Mistakes Were Made (Avengers/James Rhodes)

03. Mission

I sat at a meeting table and wrote notes as it went along. I was being sent on a mission with a few agents and we had to be briefed on what could happen. It was quite boring but it was my job.

When the meeting ended, I was about to leave when I was held back by Agent Giles, the person briefing us. I waited until everyone was gone.

"Director Fury wants to see you before you leave," Giles said.

"Yeah, okay," I said. "Thanks for telling me."

"You've been going to his office a lot lately," Giles noted. "Why is that?"

I shrugged. "I can't say."

"Is he doing anything to you?" Giles asked. "You can always tell me."

I shook my head. "No, no, Fury wouldn't do that to me. He's . . . I can't talk about it. I'm sorry that I can't tell you more."

Giles looked over me before dismissing me. I went to Nick's office and I slipped in. He was looking over papers and looked up when I came in.

"Hey, Charlie," Fury greeted. "Are you leaving soon?"

"Yeah," I replied, staying near the door and crossing my arms. "I won't be too long though. No need to worry about me."

Nick stood up and walked over to me. "I'll always worry about you, kid. Don't get yourself killed."

I smiled a little. "Thanks, Dad."

"Come here," Nick said as he hugged me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and felt his trench coat partially cover me. I used to love wearing his coat when I was younger. It was so big on me and I thought I looked so cool.

Nick kissed my forehead. "I'll see you around, kid. Don't get yourself killed, alright?"

"You know I won't."

Nick sighed and squeezed my shoulders. "I'm sending Clint along with you. Have fun."

"I'll try. Can I go now?"

Nick sighed and gave me one last hug. I left and joined the others. I sat with Clint and talked with him. It took so long to get to the place we were heading. I pulled up my hood and slipped into the crowds. I could hear my team in my ear and I murmured responses back.

We found the guy and I followed him down the street. Clint told me what to do and he turned down an empty alley. Another member of the team distracted our suspect while I came up behind. I leveled my gun to his head and the other agent ducked. I pulled the trigger and the man dropped.

I nodded to the other agent and I turned on my heal, pulling up my hood. I retraced my steps and found Clint waiting for me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and we fell into step.

We didn't speak until we got to the car. I got in and started texting Nat. I got a text from Nick but I ignored it for a few minutes.

"Fury text you yet?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I won't answer yet."

"He won't like that," Clint warned. "He will probably keep texting you or me until one of us answers. If none of us answer, he'll send someone after us."

"I know," I replied. "I'll get to it in a second."

Clint shook his head but kept driving. I did eventually reply to Nick as we got to the plane. I got in and waited for the long ride home. After so long of waiting, I found a bigger seat to curl up in. I closed my eyes and let the sound of the engines sing me to sleep.