had agreed privately that sometimes that eyepatch had a presence all of its own.

"I consider myself to be a reasonable man," Fury began, his sonorous voice deceptively mild. "Overlooked the little prank on War Machine, fact is I thought the whole 'Grumpyman' thing was pretty damn funny."

"Thank you, sir," Caitlin smirked.

Fury rounded the desk and stopped in front of the small brunette, levelling his intimidating gaze upon her. "Did I say you could talk yet, Brown?" he growled dangerously.

"No, sir," she gulped.

He resumed his pacing, but this time roamed the circumference of the room. "Then there was the food fight with Barton. I don't even want to know how you roped Wilson and Romanov into participating. Made a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility look like a high school, but fine, letting off a little steam can be a good thing."

Rebecca firmly clamped down on the urge to smile at the memory. It was the first time she'd ever outright laughed, thoroughly embracing the ridiculousness of the moment as she flung handfuls of mashed potatoes at Sam and dodged incoming hamburger casserole.

"And your little escape from the helicarrier? I had to do quite the tap dance to cover the pair of your asses on that, but I did it. Even got all the charges dropped eventually. See what a reasonable man I am?"

Fury had stopped again in front of Caitlin, who looked up at him fearfully. "Should I answer that, sir?" she squeaked.

"No, Brown, I'm being rhetorical," he replied grimly as he resumed his movements. "Now then, when you asked to be allowed back to the facility on occasion, I figured why not, you were decent kids, added value to the team even if you weren't members."

He stopped behind the two petite girls, looming over their shoulders. "But this latest stunt?" he whispered. "It crossed the line."

Caitlin opened her mouth again, which caused Rebecca to involuntarily wince. "Sir, I-"

"Brown?"

"Sir?"

"Shut. Up."

"Yessir."

Fury walked back around to his desk, pulling an object out of his drawer and flinging it down on the surface. It was an eyepatch, identical to the one he was now wearing except for the simple fact that it had been altered. Instead of a smooth black leather surface, there was now painted a rather angry-looking eye.

"Did you really think that was the only eyepatch I owned?" he asked Caitlin.

The brunette kept her mouth closed for a change, much to Rebecca's relief.

"Now then, I do not want to hear of any more pranks, no more shenanigans. Am I clear?"

Both of the girls nodded quickly.

"Dismissed."

Rebecca barely beat her sister to the door, yanking it open in her relief, with Caitlin right on her heels.

"Well," Caitlin commented quietly. "That went well."

"About as expected, yes," Rebecca replied.

"I still think you did a great painting job. Very talented."

"Why thank you, Caitlin."

"When do you think he'll notice the hack that Kitty put into the system?"

"I believe when he goes to check his email. Likely as soon as we left his office."

"Hmm. We should go pack now and head out, then."

"Yes we should."

They were just leaving the outer gates of the grounds when Caitlin's phone rang. Much to her relief it was Barton and not Fury.

"Hey, Clint!" she answered the phone cheerfully, holding it away from her ear so that Rebecca might hear. There was no need to put it on speaker with their enhanced hearing.

"Cat," her friend said, laughter lacing his words. "Do you have any idea why Fury's browser is only showing things in pirate-speak?"

"Um, I dunno Clint," she grinned. "Is it Talk Like A Pirate Day already?"

"No, Cat, it isn't," he chuckled.

"Well, you know me, Clint, I'm horrible with computers, wouldn't even know how to do that."

"Uh-huh. And what about your sister?"

"Nah, that's pretty advanced even for Becca."

"Right. You know Fury ain't gonna buy that, especially after the chewing out he just gave you?"

"That's why we're on the road already, Clint. See ya in another month or so!"

"Right, Cat, try and keep out of trouble."

"Hey, it's me!"

She ended the call with a grin and slipped the phone back inside her pocket.

"How long do you think it will take Fury to cool off?" the brunette giggled.

"I imagine quite some time," her redheaded sister replied with a small grin.

Caitlin nodded thoughtfully. "Better make it two months, then."

"Agreeable."

They continued down the country road, enjoying the cool Spring air.

"Teach him to come back from the dead and not tell me," Caitlin snickered to herself.