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

Chapter 99 Can't I catch a break

"Hey, Tony released his statement this morning, and Pepper's should be out later on this afternoon," Nat announced as she walked into the training room of the facility, but I just gave her a small nod, and asked FRIDAY to turn up the Black Label Society, I was listening to.
My head hurt, and my mouth was still sour from all the alcohol I'd ingested the evening before, but I couldn't sit in the tower and stew about what was going on. Plus, I woke up alone, and Tony was busy handling it, so I pulled on a hoodie and some work out pants, and headed to the facility to alleviate my pent up energy. The crowd gathered outside Tony's tower made me wary about going out, but Natasha was right, I just needed to take everything in stride, and hope for the best.
I texted Pepper again, just to make sure she was okay, but her three word answer of 'I'll be alright', didn't help, so I worked out instead. Yet, even the loud cracks from the guns, nor the batons, seemed to ease the tightening in my shoulders. I believed everything Nat and Tony told me, but the constant chatter surrounding us, irritated me.
"Did you hear what I said?" She asked again, over the music, and held the bag I was punching.
"Yes, I heard you," I growled, and kicked the bag.
"Aren't you curious?" She questioned, while I kept working out.
"Not at the moment, no," I gasped, and focused on the bag, "and if you're just gonna annoy me, then kick rocks.."
"Fiesty.." She harped, but let go of the bag, and headed for the door, "when you're done pouting, I have the main conference room ready so we can go over those red areas for the Foundation."
"Give me another hour, or so, and I'll meet you there," I sighed, and bent over to catch my breath.
"Fine, and since you're here, Cap thought it'd be a good idea to have us train as a team, with Wanda," she added and raised her eyebrows.
I was tired, but the more stuff I had to do, the more it would take my mind off what was happening outside. "That's fine, my whips aren't ready yet, but I should be fine with batons," I retorted, and waved her away.
"Okay, well I'll be upstairs, let me know when you're done pouting," she hissed, and closed the door behind her.
I wiped my brow, and moved to the workout dummy, and loosened my shoulders.
"FRIDAY, I think I have a country playlist on my phone, can you switch it up for me?" I asked, and popped my neck.
"Of course," she replied, and immediately began playing some George Strait.
The music was a little somber to work out too, but it matched my mood, more so than the metal and rock I was listening to beforehand.
"Thank you," I whispered, and burst forward.
My stomach was already hurting, and my muscles stiffened with overexertion, but I had to keep going. I didn't want to think about the news, or the fact I hadn't spoken to Tony since we got home yesterday evening. It was fine, he was busy taking care of what he needed too, and I just needed to move forward, push past my melancholy, or I was gonna end up ruining what I had.

"I was gonna work out, but that crap (y/n) is listening to, is way too depressing for me," Sam stated, as he took a seat next to Natasha and Steve, in the conference room, "is she gonna be alright?"
"Yah, the country music and bitch rock are a little hard to swallow, but she listens too it when she's upset.." Natasha added, and looked over the maps, and info on the screen, "her taste in music changes with her mood, but she'll be fine. She's dealing with what she needs to, in her own way."
"It's alot though, even I was surprised when I saw all the headlines," Steve continued, and crossed his arms over his chest. He was pissed to see it all this morning, and the innuendos that involved him, as well. Not because it put him there in the middle of it, but because of the way she looked this morning when she came in. "I figured she'd be with Tony while he released his statement, not here, beating herself up."
"Pff, you know her just as well as I do, this is what she does, but she'll be fine," Nat reiterated, and looked at the time.
"How long has she been working out?" Sam asked, and leaned back in his chair.
"Two and a half hours" Nat replied, "I'll go get her in a bit if she doesn't stop."
"Did they label Pepper like this?" Steve asked, refusing to let it go.
"Honestly, no, I mean a few tabloids came out and insinuated she'd been sleeping with Stark to get control of Stark Industries, but that's about it, nothing to this magnitude, then again Pepper didn't have a colorful history like (y/n) does, nor was she an Avenger," she added, and shook her head, "she'll be fine Steve, you've seen her do this, and she always gets through it. We just need to be there, and hopefully Stark will too."
Steve was quiet for a moment, but there was really nothing left he could say. Tasha was right, he had seen (y/n) bounce back after being down, but he also knew that each time, it got harder to get back up.
It wasn't the fighting, but the emotional toll it took on their lives. They all had baggage, and it's wasn't like (y/n) had more, but she always seemed more vulnerable out of all of them. Of course she tried to hide that, but she was the one who'd always been most affectionate, passionate, and angry, and all those emotions sat right on the surface for all of them to see. He may of been the one to finally get her to open up to him, but she grounded him with her loyalty and compassion. Even Natasha fell victim too it, when she first met her.
"Cap?" Sam asked, and brought him out of his reverie.
"Alright," he acquiesced, "uh, Wanda should be done with her own training in another hour, so after that we can train together, if (y/n) is still able to hold herself up," Steve commented quickly, and opened another screen, "I split us up into teams. You, (y/n), and Sam, will go up against Wanda, Rhodes, and myself. I wanna see if the practice we've been giving her is sticking."
"Sounds good, let me know when I need to suit up, Imma go for a run," Sam acquiesced, and headed out the door.
The room was silent for a few minutes, before Steve sighed, and bent over a map of Africa and Mexico. The zones the Foundation wanted to get into were loaded with guerillas, cartels and other terrorists organizations, notorious for their outlook on western civilization, including the Avengers, but the small villages dotting the areas in need, were being emaciated by disease, violence, and famine. Dozens of people were dieing by the day, mainly women and children. The civilians were drinking dirty, almost non-existent water from spoiled wells and stagnant creeks. Food dropped by other groups had been ransacked, stolen or poisoned by the local regimes. Even the military was having a hard time cleaning out the area. It was hard to look at it, but he didn't disagree that something needed to be done. If the Avengers stood for anything, and if there was a situation they were needed, this was it. He didn't care about the PR, like (y/n) did, but that didn't make him want to help any less. These people needed their help, and they were going to get it.
"We may need the whole team to get this taken care of, especially in Africa," Nat spoke after a few quiet minutes, "both of these places have been known to kill anyone who comes in and tries to help. Even the WHO lost a few people this past year trying to get to these people, I was a little surprised to see the same terrorist regimes move that far south.." She added and fixated on Africa.
"Agreed, which may cause some problems, not only for the people there, but us, if we have to engage," Steve remarked, and opened geographical maps of both areas on two screens.
"That's what I'm afraid of, I really could care less if we kill every single one of those regimes, but both governments may have something to say when this is all said and done," she sighed, and sat back.
"I think they've had their chance to remedy the situation, don't you?" He countered.
"I do, yes, but we're already on some shaky ground as is," she recalled, and shrugged her shoulders.
"Then what do you want to do?" He rebuked, and met her stare.
"Go in, and deal with the consequences later," she grinned, and moved around the table to stand next to him, "if you needed some time to get your bearings, I can lead the team down there.."
"Don't start Tasha," he retorted, and focused on the maps.
"I don't know why you refuse to admit when something's wrong? It's problem alot of you have," she snickered, trying to lighten the conversation.
"You have that problem too," he growled, and closed the screens. He didn't want to talk about his worry, his sadness, or his misgivings about the council. He just wanted to work, and do what he needed too.
"Not really, I've told you about Bruce, and the Red Room," she admonished, and moved away from him, "I may not have wanted to, but I did, because I trust you."
"I know," Steve sighed, and briefly met her green eyes, "and I'll be fine, I refuse to be anything else."
Natasha shook her head and walked passed him to the door, "sometimes it doesn't work that way Steve."