Duty (An Armorer/Paladin Story)

Decisions are made, people are threatened

I've been out of school for over a decade, but I always think of the time between Christmas and New Year's as winter break. It was fun to have Peter visit. He remarked that he had applied for a very generous scholarship. I just smiled and wished him good luck; I knew Foggy would be sending him a letter announcing that he had won it in late January. I knew May would be pleased and I was relieved that he'd be able to go to school without worrying about the money. The New Year's Eve party was a laid-back affair the way Avengers parties tended to be. The men wore suits, Thor and Sif wore Asgardian dress up, and Natasha, Maria, and I wore cocktail dresses. Mine was sleeveless with a fitted bodice and a somewhat full skirt in sapphire silk taffeta; I've always liked the sound of taffeta when it moves. We had champagne at midnight; I distracted Steve from noticing that Peter had a glass too.

Peter went home the next day and the house was definitely quieter. I settled back into work and January slid into February uneventfully. On Valentine's day I was accosted by Tony, Bruce, Scott, and Steve. I looked up from lunch warily; the scientists hadn't been by to test anything lately and damage the calm of anybody.

"We had an appearance at the center," Bruce said, poking at my salad to see if he might want one. I smacked his hand away.

"Kids cried because the Armorer wasn't there," Tony said pointedly. "Kids cried. That's on you, Harrington." I just rolled my eyes.

"Page twenty-one addendum of the contract, Tony," I said. "You agreed not to hassle me."

"That's before the children got so upset," he fired back.

"It was only one kid," Scott said. "It might have been coincidental." The other three glared at him and he put up his hands. I grinned at him.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Steve said, erupting. My eyes opened wide. I've never seen him in a temper. Everybody else, including the table around us, shut up and looked at him in fascination. "It hasn't been the same since you quit." Tony, looking around, made little hands-down, shushing gestures. He looked between the two of us. "Are you sure you're not related? You have the same perverse sense of pride." He got up and stomped off.

"You do seem determined to outstubborn each other," Bruce observed mildly.

I grabbed my brownie and went back to my workshop.

I wouldn't say that Steve started to avoid me, but I didn't run into him much. On the obstacle course, he ran ahead of me and pushed me to work harder. I was more grateful than ever that I could go home to my house after work.

In early March, Tony came by my shop and grabbed me, marching me down to the visitors center. Under the heavy rain of the past few days, the roof had started leaking around the skylights, and he wanted me to look at it and see if I saw a solution. It was the second time in a month that it had failed. When we got there, everybody who was on campus was also there: Steve, Bucky, Sam, Jim, Bruce, and Nick. There was also a janitor mopping up the water in the big hall. I trod warily; I had kept my resolution to dress more professionally at work and was wearing dress shoes with my sweater and slacks. Above us, we could hear the tread of workers on the roof.

"What do you think?" Tony asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't know, Tony, I'd need to get up there to inspec--"

I looked up, stupidly, when I heard the sound of breaking glass. Tony shoved me toward an alcove in the wall when the gunfire started; he ran over to the outdated suit he had on display and started to suit up. Sam and Jim were doing the same, and Bucky, Steve and Nick had waded into the fray. Bruce was trying to avoid Hulking out as this would create more problems than it would solve. Steve couldn't get to his old vibranium shield; it was behind bulletproof glass since people kept trying to steal it, so he was bareknuckle brawling. It was utter chaos. I saw the custodian put his mop in the bucket and take out a handgun with a long clip and point it at Bruce.