Unexpected

Returns

"Well, it's not everything we wanted and more, but at least we have some decent leads now." Rumlow concluded as we rode back to Washington in the quinjet. "We have names, and thanks to Agent O'Connell here, we now have some faces."

One of the agents pulled up a hologram in the middle of our rows of strapped-in flight seats. They showed pictures of the people that Anton had mentioned. Rumlow continued as the hologram flicked through the pictures, "From here we're going to set up tags for these people. We're going to watch them, dig up what we can about them and see if any of them will lead us to a prize. Anton's the most reliable source we have, and Agent Romanov scared him too much for him to tell us a lie."

"You're welcome." She smirked, crossing her fingers as she sat back in her flight seat.

Agent Rumlow grinned at Nat's interruption, "Even if these leads don't end up in anything, SinoCorp's proxy is now our lackey. We'll contact him soon; see if there's anything new he'd like to share."

"How they ever trusted someone so empty-headed with any kind of sensitive information is beyond me." An agent commented, staring at the hologram.

"Nah, that's the genius of it." replied Natasha, "They're passing incredibly important Intel through this guy and even I could barely get this much out of him within our timeframe. If he doesn't know what info he's passing on then there's no way for him to convey it to someone who they don't intend to give it to."

"He sure liked to brag that he was a big deal though." Agent Carmichael sighed, rolling his eyes.

Another agent laughed sharply, "Well, who wouldn't want to be puffing himself up for two blonde bombshells like-"

Nat's glare cut him off as my blush that had faded away returned with full force. In my peripheral vision I saw Steve's hands ball up into fists on his lap as he sat beside me.

"Sorry." He quickly amended, his own face reddening.

"Agents Romanoff and Copper, I expect full reports on the mission by the end of tomorrow." Rumlow took control of the quinjet's crew's attentions again, using his commander voice, "That goes the same for all of you. On my desk or in my inbox before you clock out. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." We answered back.

The flight back seemed interminably long, and it was late into the evening when we finally arrived back at the Triskelion. I felt exhausted not only from lethargy caused by the flight, but also from all the emotional strain the mission had caused me. I rotated my shoulders and rolled my neck as Nat, Steve, and I walked through the hallways of the headquarters, starting to head home for the night.

"I'm never going to forget this mission. I'd say it's right up there with Budapest." Nat said, stretching one arm over her head and grinning.

"Oh I wish I could forget." I sighed, letting my shoulders slump, "Let's just let this whole thing fade away, hm?"

"No way." Nat grinned at me, "Who knew that you carried such a package, Penny? You rocked that black dress and who would have pinned you down for a songbird?"

"Nat please..." I whined, though I couldn't help but to let a smile creep at the corners of my mouth. It didn't bother me so much when she teased me about it, though I was still mortified at the whole thing. I'd never been trained for something like that and I had no intentions of doing that ever again.

"And what did you think, Rogers? You were awfully quiet this whole time!"

Now it was Steve's turn to redden as he looked down in shock at us, blinking and completely unsure of what to say, "I, uh-"