I'm Iron Man, And I'm Agent Coulson

Chapter 45 The Lemurian Star

Month Later

"Nat, so you're really not gonna tell Cap about your little side mission?" I whispered directly into her ear, while we headed towards a large ship, the Lemurian Star, out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
"Nope, and he doesn't need to know, at least not until I get it done," she warned, and began loading up her belt up with guns. I was still astonished by just how much crap she seemed to be able to hide in that tight ass catsuit.
"He's gonna be pissed Tasha," I argued, as I finished the braid I had started to put my longer hair in, "he hates secrets, and I really don't like being made privy to them either, twenty bucks, he finds out, and we both get yelled at."
"I'll take that bet, and let him yell," she shrugged, and gave me a smile, as I rolled my eyes, "I think he likes it."

Our mission was to rescue hostages from the Star, and gather as much info as we could.
We still had no idea who or what these perps affiliations were with, but we were ordered to bring in Georges Batroc, the man seemingly responisble, and bring everyone home.
Steve and I, along with a few SHIELD special ops agents were being sent in to assess the situation and bring back our people no matter the cost, while Natasha was going in to find, and download all the intelligence from the large computer system they had stashed on the second floor.
Although, I cautiously agreed we needed all the information we could get, I didn't agree with Fury when it came to not telling Steve, but Nat's mission was to remain a secret.
It wasn't even on file, and as far as I knew, only myself, Natasha and Fury were aware of this little side mission, and my job was to make sure I gave Red the ability to get her job done.
To be honest, that's not what really struck me as odd about this whole situation, in the first place.
What made me nervous was the fact that a few of these hostages were fairly high up on the SHIELD, and government ladder. For example, James Sitwell, who was a part of Defence Secretary Alexander Pierce's entourage. It was a little strange to have a fairly new Secretary, taking office just when we lost the Tesseract, only to gain Loki's sceptor in return. Pierce made himself at home in our SHIELD offices, surrounded by his own special ops team, which made me uncomfortable. I'd met the man a few times during my hearings, but his piercing grey eyes made me uncomfortable, and reminded me of Stane, at least the wayward feelings I had towards him.
Then a little less than a year later, a few members of his select cabinet were kidnapped, even with his own security, which begged answers to questions we didn't ask out loud.
The correlations were thin, but the situation didn't sit well with me.
None of us, not even Fury, knew how these important men and women ended up on a boat in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, since most were in different places at the time of their kidnapping. There was no ransom, and to be honest we didn't know much about the mission ahead.
We were hoping whatever intel Nat collected would answer those questions, but this whole situation felt wrong.
Something else was going on, and I blurted out my misgivings to Fury, but my duty was to help Cap save the hostages, and give Nat all the time she needed to gather our information.

"Bogey in bound, eta two minutes," the pilot called out, as all of us began to prepare our drop lines and parachutes, ready to board the ship.

"I want you to stay close, do you understand, do your assigment then radio in. Do not engage the target, I don't need another Romanoff, with you disobeying orders?!" Steve joked, slightly smirking at Nat and I.
"Hey, I listen," I countered, seeing the few running lights of the large ship getting closer, "that's some bullshit, putting me in the running with Red, I always listen. My authority issues have all been worked out."
"Pff.." Nat snorted, nudging me with her shoulder, "and nice suit Cap, it looks tighter than the last one. One look at you in that suit and I guarantee you'll have no problem finding a date. That blonde in accounting's cute, and I caught her looking at your ass the other day."
I burst out laughing, and my focus shifted on Steve's suit clad body, while he shook his head and moved away from both of us, as a blush creeped over his neck.
"Oh my god it is tighter, and we're all guilty when it comes to Steve's ass!" I screeched, pointing at his ass and legs, "HAHA, drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot.."
"Steve probably doesn't even know what that means," Nat added, giggling, and stood next to me, as Brock Rumlow's team prepared behind us.
"Are they always like this sir?" Rumlow asked, winking my way, while he shouldered his rifle over his back.
"Yep!" Nat and I answered at the same time.
"Oh believe me they'll get worse before the mission's over," Steve grinned, jumping out of the plane and into the water.
"Show off!" I yelled, rolling my eyes and flipping him off.
The adrenaline began pumping through my system, as my internal alarm system flooded my stomach, but I stepped up to the open bay doors, and smiled, refusing to get sucked down into my own trepidation.
"Did he have a parachute?" Another soldier asked.
"No," Rumlow replied, still smiling at me, sending more unease through my blood, but it was always there when Pierce and his entourage were around.
"And he says I don't take orders, catch you guys on the flip side," I exclaimed m, diving out of the plane after him.