Beyond Time (Avengers X Reader)

Chapter 17

"I'm afraid the assassination cannot be executed as was originally planned." Without warning, Simon entered Alexander Pierce's office and collapsed on one of the chairs.

It was then that Pierce knew the situation was truly dire for Ratchett would never be so out of line as to not only enter his office without permission but also sit down without being asked to.

"What happened?" Much against his will, he had to ask. Simon sighed. "Captain Rogers has a daughter."

"Yes, Natalie. You have told me that before." Pierce failed to see the point but he knew there was one. "Isn't she the very reason that we're stuck in this ordeal?"

"No, not that one. The other one." Simon stood up. This was going to require further explanation. "(Y/N) (L/N). No one knew about her. I saw her at his funeral but I never knew she was his daughter! And now she's here."

"In our time?" Pierce asked and Simon nodded in response. "Is she portent enough?" Pierce asked again.

Simon Ratchett was quite for some time. The question he had just been asked was one he himself had pondered upon more than once. "She must be substantial threat else SHIELD wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to send her into the past."

"Where is she now?" Pierce's jaw tensed.

"With the Avengers." Simon knew the answer wouldn't be received well. And it wasn't. The sound of shattering glass filled the room.

Nevertheless, he continued. "That is why we can't go through with the plan. She must know about you and Hydra within SHIELD. Any anomaly which can be traced back to you will stick out to her like a cold sore."

Pierce sat down. Ratchett realised the gravity of the sin he had committed by sitting down in his superior's office without permission like a Neanthedreal. He hung his head in shame.

"By the look of things, do you think she knows that the assassination will be disguised as a mission?" Pierce's eyebrows furrowed intelligently.

Simon could practically see the gears turning in the man's head. "There's a good chance that she does, sir."

"Then let it all unfold as previously arranged." A devious grin spread across Pierce's face which was an unmistakable sign of the fact that he had already found the topside of things, "Send the faux mission in. There will be a couple changes in our plan, of course. More precisely, in your location."

"I don't understand." Simon sat down, this time careful to take permission first. "If she has the slightest suspicion of the mission being a false cover, she will detain Captain Rogers. She's fully capable of it. He has missed sizeable high profile missions since her arrival."

Pierce leaned forward, as if he was about to unravel the greatest secret of the universe. "That is what we want, Ratchett. She will go on that mission, unquestionably, and so will the rest of the Avengers. With the exception of Captain Rogers. He will be at the tower, all by himself."

Simon Ratchett hung his head again, but this time not out of shame but respect. Not that it was required, but yet again, Alexander Pierce had managed to prove his worth.