Back to Barnes // the winter soldier

6: paint job

     "Agent Brookes!" Agent Damon announced, knocking on my closed office door.

I stood up from my desk, shut my laptop, and slid my glasses off as I went to open the door. There he was standing, hands on his hips. "Yes?"

"Agent Hill is here." He stated, his expression impassive. "Thought you would like to know." He then left without another word.

After setting my glasses on top of a filing cabinet, I followed somewhat behind him downstairs to the deck. Since the chief hellicarrier had been repaired (for the second time) we had been in the air almost non-stop. If we dropped, it was only to refuel, and we were "highly encouraged" not to leave our posts. I disliked it up there quite a lot, but it was my job and I didn't complain - out loud, very often. I spent a lot of time on the upper level; in my office, my room, or with the captive, but I never spent much time on the deck.

And the deck members, crew, and agents knew that. Needless to say, my presence brought attention. It was hushed mutters of my situation with the captive, small bits about Steve, and quite a lot about the captive in general. I, through it, held my chin high and kept my shoulders back.

"Where is she?" I asked Agent Damon, not seeing her anywhere.

"Right here." A sweet, powerful voice rang out.

I turned around to see Agent Maria Hill come out of the staircase I just left. She, per usual, had her hair up in a bun. But now she wore a mind-numbing grey blazer and pencil skirt, set for her time-filling occupation at Stark Industries.

Since the Hydra mission, almost everyone had left. I mean, pretty much everyone. I left, Agent Damon left, most of the SHIELD agents left until we had even a vague idea of what we would be doing. I went home and picked up a personal trainer job, and was thoroughly enjoying it, until I was told my team and I had the mission to Gehenna. Then, I packed up enough clothes to last a week at most and set off to the dock to join around two hundred other agents in the loading of the newly-repaired hellicarrier, into the air and on to New Zealand. Agent Hill stayed with Stark, just so she had stability and could stay on the ground to help rebuild the base - one thing we desperately needed.

I walked over a held my hand out and she shook it with a small smile. "I was looking for you, Agent Brookes."

"Well, here I am." I replied, a genuine smile on my face. "Nice to see you, Agent Hill."

"Have some time to talk?" She asked, lifting a brow as our hands let go.

I glanced over at Agent Damon with a slight nod, dismissing him. He seemed reluctant, but he left regardless. I looked back at Hill and started walking. I had things to do but I could multitask. "Walk and talk."

We walked down the hall in silence, our heels clicking against the floor accompanied by the hum of the engines.

"So," I turned into the equipment room and started digging through the paint cans. "What brings you here?"

"A new threat to the human race, of course." She sighed as if she was talking about rowdy children. "Ultron." She named. "Not much detail yet, though. The big guns weren't even called in."

As I banged my knee against a toolbox, I sighed. "Just little ol' you, Agent Hill? What an honor."

"Speaking of honors: how is yours? Heard your new prisoner is a handful." She replied in a faux snarky voice.

I laughed dryly, noting that she called him exactly what he called himself. "He's . . . new. Definitely different, but we're working things out." I took in a deep inhale before plunging myself into a deep shelf to grab the right paint can. I banged my head against the top and hissed. "Slowly and painfully."