You're My Mission

“I have a great idea on how we can rebuild SHIELD,” Tony announced and Steve raised his eyebrows.

“You want SHIELD back up and running? Don’t they hinder your ludicrous experiments?” he countered. Tony gave an acknowledging shrug.

“In a way, but let’s face it, I’d much rather have someone like Fury in charge of the world instead of Hydra. Does everyone agree?” Tony opened his arms and swept his vision across the room, seeing a consensus of nods. “So that’s why I’ve gathered you all. You were recently fighting against Hydra and were all a lot easier to find than a god from another realm or a big green man who’s surprisingly good at covering his big green tracks. I was thinking we could call you Stark’s Syndicate, or Team Tony.”

“Or how about we don’t have a name,” Bucky piped up and the snickers from everyone including myself made Tony’s face fall.

“Sounds good!” Sam agreed with a chuckle.

“We can decide on the name later,” Tony muttered before inhaling deeply to continue speaking loudly. “The point is, I have unlimited funding to provide to you, and all of the latest technologies and weapons to help you seek and destroy Hydra. You can look at me as your new Fury, commanding things from behind the scenes, except I refuse to wear an eyepatch.” I frowned at his last sentence.

“Wait, you’re not coming with us? You have powerful suits,” I commented and Tony shrugged.

“I have other matters to attend to.”

“Like what?” Steve pressed and Maria stood, rounding the corner of the table to join Tony’s side.

“We’ve got Stark Industries to run, and we need to keep that functioning so we don’t appear suspicious, as though we’re funding a secret team of superheroes who are going to be considered rogue until the world realises that Hydra’s the bad guy here,” she justified for Tony.

“It’s simple: you either do this without Iron Man, or you don’t do it at all,” Tony added and the five of us became deathly still as we pondered the situation.

“I’m in. Anything to bring down Hydra,” Bucky stated and we met eyes, causing me to grin.

“Agreed. They need to be stopped,” I said, feeling a flutter of excitement stir from within.

“I’ll do it,” Steve declared and I wondered how much of his decision to join was influenced by the fact that Bucky was determined to be a part of the plan.

“Me too,” Sam quickly said, loyal to Steve.

All eyes then turned to Natasha at the end of the table and she took her time to meet each and every one of our gazes, as though she was weighing up our devotion and intentions, and the possibility of success.

“Fine. Let’s do this,” Natasha gave in with a short exhale.

“Perfect!” Tony exclaimed while clasping his hands together in front of him. “I’ve already assigned you positions within your team. Captain, well, you’re the captain. I need you to lead the missions.” Steve gave Tony a nod, the corners of his lips curling upwards.

“Will do.”

“Jennifer, since you’ve been a mole inside Hydra and know them inside out, you’re second in charge. I’m calling you the advisor since Steve and I will be consulting you before we make a move to ensure we’re as efficient as possible,” Tony continued, my heart skipping a beat when I was given such an important role.

“Okay,” I said with a curt nod, trying to contain my delight.

“Bucky, Sam and Natasha, you’re the muscle power in the team, and-”

“Hang on, you’re putting her second in charge and delegating me to be muscle power?” Natasha interrupted Tony and my head snapped to my left. A tense silence followed, partly because I was so shocked that I couldn’t think of a sharp response. Natasha took the silence as a cue to explain herself. “I’m far more qualified. Maria, you know I’ve been a top player in SHIELD for a long time. I can’t follow someone who came straight out of Hydra.”

“Fury saw to Jennifer’s training himself and that she was loyal to SHIELD,” Maria stepped in before I could speak.

“There are no records whatsoever, no proof. I don’t trust that,” Natasha snapped.

“Do you need a demonstration of my skills?” I asked her, my muscles already tensing.

“As much as I’d love to see that cat fight happen, I don’t have enough time in today’s agenda,” Tony grumbled while approaching the two of us. Bucky slid a comforting hand onto my knee under the cover of the table and his touch set me at ease despite how inhumanly cold it was. “It’s been decided, Natasha. I’m trusting Fury here, and you need to trust me or leave.”

I received another glare from Natasha as she unhappily weighed up her options.

“It’s not going to be on my head when something goes wrong,” she finally muttered.

“Well, now that everyone’s on board…” Tony trailed off as he dug into his pocket. Once he had retrieved a key, he tossed the keychain to Steve who flicked his arm out to catch it with ease. “Your new house, for all of you. JARVIS is installed and everything to do with your missions will be sent there.”

“When’s the first mission?” Sam wondered, failing to conceal his enthusiasm.

“You’ll receive coordinates the second JARVIS has finished decrypting the Hydra transmission we intercepted,” Maria replied.

We were dismissed and provided with an inconspicuous black jeep with tinted windows to drive to our new residence after picking up some of our belongings. Sam took the wheel and Steve squished between Natasha and I in the backseat to keep us both calm. When we arrived, everyone but Natasha appeared to be dazed by the luxurious quarters. Disguised as a mediocre brick building on the outside, Tony had decked out the interior with the finest of furniture and carpet so heavenly soft I felt as though I was continuously sinking into it.

“I’ve never seen anything so expensive before,” Bucky breathed as we all headed through the lounge and into the hallway which branched off into the bedrooms, three on one side and two on the other, the third room on the right providing an expansive bathroom. Natasha walked into the room next to the bathroom and shut the door, and Sam claimed the second bedroom on the righthand side as he claimed it would get more sunlight. Steve said he’d take the one opposite Sam and I was about to follow Bucky into the adjacent room when I caught Steve’s disapproving look. I quickly changed direction and continued down to the room opposite the bathroom instead. After coming out of hiding, I had thought I could stop deceiving people and show them who I was, but I guess I was wrong. It looked like keeping secrets was always going to be a part of my job.