Ruthless and Mockingbird

Hawkeye and Mockingbird entered the training room a few minutes later. They each had an arm around the other, their sides almost touching as they walked. Inside the room, Tony was standing in front of Thor, Bruce, Steve and Ruth like he was giving a speech. Which, as they thought about it, he probably was.

"Oh, how nice of you to join us," sassed Tony. He was dressed in a suit, obviously about to go somewhere after this. He glanced at them and then his eyes narrowed before he smirked. "You just had sex, didn't you?" All eyes turned to them and the couple could do nothing but stare back, feeling a little awkward.

Steve coughed uncomfortably, "You were talking about..."

"That can wait, Steve," said Ruth with a smirk on her face. She made a dramatic show of clearing her throat and turned her gaze to the couple, "Hey Bobbi, you... uh... got a little bit of..." she glanced at Steve, "Well, let's call it salad dressing on your cheek."
Bobbi's eyes got wide and she brought her hand to her face.

"Where?" When she felt nothing, her eyes narrowed and she scowled. "That's not fair."

"Are we done, ladies?" Tony spoke up. Ruth opened her mouth to say something else, but he stopped her, saying, "Ruth, don't tease Bobbi. At least she's eating salad." Ruth opened and closed her mouth, trying to retort, but could find nothing to say back. She turned to Steve, whose face was screwed up in confusion. Ruth shrugged and turned back to Tony, indicating for him to start.

"Okay, so for those of you who just joined us, we have a new threat," he said. "Thor, mind sharing with the class what we are up against?"

Thor nodded and stood up, looking around to the group before him. Bobbi took note of how attractive the Asgardian before her was. She always did have a thing for blondes. Clint turned to his wife, snapping her out of her dreamy state by pushing her gently to an empty chair. Bobbi gave her husband a sheepish smile as they sat.

Once all the attention was focused on him, Thor began his tale, explaining once again what everyone seemed to know. As he finish he looked around the table, gauging their responses. All of them, including the playful Ruth and the seemingly meek Bruce, all wore the same fierce look. It reminded the Asgardian of a band of warrior. But isn't that what they all were?

Finally Steve spoke, "What are his strengths and weaknesses?"

"His strengths are many," said Thor. "It is said that he exceeds in physical strength. As well, he is a skilled fighter. How powerful he actually is, I do not know."

"And weaknesses?" asked Bruce.

"As far as we know?" Thor asked rhetorically, "He doesn't seem to have any."

It was quiet for a second, then, "In that case," it was Cap that spoke up. "We need to be on the defense when he arrives. Gauge his response time and what he relies on most. He has to have a weakness, the only thing is: What would that weakness be?"

"If we knew what he was after, we could possibly solve that," said Ruth. Everyone turned to her, so she explained in more detail, "If he just wants to fight, or conquer the Earth, then we would focus on his ego. But this seems like something more than an ego trip. Will it turn out worse? I have no idea. All we could do is start preparing ourselves for everything until we know what we're up against."

"Exactly," said Tony. "Which is why we need to start training immediately."

**

The day following the meeting, Bobbi called Ruth down to the lab to take blood samples from her. The two women sat in silence as Bobbi pushed the needle under Ruth's skin, blood gathering in the vial attached.

"So you and Hawkeye, eh?" teased Ruth.

"Yeah," Bobbi smiled and swapped the now full vial for an empty one.

"Yeah?" asked Ruth. "That's all you have to say? Give me the juicy details."

"Okay," Bobbi laughed. "Well, it was an emotional few days for the both of us." Bobbi didn't want to get into their sob story because it would only bring the mood down, so she just left it at that. "When Clint came to see me the other day, I was a mess. He gave me what I needed."

"Looks like he gave it to you a couple of times," said Ruth.

"I meant that he made me feel better in a non-physical way. He comforted me and told me what I needed to hear. The sex came later," Bobbi said. She removed the needle from Ruth's arm and reached for the cotton ball to her left to stop the bleeding, but, when she looked back, the wound was completely healed. Mentally filing that information away for later, Bobbi turned her attention to the conversation.

Ruth nodded, "I'm truly happy for you. I didn't know Clint all that well before coming here, but I do know that he seems happier these past couple of days than I have seen him all year."

That seemed to bring Bobbi a deep sense of happiness. Her smile brightened excitedly, "Really?"

"Mhmm," said Ruth. "He would get a little mopey before when he thought no one was looking. It was kind of irritating. If I knew him well enough then, I would've kicked his ass."

"He was known to brood every once in a while," said Bobbi, smiling. Slowly, the smile died, and she looked down at her hands a moment before speaking. "I just really hope this lasts. I think it will, but there's always to possibility of something going wrong."

Ruth smiled and said "Which is why you should live day to day."

"Now you sound like Clint."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Ruth. "He's fun!"

"He certainly is," smiled Bobbi.

Ruth was quiet for a moment. Then, "Bobbi? Can I ask your advice?"

"Yeah, sure. What about?"

Ruth bit her lip and looked around real quick before practically whispering, "How can I get Captain Oblivious to notice me as more than just a friend?"

"You're asking me for relationship advice?" Bobbi seemed genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah," said Ruth. "Who else do I have to ask? Tony?"

"Well, I just mean, of all the people you know who are in stable relationships, you're asking me; a woman who just got back together with her estranged husband who she married after knowing for a week. I just think you could probably find someone more qualified than me to help you."

"You're a woman in a relationship with a man she loves that even after all y'all've been through, you still make it work," said Ruth.
"Well, when you put it like that.. alright, let's see. What have you tried so far?"

Ruth thought back, "Well, I've been doing subtle things like placing my hand on his upper arm when we talk, cuddling up next to him when we watch movies, stuff like that."

"Hmm.." Bobbi pressed her finger to her lips as she thought. "I think you're going to have to do something a little less subtle. Maybe wear something that'll get his attention, or kiss his cheek when you say hello or goodbye. You don't want to come off like a slut, but you want to let him know that you're open to a new kind of relationship."

Ruth nodded. They were both silent for a moment as Bobbi worked. The biologist began preparing for the biochemical analysis she would perform to determine any abnormalities in Ruth's blood sample. Most of them would take quite a while, so she didn't want to waste any time.

When there was a lull in Bobbi's activity, Ruth spoke up, "Do you think I should just back off? I mean, he did just get over Peggy, what if he is looking for a rebound right now? I don't want to be that kind of girl."

"Honestly, I don't think Steve is the type of guy who goes looking for rebounds. And you like him, so why not let him know it and see what he decides? He wouldn't go after you just to sleep with you and then drop you. I can see that he cares about you too much for that."

Ruth smiled and became a little antsy to hurry up and get back to Steve. It seemed like forever, but finally Mockingbird released her from the confines of the lab. Bobbi chuckled as she watched the young woman practically fly into the elevator, nearly running over Tony in the process.

Tony stared after Ruth as the doors closed on the eager girl. "I wonder where she could be going in such a hurry," Tony said sarcastically.

"Well, it's not like she has a crush or anything," Bobbi said with a sly look. "Especially one the entire house could see from space. What can I help you with?"

"I finished Ruth's implants," he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small box. "Want to take a look?"

Bobbi grabbed the box, pulling out the implants and setting the devices on the table. She did a quick mental check through to see it was up to par for Ruth's needs. Of course, what Bobbi saw was just what she should've expected: Tony had went above and beyond once again.

"So what's so special about these?"

"We'll be able to manipulate the level of sound that the implants allow her to hear, and they also double as comms," said Tony.

Bobbi spoke as she placed the implants back into the box, "Always out doing yourself, Stark."

"It's a blessing and a curse."

"I guess we should call Ruth back down," said Bobbi. She considered it for a moment. "On the other hand, she isn't in too great of a need for them yet, and I really don't want to deal with her if I interrupt her time with Steve."

"Can I ask you something?" Tony leaned against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Shoot, cowboy."

"Why do you care so much about Ruth?" he asked, "I get that you like her, but why are you trying so hard to help her?"

"Did you ever wonder why Fury asked me to join?" Bobbi asked.

"Out of everyone he could've picked, why me?" Tony shrugged, so she continued. "I was first brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. to work on rediscovering the serum used on Rogers. Fury figured I would be best when it came to the effects of the serum."

"What does that have to do with Ruth?"

"She was injected with a crude version of what Steve was injected with," Bobbi said simply. "Or so we believe. Ruth hasn't officially told anyone what happened to her during that mission."
Tony caught on to what she was saying, "So, you're feeling guilty because what you were working on was used to alter Ruth's genetics."

"That's the thing," Bobbi replied. "I don't know if it was exactly my formula or not. All I do know is that when I started working on it, it kicked off a craze. More and more people were trying once again to create the serum. I guess I feel guilty that I'm responsible in a roundabout way. In all honesty, I just feel bad that because of all this craze, Ruth had essentially been caught in the cross-fire. What about you, Stark?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you so interested in helping her?"

Tony just shrugged, "She's one of us now. It's the least I could do. Besides, I had nothing else interesting going on."

Bobbi nodded, "Well, should we take these to our favorite little patient?" She indicated to the implants. "If we're lucky, we'll get to see her flirt with Cap."