Shelter From The Storm

Is She HYDRA?

Earth-323

"I can not believe I'm riding a Toyota !"

Morgenstern shot him a funny look from the passenger seat. "You said we need one that would blend into the background. Plenty of people use Toyota SUVs in Washington D.C."

"I'm not amongst those plenty of people!" The indignance in his voice wasn't hard to miss.

"Exactly. But you need to seem like one."

He grumbled petulantly under his breath as she manoeuvred the underwhelmingly black car into an empty alley on the backside of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. Or should he start calling it HYDRA now?

SHIELD-HYDRA? HYDRA-SHIELD? SHYDRA? HIELD?

"We are going to take the back door." Her melodic voice snapped him out of his couple–naming ideas. "Very few people use it, and not many agents would be present on this side of the building. It will be easier for us to sneak you in."

"Right." He alighted the car the same time as her, eyes gliding over her appearance with wariness — or to be more specific, over her clothes that wouldn't protect her against a simple punch, let alone a bullet. "If you're gonna wear that, best you don't come in with me, then."

He had wanted to raise the topic of her inappropriate–for–field dressing back at the Tower itself but she had been too busy freaking out over the prospect of flying with his suit to pay him any mind. He should have tried harder.

There was no way he was about to allow her to join the fight in that .

Morgenstern looked down at herself before back at him with eyes hooded by confusion. "You do not have to worry about me. I can take care of mys—"

"Nope." He shook his head vehemently. "Nuh, uh. Absolutely not. I don't care what it is SHIELD has you doing for them but I am not gonna let you come with me in that."

"This is bulletproof." She gestured towards her jumpsuit.

His guts said not to believe her, and he trusted his instincts. "Doesn't look very bulletproof to me." He gave her a pointed look.

She sighed. Well, it wasn't quite a sigh, but it was close enough to be considered one. "Okay, let me get you in, first. Then, I will remove myself from the area of shooting and go to Miss Romanoff's aid. Does that sound amenable to you?"

Right. Romanoff's aid. Apparently, the spy who did not trust anybody to tell her so much as the correct date trusted Morgenstern enough to keep her updated about their plans.

And what grand plans they had for SHYDRA (yeah, not happening; he had to think of another name)!

But that wasn't the point. "There is no guarantee there wouldn't be any shooting at Pierce's office." He crossed his arms across his chest. He was aware time was ticking by frustratingly fast but he wasn't about to budge on another person's safety. Not when he could help it.

"If they start shooting," she abruptly broke off, like she hadn't exactly planned what to say. A beat later, she said in a duller tone, "I'll use Miss Romanoff as my shield."

One, two, three seconds passed as Tony stared at her, brain struggling to keep up, before a surprised laugh tumbled out of him. His amusement was only multiplied when he noticed her peering at him with half–concealed satisfaction; like her aim had been to lighten him up all along.

He was probably reading too much into it but he did feel like it got a little easier to breathe.

"For the record, I still don't approve."