Ms. Behave [The Winter Soldier Fanfiction]

10. Fury

After that nearly failed mission, I had another talk with Nick Fury. To my surprise, it had nothing to do with the task, but just lighter conversation and a deeper insight of the headquarters. I believe that Fury is beginning to trust me more, and I've warmed up to him a bit as well. An interesting man he is, with an aura of mystery and authority.

The next day, I had to go over to Tony Stark's tower and speak to him. I would almost swoon at the sight of his technology when he'd turn away, and I was glad that he's the one who's going to upgrade my mask.

Any-whale, I'm feeling really good today due to the ten hours of sleep that I rarely get. For the past week after I gave my mask over to Stark to fix, my life has resumed back to normal. I wasn't forced into any vigorous missions and I wasn't attacked by an Avenger. All is good, all is good.

I try to take advantage of my docile mood by avoiding anything that can cause me stress. Like Jondin, but that's harder to do, but at the same time, I don't care, he can't cause me any harm. I've got another man on my mind anyway.

So, I stare at my computer screen for one long hour before Jondin strolls into my office, which is something he hasn't done since that day when I turned down his flowers. I don't want to say that I missed him bothering me, but to be honest, I missed him bothering me. Keeping my distance from Jondin has proven to be rather difficult, especially on this day when I'm in the mood to care about other people's feelings.

"Hi," I greet as he walks in.

For a moment Jondin seems confused, then he smiles and says, "Let me guess? You slept well."

I nod. "What brings you over here today? I haven't heard from you in a while."

He sits down across from me and explains, "I figured that I was getting on your nerves, so I decided to give you some space, but I can only do that for so long, so yeah... Here I am, ready to ask you out again." I try my best to hide a whimper of simple pity. Jondin is still on the prow. "So, are you free tonight?" he asks me.

I shake my head. "No, sorry."

He cocks his head to one side and asks, "Oh really?"

"I don't need you to insult my boring life, OK," I state in a jokingly manner. "And yes. I'll be going out tonight... I have a date."

An obvious look of jealousy crosses his eyes, and he tries pathetically to hide it. Does he really like me that much? "Who's the lucky guy?"

Why am I beginning to feel so bad? "His name is Rick," I answer. Rick Rumlow. For the one week of peace after that Capone mission, I've been going in and out of the headquarters and training with new and approved weaponry with Rumlow, and during that time our dryness kind of clicked. Unlike Jondin, he's used to crazy things and is fully aware of my abilities, and I can also rely on him a lot more.

Jondin scratches the back of his head. "I guess I screwed up when I had the chance..."

Kinda. "Jondin-" I begin when I am suddenly cut off by the sound of multiple automatic guns going off... outside.

Jondin and I rush to my office window to see what's going on. In the distance a bunch of police and SWAT cars and people surround one black SUV, trying desperately to break into it, but failing. I only know one type of car that could withstand such force, and that would be a SHIELD vehicle.

The scene gets even crazier when a gun goes off from the inside of the vehicle's driver's window. That's when I step away. I'll let SHIELD do their thing.

Jondin remains standing, staring out the window in awe. "What a crazy world we live in," I hear him mutter.

"You right," I murmur in response. And it's only gonna get worse.