The mission, ultimately, didn't take long to complete and Melody felt slightly useless because all she did was shoot and tase some people and had no idea why she had even been brought in when what Fury had assigned her to do during the mission seemed overly simple, but everything just seemed sketchy.
One of the biggest reasons Fury allowed her to become an agent at such a young age was because she had amazing instincts and was able to read people easily with just a glance. Her ability to read people almost had Fury believing she could read minds, even though she wasn't enhanced in anyway, to her knowledge anyways. That just happened to be a plus side to a bachelors degree in sociology and a masters degree in psychology.
As they were escorting hostages to life pods, Melody could've sworn that she saw Rumlow lean towards Sitwell and say something that looked like "Hail HYDRA." Melody was over observant, just like Clint and her eyes caught even the smallest movements.
Now that they were back at the Triskelion, all she wanted to do was report back to Fury. She had a sense of dread filling her stomach as she followed Steve up to Fury's office, knowing she couldn't tell Fury about what she saw in front of her uncle. Steve would flip out even more and that was the last thing she wanted. She stood off to the side as Steve yelled at Fury about not telling him Natasha had a different mission, but little did he know that Melody had a different mission as well.
"Those hostages could've died, Nick!" Steve raises his voice.
"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen." Fury argues as Melody sighs from off to the side.
"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys just running around and shooting guns." Steve argues in response.
"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye. I didn't want you to do anything you weren't comfortable with and Romanoff is comfortable with everything." Fury's tells him.
Melody rolls her eyes and leans against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. The whole argument they're having at the moment is pointless. Steve was a soldier and Nick is a spy and they'll never see eye to eye on the situation.
Melody's watch Tony made for her beeps and she looks down to see what it is. She smiles to herself when she sees it's just him checking up on her and immediately looks back up to the men in the room who are now staring at her.
"Well, that was an amusing argument, but I'll be on my way out now. Nick, call me later. I have something I need to talk to you about and it's important." Melody says, making her way out of the room.
As the door slides shut behind her, she sprints down to the locker room to change and grab her stuff to leave the Triskelion.
She makes her way to the garage with her bag and smiles at the sight of her motorcycle, her black helmet sitting on the seat, looking as inviting as always.
She set the bag down on the small rack on the back of her bike and dig out her bluetooth earbuds and connects them to her phone before putting them in, putting her bag back on her back and getting on her bike.
As she starts it, Tony picks up.
"Hello, my little cherry blossom, how are you?" Tony answers.
"I'm good, Stark. Just got back from a mission with Cap and Nat." Melody tells him as she pulls out of the garage and onto the street.
"How did that go?" Tony questions, making Melody chuckle.
"I was teamed with STRIKE, so I'm sure you could guess. Are you at the tower right now?" Melody asks, thinking about taking a small trip to New York.
"Of course. Am I getting a visit from my favorite little moonbeam?" Tony asks in response.
"Why is it always little? 'My favorite little this, my little that', I'm 3 years away from 30, Stark." Melody informs him, making him laugh.
"Mel, you're only five feet tall and you could easily pass for like, 16." Tony teases.
"Whatever, see you in a few hours." Melody says, rolling her eyes.
"See you soon, buttercup." Tony says, hanging up. Melody shakes her head as she pulls up to a stoplight, placing her right foot on the ground as she waits for the light to change.
"Idiot, billionaire." Melody mumbles to herself, watching the traffic light.
The light changes and Melody quickly makes her way home to grab some clothes before making her way up to the Avengers Tower.
After a few hours, Melody pulled her black and green motorcycle into the garage of the Avengers Tower and hopped off, pulling off her helmet and earbuds. She leaves her helmet on her bike and pulls her earbuds out, shoving them into the pocket of her leather jacket as she makes her way towards the elevator.
"Hello, Miss Rogers." JARVIS greets as the elevator doors open and she steps in.
"Hi, JARVIS. Where's Tony?" She questions as the doors close.
"Mr. Stark is in his lab. Would you like me to inform him that you're here?" JARVIS questions as the elevator starts to move.
"No, it's okay, buddy." Melody says as the elevator arrives on the floor Tony's lab is on.
Melody makes her way around the floor and to the lab. The closer she gets, the louder the sound of AC/DC playing gets. As she reaches the lab, the doors slide open and she walks in quietly. She walks over to a screen mounted to the wall and pauses the music.
"Hello, my favorite idiot billionaire!" Melody yells, laughing as Tony turns quickly to face her.
"Um, I think you mean genius, my little cherry blossom." Tony says as he walks over and wraps her in a hug, kissing the top of her head.
"Okay, okay. Let go of me." Melody demands after briefly hugging him back.
The two had developed a very sibling like relationship over the past two years. Though, it wasn't weird. The two had met a few times briefly when Melody was just a baby, but the first encounter she could actually remember took place when she was only 3 years old. Tony, being 13 years older, was the older brother she never wanted, but loved to death regardless of the situation.
The first time she could actually remember meeting Tony was a day she was with Peggy. Peggy was babysitting 3 year old Melody and had decided to take Mel with her to go to the Stark household to talk with Howard.
Howard, from what Melody could remember, was a very stern man. She couldn't recall ever seeing him smile. Maria Stark, on the other hand, loved having baby Melody around. And Tony, well, 16 year old Tony acted like he didn't care about the small 3 year old girl but would scoop her up and make faces at her when no one was looking.
"So, this horrible mission Fury sent you on. Tell me about it." Tony pulls up a chair, looking to Melody as if willing her to speak.
Melody sighs, running a hand over her face. "Oh, God. Where should I even start?"
"First, I got stranded near the Lincoln Memorial. I was running with Steve and had to get a ride to Steve's apartment to get my motorcycle from this guy we met while running. Then, Rumlow gave me shit about being late, so I told him to piss off, and then Steve paired me with STRIKE for the mission. Though, that was slightly expected since Fury wanted me to observe Rumlow. And, I swear, I saw Rumlow whisper 'Hail HYDRA' to Sitwell." Melody recounts.
"Wait, wait, wait. HYDRA? In S.H.I.E.L.D? Did you tell Capsicle?" Tony questions, looking extremely alarmed.
"I was gonna tell Fury when we got back because I didn't wanna say anything to Steve, but as soon as we got back, Steve went to Fury because he was mad about Nat having a different mission and then you texted me and I left. I told Fury to call me though." Melody shrugs. There wasn't much she could do about it now.
Tony sighs, rubbing the left side of his face with his left hand as Melody stares at the wall silently for a few seconds, obviously stressed and lost in her own thoughts. Tony notices and stands up.
"I want a drink, do you? You look like you need a drink." Tony says, snapping Melody out of her daze and making her chuckle softly.
"Yeah, a drink sounds nice." Melody agrees, nodding as she stands up and follows Tony out of the lab.
The two make their way to the newly remodeled penthouse level and head over to the bar. Tony pulls out a bottle of scotch while Melody looks around at all of her choices.
She grabs a bottle of rum off of the shelf and a small can of coke and two lime wedges from the fridge underneath the counter. She puts ice in her cup before pouring in the alcohol and soda and squeezing in the limes before dropping them in the glass.
"Wow, bumblebee, I didn't know you could make drinks." Melody rolls her eyes at both the statement and the nickname.
"Where do you get all these nicknames from?" She wonders aloud, confused as to how he keeps coming up with these nicknames.
Tony just shrugs as he drinks his scotch. Melody follows suit before her phone rings. She sets her glass down and pulls her phone out of her back pocket and looks at the caller ID.
"Oh shit." She mumbles before answering and putting the phone to her ear.
"Agent Rogers." Fury says as she picks up.
"Hey, Nick." Melody responds nonchalantly.
"I'm assuming the important thing you needed to tell me included Rumlow and your mission. What is it?" Fury grumbles, getting straight to the point.
"While we were escorting the hostages to the life pods, I saw Rumlow whisper 'Hail Hydra' to Sitwell. Which, I'd assume, means they're both HYDRA." Melody theorizes, still upset about the fact that someone she considered a friend is a HYDRA operative.
"I figured as much. I expect you back in D.C. to meet with myself and Hill by noon tomorrow, deep cover conditions." Fury informs her.
"W-wha... Okay, yes, sir." Melody says, confused as to how Nick knew she wasn't in D.C., but not surprised that he did.
Fury hangs up and Melody slides her phone back in her pocket, picking up her cup with her free hand and chugging it's contents.
"Fury?" Tony questions as Melody puts her glass back down on the counter, staring at the empty glass as if she was trying to refill it with her mind.
"Yup. I gotta be back in D.C. by noon tomorrow." Melody confirms, looking up from her cup on the countertop and over to Tony.
Tony felt bad for the younger woman. He could tell how much the situation was stressing her out. HYDRA being hidden in S.H.I.E.L.D. was a big deal. This was an organization that her great uncle had crashed a plane into the ocean to destroy, infiltrating the organization her "aunt" and his father helped create.