An Assassin Never Tells

T W E N T Y - E I G H T

May 28th, 2011

"Agent Coulson, Agent Romanoff, thank you for coming in," said Uncle Nick, looking as professional as ever, "Agent Romanoff, your work over the past few days has been exceptional. You are dismissed," Nat nodded and left, "Agent Coulson, walk with me."

"Yes, sir," I responded, thinking I was in trouble.

"Now, Rosemary, as you know, the job of being a Super-Soldier is significant."

"Yes, of course."

"And, it is equally as important that you make the job your own because you are the only one with this job."

We walked through endless hallways and turned countless corners.

"Sure. I'm sorry, Uncle Nick, but where are you going with this?"

He stopped, so I stopped with him, "We created a new design for your suit and shield," he opened the door to his right, "They're right in here."

We turned into the dark room, and I looked around to see as much as I could in the darkness. Uncle Nick flicked on the lights, which were so old that you could hear and feel the electricity buzzing, but that may've just been me. I turned back forward, so I looked back towards the head of the room where I was met with my suit. And boy, was she pretty. The suit was a black catsuit base with lavender accents, such as piping along the sides. I round the suit and find more purple piping on the back. The material was smooth; it seemed to mix faux leather and knitted fabric for fashion and mobility. It had a higher neck to protect from debris and such.

"Uncle Nick," I turned to him, smiling, "I don't know what to say. This is incredible. I love it so much, thank you."

"We're not done just yet," he tilted his head towards a table to his right, my left, "go, open the box."

I approached the box with caution and excitement; it was like my birthday came 6-ish months early. The box was a square, about 3 feet by 3 feet. I pulled to lid off and set it down next to the box. Inside was a circular shield, like my old one, but this one was black, with the rims of each inner circle the same shade of purple as my suit. I pulled it out of the box and suited it on my non-dominate (right) arm. She fit like a glove.

"Uncle Nick, this is so cool! Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just use it wisely."

"Oh, trust me, I will."

"Good. Now get suited up. We've got places to be, people to see."

May 30th, 2011

Uncle Nick, Nat, and I had given Tony the night to cool down before we approached him to talk about what had happened and who we were. I had used a mental tracker I had placed on him when we first met to find out where he was. We found him sitting in the signage of a donut shop eating just that, a donut. Nat and I waited out of sight until we had our cue to enter the scene.

"Sir," Uncle Nick, who, for the sake of ease, I will be referring to as either Fury or Nick, called up to Tony, "I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut."

Tony flew down, and the two men entered the coffee shop.

"I told you, I don't want to join your super-secret boy band."

"No, no, no," chuckled Fury, "I remember, you do everything yourself. How's that working out for you?"

"It's...it's...it's...," Tony sighed, "I'm sorry. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye? Honestly, I'm a bit hungover. I'm not sure if you're real or if I'm having-"

"-I am very real. I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet."

"Just my luck. Where's the staff here," Tony asked as he turned his head, which exposed the grid-like darkening just under his skin.

"That's not looking so good."

"I've been worse."

Just then, Natasha and I walk over.

"We've secured the perimeter," said Nat.

"But, we don't think it'd be a good idea to hold it for much longer," I continued.

Tony looked up at the two of us, "You're fired."

"That's not up to you," Nat snapped back, sliding in next to Fury, and I pulled up a seat.

"Tony," started Fury, "I'd like you to meet Agents Romanoff and Coulson."

"Hi," Tony was done with the situation.

"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."

"And I truly am a bodyguard. When S.H.I.E.L.D. became aware of the increasing threats against you, we tracked Ms. Potts' browsing history to see what she was looking for, and I happened to be the best fit."

"I suggest you both apologize."

"You've been very busy," Fury cut in, "You made your girl your CEO. You're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I didn't know better-"

"You don't know better. I didn't give it to him; he took it," Tony interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it? You're Iron Man, and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass, and took your suit," Fury turned to Nat, "is that possible?"

"Well, according to Mr. Stark's database, security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage."

"And you," Fury turned to me, "You let this happen?"

"I did try to stop Colonel Rhodes, but he was highly determined. There was nothing I could say or do. Not even with my authority."

"What do you want from me," Tony laughed a little under his breath.

"What do we want from you? What do you want from me," Nat left, "You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with," Nat came back with a syringe and handed it to me, "Hit him."

I jabbed Tony just behind the ear with it and sat back down, this time next to Fury, "Sorry."

"Oh, God, are gonna steal my kidney and sell it," Nat slid in next to Tony and grabbed his chin, so his neck was exposed to Fury, "Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds," I frowned, "What did she just do to me?"

"What did we just do for you," I changed his words for him, "That's lithium dioxide. It's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work."

"Give me a couple of boxes of that," Tony looked at the table, "I'll be right as rain."

"It's not a cure," Nat stated, oozing sympathy, "it just abates the symptoms."

"That doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix," Fury eyed the cleared skin carefully.

"Trust me, I know. I'm good at this stuff. I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element."

"Well, I'm here to tell you, you haven't tried them all."

A/N: Hello, hello, hello! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I know I am! I get to have a sleepover on Saturday with my friend who's moving to Canada in the fall! Anywho, this chapter is a long one, so I hope y'all enjoy it! Thank you all for reading, voting, and adding this to your reading lists! I love y'all so much!! <3 :)