"Rogers, Stark, Barton, Thorsdottir, Barnes."
One by one we each stepped foreword acknowledging Agent Hill as she called our names. James stood tall, shoulders back at attention, Morgan stood with arms crossed in front of her, while Torrun took a step beside her hands resting on her sword. I followed behind her, hands deep in the pockets of my jacket.
Honestly I wasn't sure why Hill was calling us out, we were the only other people in the conference room. It wasn't like she was calling us out of a line up of the rest of our peers or another assortment of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. At least in those cases it would have made sense but here I felt like we could just skip to the rundown. But sure, why not waste time before getting to the real reason we were meeting?
"You've all read your files I presume?" Hill didn't look up from her tablet as she continued addressing us. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun, her uniform neat and perfectly pressed. With just a glance at her it was obvious she took her position seriously. And who could blame her? She had worked hard to get there, she deserved it. "You'll report here tomorrow morning at 0500, we will leave at 0530 with or with out you. If you plan to move up the ranks you will be there. This is a simple mission in and out. No need for overnight bags. This will be your first chance to truly prove yourselves. You won't be in a controlled training sequence. If something goes wrong there will not be an override code to bail you out. You'll need to work together and figure things out if they go wrong. Rogers, you will take the lead this time around."
James was a good choice, rule follower or not he was a nature leader. He could wrangle even the most chaotic of situations. If this whole 'Next Avengers' thing actually worked out he would be a good fit to take charge of the group, whoever they may end up being. Trained and raised to take our parents places or not, if we weren't a good fit for the team it wouldn't make sense to force it.
Torrun, leaned deeper on to her sword, letting it rotate under her weight and swing her from side to side. She was never one to enjoy sitting for a long time. Or a short time. She always wanted jump into action, and wasn't the best when it came to following a plan. But she was on the assignment. I would have to hope she would follow along just this once. If not I had a plan prepared for that too. Couldn't be too prepared. Granted I hadn't shared that plan with anyone else on the team, should I need to I would. But if Torrun found out she would loose trust in me.
"The exchange is set to take place just outside of D.C. in Alexandria. Precise location details can be found in your files. The asset is to be taken in before the exchange occurs. Allowing Hydra to walk away with it could cause many large issues in the near future. Best for all that you do not fail."
Wasn't it best for everyone that we didn't fail any mission? I chuckled slightly but quickly covered it with a sough. Agent Hill narrowed her eyes as she glanced over at me. I got in trouble enough, the last thing I needed was to get in trouble right before my first real mission.
"I'll leave the five of you to discuss further plans. You know where to find me if you need advice." She closed her tablet and held it against her chest as she left the room, her eyes still shooting daggers at me.
Morgan turned to face us, or rather James and Torrun. She let her arms drop to her side and shrugged. "So you think we are actually ready for this?"
James nodded and stepped up to the table, puling back one of the rolling chairs and sinking into it. He tapped on the wood in front of him. He watched the four of us as we each took a seat around the table. Morgan moved her chair closer to James, uncomfortably close. But my opinions didn't matter when it came to the two of them. That was one area I had to hand to Morgan. She wasn't afraid to talk about or act on her feelings. Try as I might. It wasn't something I could do. Maybe it was because I wasn't used to feeling physically so emotionally I wasn't sure the best way to show it. Hugging, kissing, hand holding, the typically stuff couples did? It didn't exactly work for me. Why would some one want to be with one who couldn't actually feel it when they touched?
"Torrun, I expect you to wait back until I call you in. Hopefully we can keep things simple and will not need to call you in."
Torrun stood quickly, her chair shooting out behind her and slamming against the wall behind her. Her fists slammed on the table as the strands of her blonder hair that were not in one of her many braids fell across her face and she blew them away with and angry breath.
"I will do no such thing! You will find me on the front lines along side you James."
He looked at her, his face mimicking his father's commanding look. "You will. I know it's not what you want, but that isn't what this is about. We each have weaknesses and strengths to work on and help each other with. I expect you to listen to me and wait until I call you in. Is that understood?"
Torrun backed down, understanding crossing her face as James' commands settled in her mind. Morgan eyed her with a small smile. Francis spoke for the first time, pushing back his blonde hair with a wink in Torrun's direction.
"Seeing Torrun remain back will be a new one."
Torrun narrowed her eyes and reached for her sword. "Friend or foe, Francis, I will not hesitate to silence your tauntings for good."
"Clam down Torrun, it's all in good fun. You should try it sometime. You might actually enjoy it."
"Morgan, I want you running coms. You're our tech genius. It goes down that is on you. What ever this asset is I want you on containment. My guess is its some technology. If any of us would know what to do with it, its going to be you."
Morgan nodded and opened her holographic tablet, a bright blue screen filling the space in front of her face and began typing notes. Her fingers flew across the blue letters and her eyes scanned quickly insuring everything she wrote matched what she wanted.
James turned to me and gave a quick smile. "Dasha you and Francis will be on the ground with me. We need someone who can sneak in and out, keep to the shadows. And if it comes to it can hold her own. I've got no doubts that with your parents training you're the right one for the part."
I nodded silently. I figured that's where I would be. It made the most logical sense. Torrun would made good back up, Morgan good behind the scenes. James and I could run the main operation with out any hiccups.
"James are you sure that's a good idea? I know she's good at what she does but how do you know you can trust her? What happens if she decides to switch sides?"
Morgan dismissed her holograph and eyed me before she turned back to James waiting on a reply from him. Honestly? I should have expected it. She would never trust me, but it seemed to be taking it too far to insulate that I would betray my team. What proof did she have that I would even entertain such a thing? Sure both of my parents had been on the other side for sometime but neither one of them did it by choice. When given a choice both had elected to switch sides and try and make right their wrongs. Her words infuriated me. How could she make such crazy accusations?
"Really Morgan? What have I ever done to make you think I would ever do that? When I have I betrayed you? I have worked just as hard as you or Torrun to be a part of this team. Betraying you isn't on my list of things to do, especially this early on. What good would that even do for me?"
I rolled my eyes and shook my head as she began her response.
"One can never know what another might do, but your family history would suggest that-"
"Morgan stop. Family history does not define a person. What happened in the Winter Soldier's KGB and Hydra days has nothing to do with who he is now. The same goes for the Red Room days of the Black Widow. You have met both Bucky and Natasha, you know they are good people who have done everything in their power to right the wrongs done by them through other people. Stop judging them and their daughter based off something that happened 60 years ago."
I had not expected that. James was my best friend but I would have never expected him to stand up for me like that. Especially against Morgan. The two of them seemed to get along like bread and butter. Sometimes better than that. It was kind of him, but even if he had not done it I would have been able to defend myself. Her tauntings had been going on since the day she found out my dad had murdered her grandfather while on assignment. I understood her anger and hostility towards me and my family but in the end, like James had said, it wasn't my fault. Nor was it my dad's. And it drove a wedge between us because she couldn't understand that.
I wished she could see how he beat himself up over it. Howard had been a friend back in the war. They may not have been as close as Howard and Steve but they still worked together and Dad had mentioned many times how the things he had created saved his life or the lives of other Howling Commandos. But even if she could she likely wouldn't care. She was set in her biases.
It was better to just leave it at that. She would never trust me, and I would just have to hope that if it came to it I could trust her to do the right thing. Not a great way to do things but it was all I could do. I couldn't force friendship or trust from her end. So I would continue to provide her no reason to doubt me, and maybe one day in the future it would change things. Maybe.
"Morgan, we all know your issues with Dash. We get it, but she is a part of this team. If you have a problem with that you are welcome to remove yourself from it. If you aren't willing to do that then you need to stop your tauntings and grow up. This team needs to work together, needs to trust each other if we want to secede. If you can't figure that out then another team would be best for you."
Ready to move on here turned to Francis, who now sat with his feet kicked up on the table in front of him. He was leaning his head back in the chair with his blue eyes closed and hands crossed behind his head.
"Francis, you're going to need to stay sharp. You understand? This isn't training, this isn't messing around. This is real and our lives will be in danger. You screw around tomorrow and you put us all at risk."
"Relax Rogers. It's not a big deal."
James glared at him and slammed his fist on the table. "You want out Barton? There's the door. You're right, it's not a big deal to you. The rest of us though? We want this. We have worked hard to get here, meanwhile you have ridden in our tailwinds and made it here. Or maybe it's riding on your family name. Who knows. But I won't deal with it on my mission. I will not risk the lives of my friends because you can't decide if you want to be a part of this or not. You're a part of it until you walk out that door so make up your mind now."
With that James stood, grabbed his shield off the wall behind him, slung it over his shoulder and turned to leave. "You all know when and where to meet. Don't be late."
Francis stared at him, a crooked smile on his lips. "Never seen him so riled up."
"He's right Francis. Our lives can and will be at risk if you decide to do something stupid. This mission can work without you, so think long and hard about that tonight." I didn't wait for him to respond before I stood and followed James out of the conference room.