✓ ❘ 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐑 ─ 𝐁. 𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ: ᴄʀᴀsʜ

"No. No. Fuck no. No, no, no. Over my dead fucking body. No."

A vile feeling built up inside of me the second I caught sight of who Fury was leading into the room, and it was accompanied with a scowl and the clenching of my fists as I fought to hold back and not launch myself at the son of a bitch. He actually had the audacity to walk his sorry ass in here?

I turned to look at Fury.

And you had the audacity to let him walk his sorry ass in here? What the fuck?

"I have my reasons." The Director bowed his head slightly and held up both hands.

"There is no fucking reason good enough to constitute this," I hissed, scattily gesturing to the stupid piece of work accompanying Fury and paying extra attention to glare hatefully at him.

I actually can't believe this.

"Do not swear at me, Agent," Fury retorted, face stern and voice as cold as ever.

"I'm sorry, sir," I cast my gaze to the tiled floor and shook my head languidly.

No, fuck that. He messed with (Y/N).

"Actually, no. I'm not. With all due respect, sir, what the hell are you thinking?! He-"

"Like I said, Agent," Fury clenched his jaw, "I have my reasons. And I would gladly appreciate it if you shut the hell up for ten seconds and let me convey them."

Cold, hard silence was all I offered in response. I had an abundance of comebacks to his words, don't get me wrong, but none of them were at all appropriate. So, I kept my mouth shut out of respect for my superior.

And out of marginal fear over losing my job.

"Fantastic," with a sarcastic smile, Fury glanced over at the cockroach he'd let scurry in, rousing everyone else to do so as well. Fucking hell, I wanted to squash him. "Given recent events, I am well aware that his presence may seem a bit strange, but I wouldn't have invited him to join us if I wasn't one thousand percent sure that he had nothing to do with it."

"He probably had everything to do with it," I sneered under my breath; it was in a hushed tone, but he heard me nevertheless. Good. That's great. He's not welcome here, and I would make sure he knew it.

"I assure you that I had no involvement in any of it whatsoever," his eyes darted over to her, standing cross-armed behind me, and his face lit up, "I would never do anything to endanger your life, (Y/N)."

She didn't respond and I could feel the discomfort radiating off of her, so I stepped in front of her, blocking her from his view so that she wouldn't have to look at him. I knew she didn't want to.

"You don't get to talk to her," I reprimanded, staring him down with heated intensity.

Watch yourself, motherfucker, before I turn you into a fucking all you can eat human sushi-buffet.

"For the last time," he huffed, readjusting the glasses set on his face, "I'm telling you that I had nothing to do with any of it."

"For the last time, I'm telling you that I think you're talking bullshit."

"For the last time, everyone shut up and let me finish sayin' what I gotta say!" Fury interjected, delivering a sharp glare at both of us. "Thank you. Now, I know that some of you won't be on board with what I'm about to say," Fury looked around the room at everyone else in it – (Y/N), Spencer, Hill, Corvey, Romanoff and Coulson – before setting his gaze on me and raising his brows, "especially you – but I'm counting on you all to trust my judgement."