Ruthless and Mockingbird

A few days later, Ruth sat on a stool in the lab in the early morning hours of the day. At least eleven in the morning was early for the young woman whose job mainly had her working at night. She listened to the soft murmurs of Bobbi Morse and Tony Stark with her eyes closed and her head resting on her crossed arms atop the table. She was still wondering why she needed to be down here in the laboratory as opposed to up in her warm, comfortable bed.

While Ruth rested, however, Bobbi and Tony worked away at finishing the final touches on Ruth's contacts. Well, honestly, Tony was working while Bobbi 'supervised'. After a few minutes more of this, Tony finally snapped.

"You know, not all beautiful people are stupid," said Tony. "I actually know what I'm doing."

"Sorry," Bobbi said, holding her hands up defensively. "Just trying to help."

Tony turned to her, "It's funny, 'cause you're not."

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him and tapped on Ruth's shoulder. "Wake up, sleepy head. They're almost ready."

"Five more minutes," moaned Ruth.

"One," said Tony. "I'll be done with them then."

True to his word, Tony was finished in about sixty seconds. He handed Ruth the contacts with a solution Bobbi created that wouldn't interfere with the lenses. He then gave her a black wrist guard that had buttons on it.

"Put them in like you would any normal pair and we'll see how they work," said Tony.

"What's with the wrist guard?" asked Ruth as she removed her sunglasses, wincing at the sudden light.

"The wrist guard acts as a remote and a mouse to the contacts," Tony replied.

"Wait... what?" she asked as she placed the second contact on her eye. Blinking a couple times,
she sighed when she realized that she was finally able to see without the glare that even her sunglasses couldn't fully keep out.

She gave a look around the room and was shocked to find how advanced her sight had become. Ruth always had great vision, but with the aid of the contacts, Ruth noticed that everything
seemed... clear. As if her entire life was spent looking through the bottom of a bottle.

Tony's voice broke her revelation, "I placed a tiny computer in the lenses. You can communicate with any one of us through it, obtain information, and other cool, high tech shit that your simple mind can't comprehend."

Ruth narrowed her eyes at the comment, but said, "Much like your suit?" as she placed the wrist guard on. Looking down upon it, she furrowed her eyebrows at all the buttons. "So are you going to show me how to use this?"

Tony smirked and flicked a tiny switch on the wrist guard. Suddenly Ruth began seeing a loading bar in her right eye. After only a couple seconds the bar vanished and was replaced with the words 'WELCOME, RUTHLESS'. JARVIS' voice was immediately heard throughout the room,

"Syncing is complete, sir."

"What the hell?" Ruth said, a little shocked. "This is brilliant! How do I work it? Can I access YouTube? And 'Ruthless'? Honestly?"

"Every superhero needs a name," said Tony. "No YouTube, sorry. The computer part of them is strictly for Avengers business."

"Avengers?" Ruth looked at Tony curiously. "But I'm not part of the Initiative..."

"Not officially," said Tony. "Not yet anyways. Do you really think that even Fury will keep someone with your abilities off the team? Yeah, no."

"Who said I wanted to be an Avenger, anyways?" said Ruth. "I bet y'all have some weird initiation or something."

"We were thinking for yours you'll have to do your patriotic duty and show Old Glory what Rosie the Riveter can really do..." Ruth raised an eyebrow at Tony's pause and he smirked. "...in bed."

Bobbi began laughing while Ruth kept her eyebrow at attention. She prayed that the blush on her cheeks wasn't too noticeable, but the reddened skin had Tony and Bobbi mocking her for have a 'crush of Uncle Sam'.

"Yeah, alright," said Ruth. "Very funny, laugh it up. Great joke, Tony."

Tony stopped laughing at her sarcasm and became serious, "I'm not joking. Do you really think those contacts are free?"

Ruth was about to retort but just then, Clint walked through the door, his usual smile back on his face. "Hey, guys. Thought I'd stop by and see how the whole high-tech contact lenses thing was going." Though he addressed the three of them, his eyes were on Bobbi. He moved to stand beside her.

"It's going well," Bobbi smiled up at him. "We were just going to show Ruth how to use them."
Clint turned to Ruth, "How do you like them?" Ruth smiled at him briefly, before continuing to press the buttons on her wrist guard. "I guess that means she loves them," he turned to Bobbi, "The contacts were a great idea, Birdie."

"Uhm, hi," said Tony, sounding a bit offended, "I'm the guy who actually created them, and I made them much more efficient." Clint gave Tony a curious look. How could he have made them better? Clint expressed the confusion aloud.

"Not only are they able to filter light according to the amount in the surrounding area, but they're also similar to the screen in front of Tony's eyes in his Iron Man suit. Basically, we'll be able to communicate with her via text that will show up in her field of vision. She'll also be able to control the computer with her wrist guard," said Bobbi, a satisfied smile on her face.

"You are amazing, Birdie," he said with a smile. Tony was about to argue, but Ruth dragged his attention back to her and her knew toy, giving Bobbi and Clint some space.

Bobbi actually blushed a little at the compliment, "Thanks, Hawk."

Clint shrugged, running his fingers through his hair. He gave her a smile, and asked, "I was wondering if you would like to go get some lunch with me. I found this cafe that I think you would love..."

"Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Barton?" Bobbi's eyes widened in feigned surprise.

"Only if you say yes, Mrs. Barton," Clint's eyes got wide after he spoke, shocked at himself that he would call her that.

Instead of hitting him or something of that sort, she laughed and said, "I thought we were going to be just friends for a while."

Clint smiled, "Well, we have already been friends longer now than before we got married." Bobbi gave him a look and Clint threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright! Would you like to join me for lunch as a friend?"

"Yes, I would," she nodded, smiling at his frustration. "Meet me in the main hall at.." she looked at her watch. "One-thirty?"

Clint nodded and turned toward the elevator. As he pressed the button, he called out, "It's a date!" Bobbi opened her mouth to retort, but Clint had already stepped into the elevator and the doors were closing.

"Hold the door, Hawkeye!" Ruth called out as she jumped out of her seat. Clint placed a firm hand on one of the doors and they parted once more. Ruth turned and gave Tony a hug (in which he stood stiff and uncomfortable) before moving to Bobbi and doing the same. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this guys! But I need to get back to Steve so we can go over the 1970's some more. See you at dinner!"

With that Ruth made her way into the metal box with Clint and the two began their journey; one to the study, the other to the archery range.

Bobbi turned to a smirking Tony. "What's that shit-eating grin for, Stark?" Tony just shrugged and turned to another project, leaving Bobbi with her thoughts.

**

Steve sat in the study going over some notes that Ruth had given him for their lesson today. In all honesty, Steve had read up well ahead on today's decade, but the thought of Ruth leaving bothered him for some reason, so he played dumb during their lessons, having her go through the material over and over again. It was all he had left, it seemed, as her own training was proving easy. Just last night, Steve and Bobbi had officially decided that after several days without incident Ruth had mastered her strength.

And now she was in the lab to test her new contacts.

Steve shook out these thoughts and began to focus back on the papers, but the young tutor kept popping up in his mind. The doors burst open suddenly and the woman on his mind strolled in, and he was shocked to see that she was missing her sunglasses.

"Notice anything different about me?" she asked, a bright smile on her face.

Steve stared for a moment. She had brown, almond-shaped eyes, like chocolate, with long lashes. It was then that he realized that the only time he had seen her without her lenses was when she had her eyes squinted nearly shut.

"Your eyes are brown," he stated simply.

"Well, that's not exactly different, but I don't have to hide them behind dark sunglasses anymore," she said, still obviously excited about her new contacts.

"Well, they're beautiful," he replies, blushing slightly.

Ruth's cheeks tinted a light pink, "You know why they're brown? 'Cause I'm the shit."

Steve opened his mouth to respond, but he wasn't sure what exactly to say to her conclusion. Instead, he says, "So they work fine then? The contacts I mean."

"Better than fine," she said, jumping onto the couch to land in a seating position. "Tony put a computer into them so they can do all this cool stuff. It'll take a bit to get used to the controls, but that's okay."

"I'm glad," he said. "So other than your eyes, how was your morning?"

"Interesting. I saw Clint and Bobbi flirting with each other while Tony was teaching me how to work this thing," she raised her arm which had the wrist guard on it.

"Bobbi and Clint were doing what?"

"You heard me! They were making googly eyes at each other and he asked her out to lunch."

"Did she accept?" asked Steve.

"Yeah, she did. They're going as friends. Who are they kidding?" she made air quotes with her fingers around the word 'friends'.

"Good for them, then," Steve replied. "I hope they work it out." Steve thought of something then: He had very little knowledge of the girl next to him. Did she have a lover back in Austin? In fact, he had no idea what her life was like before she stepped into the mansion. Not wanting to lead directly into her love life, Steve asked simply, "What was your life like, before S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Ruth paused to think before speaking, "Well, I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. My dad was in the FBI, which is how I met Nick Fury and ended up getting my job, so I've got him to thank for that. Before S.H.I.E.L.D. though, I studied Criminal Justice at the University of Texas," Ruth's heart clenched in her chest. She didn't realize how much she missed Austin and her family.

"Did you have any friends? Boyfriends?"

"Of course I did!" said Ruth with fake astonishment. "My friends and I used to always go to Book People to grab some lavender lemonade from the cafe. I met my first and only boyfriend there, Jason Rivers. His family lived a bit more South, just passed San Marcos. I used to go tubing down the river every weekend with him and his friends."

Steve, who felt his stomach drop at the thought of this Jason, merely said, "Oh, what happened with him?"

"I didn't have a lot of spare time, between taking college courses and training to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Plus the fact that I couldn't exactly tell him I was working with a secret government agency forced me to lie about why I couldn't hang out with him. Eventually, he just got fed up with it and broke up with me."

"Do... do you still love him?"

"Not anymore, no. If I ever even did, it faded after a month," she said, and thought back on the time she spent with Jason. "I guess I loved him, yeah, but I wasn't in love with him. There's a big difference.

"Since we're talking about personal shit... Have you ever been in love?"

A strong-willed, intelligent, brunette woman popped into Steve's mind, and he got somber. After a moment, he said, "Yeah... once. But that was seventy years ago."

"What was her name?"

"Peggy," said Steve. "Peggy Carter."

"What happened?" she asked, by instantly chided herself. Of course she knew what happened;
Cap got frozen saving the world from Red Skull. "I mean, how did you two meet?"

The Captain sighed, not really wanting to talk about it. However, if he was to tell anyone it would be the woman next to him anyways. Finally, he spoke, "I met her during basic. She was a Brit assigned to work on Project: Super Solider. She believed in me when no one else did, which encouraged me to break away from the stage and fight for my country like I was meant to do. The last time I saw her, she kissed me before I jumped onto the plane that I later crashed. In fact, she was the person I talked too as it was going down. I promised to take her dancing."

He took a breath, and turned towards the woman next to him. "And that's my story."

"I'm sorry," she said, and placed her hand on his arm comfortingly.

"I just... I wish I could find her," he said. "I-I need closure."

"Then I'll help you get it," she said. "No matter what it takes."

"Thank you, Ruthie," he said with a pained smile. "That would mean a lot to me."

"Hey, that's what friends are for."

Steve felt a pang in his chest at the word 'friends', yet he smiled in appreciation all the same, and the two began the lesson.

**

At one-thirty on the dot, Bobbi met Clint in the main hall. He was sitting on the bottom step of the grand staircase, his knee bouncing anxiously.

"You ready to go?" Clint asked, looking up at Bobbi.

"Mhmm," she said and he stood up. The two started walking for the door, Clint fighting the instinct to grab her hand or drape his arm across her shoulders like he used to. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he smiled.

They hailed a cab and climbed into the backseat. Clint leaned toward the driver and said,

"Lexington and 62nd."

Soon they were let out and Clint lead the way up the block to a French restaurant on the corner
called Mon Petit Café. True to its name, it was small. Inside, the lighting was somewhat dim, the tables very close together in the cramped room. The atmosphere was cozy and authentic. They were seated near the window with a view of the street they'd just walked down.
Bobbi leaned forward, a somewhat disapproving look on her face, "This is not a just friends place."

"Sure it is!" he said, smiling at the face she was giving him. "Look over there, at that table. Those guys are just friends." The table he pointed out had four men sitting at it, each of them talking quietly with each other. Just then though, one of them leaned over to kiss the man to his right.

"See!" she said in a hushed voice, so as to not draw unwanted attention to herself.

Clint shrugged, "Maybe he lost a bet."

Bobbi opened her mouth to speak, but their waiter came to their table asking for their drink orders. They both were fine with water, so he left to give the two of them more time to look over the menu.

Clint spoke up, "I'm not even sure what half of these things are..."

"You'll have the Steak Haché au Fromage ou à Cheval ou Rossini," she said. This was not the first time she had ordered for Clint. When they'd first met, he would usually stick with the simple things when it came to food, but Bobbi had somewhat more refined tastes. She knew what he liked though, so she was able to pick something he'd eat no matter where they were.

"What are you feeding me?" he asked. "Nothing poisonous, I hope. You don't want to kill off your dear husband, do you?"

"Now that I've just gotten you back? Never. It's just a fancy hamburger, I promise you'll survive," she said, before going back to the menu. "I think I'll have the Poulet Normand."

"Now that that's settled," Clint said as he set the menu down. "How've you been, Bobbi?"

"I've been okay," she said. "Better, now. How about you?"

Clint nodded, "It's been... an interesting year."

"To say the least, yeah," she agreed. The waiter returned then and took their orders, collecting their menus as he left.

"I'm sorry, Birdie," he said, not looking at her. "I... I guess I understand why you did what you did."

"You do?" she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. Even though she stood by her decision to let the Phantom Rider die, it always upset her that he never did.

Clint nodded. "I was... compromised," he said. "When Loki stole the Tesseract."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "What happened?"

Hawkeye was silent for a moment, thinking out his words. Finally he spoke, "Loki had a kind of a scepter that held unimaginable power. I don't remember exactly what happened. One minute I had my gun out, next I knew... next I really knew I was waking up in the Helicarrier's sick bay. Everything else was a kind of blur, like I was living outside my body. Like I was replaced by something else. I did... horrible things. I'm still not sure how many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents I..." Clint took a deep breath. "If I was given the chance to save Loki, I don't think I would."

Bobbi sighed and reached for his hand, holding it tight in both of hers. "I'm so sorry, Clint. No one... no one deserves to have that done to them."

Clint's hand tightened around his wife's. He remembered waking up that day, hoping it was her beautiful face his eyes landed on. She would be worried and happy, and she would hold him and tell him everything was alright. In fact, he almost said her name, until he realized it was Natasha standing by him.

Their food came then, and they were forced to let go of each other. Bobbi regretted the fact that they were in public instead of at the mansion where she could truly comfort him. As she ate, she thought a lot about the Phantom Rider and her experiences with him. She imagined Clint in a similar position with Loki, only completely unable to act of his own free will. Bobbi had been given false memories, but Clint had been completely controlled. When she wished he would be able to understand her actions, she hadn't meant like this.

"So you think Cap is finally gonna get laid after 70 years?" Clint asked as he took a bite of his burger.

Bobbi laughed, "I don't know if he's got the right kind of confidence. Saving the world from the Nazis? No problem. Girls? Different story. Maybe you can show him how it's done."

"I'll take him to a strip club soon," Clint replied smirking.

"The last thing I need is herpes because you let a stripper get too close."

"Hey! This is Captain America we're talking about. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the good of my country's greatest hero," Bobbi lightly smacked Clint's arm and they continued their lunch in a much better mood than when they started.