Avengers: Behind the Uniform

Desperate Times

A/N: SORRY I WAS ON HOLIDAYS FOR A MONTH SO I COULDN'T WRITE BECAUSE OVERSEAS AND CHINA'S RESTRICTIONS ANYWAYS MORE CHAPTERS COMING AND SOON

Winona xoxo

***

Tony may have been deeply immersed in his designs for the memory scanning machine but he was not so immersed to not have noticed how much time had passed since he had last heard from either Steve or Nat. He frowned and spoke into the comms.

"Rogers?"

He was met with silence.

"Romanoff?"

He was just about to radio in to Fury when he heard a woman's voice reply back.

"We're both fine, Tony, who do you think we are?"

"Just checking. I'll let you get back to it. Oh and wait."

He heard an audible groan on the other end. "What is it?" She sounded impatient.

"I was going to go to get some groceries while I waited, would you like me to pick up something?"

There was a hesitation. "Uh sure, just get me some Pop tarts or something."

Tony frowned again, the lines on his forehead deepening from the frown before. That wasn't Romanoff, he thought. She never admits she likes Pop tarts. It was common knowledge that she did but it was a shame that the spy thought best to conceal. The next thought was half formed in his brain when he shifted the gear stick and sped back to headquarters as fast as he could, calling Fury ahead of time to let him know that they had an emergency.

If that wasn't Romanoff, then who was it?

***

"Blair, could you please get me some coffee?"

Montgomery was standing stiff-backed in front of the panel of screens displaying footage from every inch and corner of Fulcrum. He had just arrived back from the Captain's room, a satisfied smirk on his face. Blair hadn't bothered to ask how it had gone. Judging by the fact that he was standing in front of her alive, she deduced that the Captain had been successfully sedated and that their plan was well and truly underway. She was suddenly crippled under the weight of it. She took a deep breath, her shoulders rising and then falling, the air rushing in and rushing back out gratefully. We are about to change the world. A smile crept onto her face and she reached for another cup to pour some of the coffee she had made for her brother.

She was struck by a memory from her childhood. Perhaps it was the stance her brother took – so like their father – or perhaps it how pivotal the moment was but for whatever reason, the memory came and since they were so rare, she embraced its arrival. 

The same room as she was in now with nothing much changed except the people in it. The same wall to wall to ceiling of glass doubling as mirrors and the same expanse of security footage being displayed on screens. A silver haired father who stood overlooking the scientists scuttling from one station to another and a sunny haired mother who was the closest thing to soft this place had. Two children nearing their teen years lounging in the loft behind them.

"Monty?" Blair had only ever heard her brother being called Montgomery and since it was such a long word to say, she had shortened it so that there was at least some sort of familiarity between them instead of the sterile formality that seemed to cloak their parents.

He had grunted a noncommittal sound in response.

"Do you want to sneak out tonight? I snuck into the pilots' lounge and heard them saying that they were flying mum and dad out tonight so we could ask one of the others to take the two of us out, maybe to one of those cities we keep seeing on the news. New York? Paris? That country with the tree-hugging bears and two-legged hoppy things?"