Ruthless and Mockingbird

Ruth Conners stood defiantly in front of the glaring, one-eyed, dark-skinned man.

"I'm not a babysitter, Director," said the young woman.

"I'm not asking you to babysit him, Agent," said the Director. "I'm not asking you to do anything. You are assigned to catch him up on the world that he missed and to help him acclimate to this new age. In return, he is assigned to help you with your new abilities."

Ruth huffed, "Sir, I can handle my abilities just fine! I'm ready to go back out on the field!"

The man, sat down abruptly, "Even if you felt like a million bucks, you still disobeyed direct orders and therefore are on suspension from field duty until further notice," Ruth started to speak, but the Director held up a hand. "There is no point in arguing Agent Conners. You are to report to the Avenger's Mansion in Manhattan at oh-nine-hundred hours, am I clear?"

Ruth mumble a barely audible, "Yes sir." and turned to leave back to her temporary room on the Helicarrier. She had only a half hour to collect her little bit of belongings and get out onto the flight deck to catch her ride.

Reaching her room, Ruth grimaced slightly as she saw the damage to her door frame. She still wasn't used to her new abilities and her new found strength had proved itself with the first door she opened by herself since the incident.

Well, second time it's proved itself really, as she destroyed her previous phone trying to send a text.

As she readied herself for the trip to Manhattan, she couldn't help but get angry at Nick Fury all over again. She was a highly qualified S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, not a nanny for hire! Why should she get stuck with babysitting Steve Rogers, when she could be out there saving people? A monkey could do what Fury had assigned her.

Granted, Ruth couldn't say she didn't exactly deserve punishment of some sort. As Fury said, she directly disobeyed his orders on her last mission, so he had every right to be angry with her. Ruth just hoped this whole teaching Captain America about the 21st century thing wouldn't take too long.

Sighing, she grabbed her now packed bag and made her way to her awaited flight, shoving on her sunglasses to stop the intensified glare of the sun and pushing in one of the ear plugs a bit deeper in her ear to stop the increased noise around her.

These heightened senses will be the death of her.

**

Ruth arrived at the mansion all too soon for her liking. She glared at the car as it made it's way away from her at the handsome bricked building. Finally, she mustered up her resentment and made her way up to the door.

Unsure of whether or not she should just walk in or what, Ruth raised a hesitant fist to the door. However, before she could knock, it swung open to reveal a man with dark hair and a goatee rolling his eyes at a beautiful strawberry-blonde woman who was nagging him.

"It was your idea, Tony. I'm not going to do all your work for you," she said as she placed her hand on her hips. "I did most of it already-" she stopped speaking when she noticed Ruth standing there.

Tony gave Ruth a questioning look before saying, "Who's the kid?"

"Agent Conners from S.H.I.E.L.D.," said Ruth, by way of greeting. "Director Fury sent me."

"Tell him, 'Thank you, but we already bought some girl scout cookies'," said Tony.

"Look, I don't really want to be here either, but I have orders to help Steve Rogers acclimate to modern society," said Ruth.

"What'd you do? Pick the short straw?" asked Tony, mocking smile on his face.

"I guess you could say that. Now may I please come in?"

"Let's see some identification first," he said. Ruth reached into her bag and pulled out her ID card to show him. He took it and pulled out what looked like a cell phone out of the pocket of his suit.

He scanned the ID and a moment later JARVIS said, "Identification is authentic. Conners, Ruth. Age: 24. Born to Jonathan and Maribeth Conners on April 1st 1988 in Austin, Texas. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. since May 3rd, 2008. Recently suspended for insubordination."

"Satisfied?" asked Ruth.

"Yeah, okay. Though I'd love to hear more about how you stuck it to Fury," said Tony.

"Maybe another time," she said as she walked passed the couple and into a beautiful room made of white marble. Ruth heard a quick but stern goodbye from the woman Tony was talking to before the door shut a little harshly behind her.

Tony soon appeared next to her, "So, ready to meet the Captain, or do you just plan on staring in awe at that wall?"

"Well, it is a very nice wall," Ruth spoke in mocked admiration. "Honestly, I, the greatest of all Wall Curators, do believe that this wall right here-not that one, but this one- is the greatest wall I have thus far laid eyes on."

Tony seemed to take a moment to appraise the wall, before he turned back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and said with a shrug, "I've seen better." before walking off toward one of the main staircases. When she didn't follow, he cast a brief look over his shoulder and said, "You coming or what?"

"You haven't really done anything to turn me on," Ruth shrugged nonchalantly. "But I'll follow you and see were it leads me and my sex drive down the road."

That made Tony smile. "I like you," he said, and continued up the stairs.

Ruth smiled, glad to find someone who appreciates her humor, and followed Tony closely.

As they walked, Ruth and Tony passed several beautiful works of art, from paintings to sculptures. They came across one hall that was lines with large renditions of the Avengers in their costumes. At the end of that hallway, above a set of wooden doors, was a portrait of Tony Stark with his eyebrow raised and wearing his trademark grin.

Ruth stared at the picture for a moment, "You know, I change my mind. That is the greatest wall I have ever seen."

"That's because it has my face on it."

"Oh, that's who it is? Looks nothing like you."

"You're right," said Tony as he appraised the painting. "The artist got my nose wrong. I'm much better looking in real life."

"And you do look a bit constipated," Ruth said. "Did you eat too much cheese that day?"

Before Tony could comment, an arrow whizzed by them and lodged itself into the painting, right between Stark's legs.

"CLINT!" shouted Tony. "We talked about this!"

A man with blonde hair dressed in Kevlar walked up to them, a bow across his back and a smile on his face. "Just trying to get your attention," he said.

"Ah, a familiar face," Ruth smiled at the new arrival. "How are you Clint?"

Hawkeye's eyes widened slightly as he realized who she was. "I'm good, Ruth. How're you? I hardly recognized you at first. Did you cut your hair or something?"

"Yeah, I got sick of it being so heavy, so I went with the whole layered look," she said, shrugging.

"It suits you," said Clint. "So, what're you doing here?"

"Teaching Captain America about Modern History," says Ruth. "And judging the walls with Tony. The usual."

"Well, I think my arrow just made this wall look a lot better," said Clint.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop damaging my property, Barton," said Tony. "Only I'm allowed to do that."

"Yes, sir," said Clint, but he was still smiling.

Ruth looked between the two, "Alright, love birds, stop staring dreamily into each others eyes and show me to my room."

"Wait a minute," Tony spoke up. "Who said you are staying here?"

"Tony! You would leave a poor, defenseless Texas girl all alone in a big bad city?" Ruth faked gasped.

"You're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. You're hardly defenseless," was Tony's reply. "But if you're that frightened of the big bad city, then maybe I'll have you bunk with your pupil. His balls are as blue as the top left corner of the American flag."

"That sounds nice and all, but I prefer a room to myself thanks."

"If you insist," he said. "Poor Cap probably doesn't know where to put it, anyway."

"I don't know how to put what where?" came a voice from behind them. They all turned around and saw Steve Rogers standing there with a confused look on his face.

"Don't worry about it, buddy," Tony clapped Steve on the back.

Ruth looked at the man before her. He was tall, strong build with a square jaw. His blue eyes shined with kindness and his blonde hair was swept up neatly atop his head. Over all, he was the poster boy for the All-American Pretty Boy. Ruth couldn't see why he would have a problem with blue balls.

Steve finally took notice of the new arrival. "Hello, ma'am, I'm Captain Steve Rogers."

"Agent Ruth Conners of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said, accepting his out stretched hand. "And if you are going to use formalities to address me, I prefer 'miss'. I'm still much too young to be called 'ma'am'. I'm here to help you understand this crazy world we live in."

"Of course, miss," said Steve. "Yes, Director Fury told me about your case. I wasn't expecting you for another hour or so..." He glanced down at his watch. "You're forty-five minutes early."

Ruth gave him a questioning look, before saying, "I was told to be here at nine."

"Exactly, it's 8:15."

"I thought they had Daylight Savings Time in the 1940's," Ruth said to Tony. "Was I wrong?" Steve groaned and began messing with his watch.

"Right, now that we've got that taken care of, you two go do whatever it is you do while I show Agent Conners to her room," said Tony.

The two blonde men dispersed and Tony pressed a button on the wall. The two wooden doors parted and the stainless steel interior of an elevator was revealed. They stepped inside and up they went to the third floor.

A few turns down the corridors and they were at her door. Tony left and told her he'd be in touch, but had meetings to go to, so she'd be free to do whatever she was supposed to. Dinner would be served at 6pm and he may or may not be there.

"What do I do if I get lost? In case you didn't notice, this place is huge," said Ruth.

Tony shrugged, "Don't wander off." And then he turned around and left the way they'd arrived.