“Sir, what are we going to do?” I asked Director Fury as I took a seat across from his desk. We had taken to living in the carrier again after the benefit party the week before. It had taken all of my skill to avoid Tony and Steve, but I had managed. Of course Clint thought I was being ridiculous and needed to forgive the both of them, but what did he know? “Agent?” Fury was playing dumb with me, which I didn’t appreciate in the least. “About the drones. They’re powered by an energy similar to that of the Tesseract.” I said, as if he didn’t already know. Fury sighed and rubbed his eye. That was never a good sign. “We received a distress call from Asgard about two weeks ago, concerning the Tesseract.” Fury began slowly. He had known. The bastard had known something was going to happen the whole damned time. And he had done nothing. “You knew?” I accused roughly. “You knew and you just sat idle and let it happen?” “Agent, please try to unders-“ I shook my head and cut him off. I had had enough of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets. “No, you try to understand, Fury.” I commanded, standing from my seat and towering over his desk. “Either you come clean, with all of us, or I’m out. And I have a feeling the others will feel the same.” I continued before turning on my heel and striding out of the office, leaving Fury rubbing that damn eye. “What’s got you upset?” My brother asked cautiously when I joined him in the target range. I pulled my gun out of my thigh holster and fired a few rounds, blasting through my target before answering him. “Fury.” I said simply. My brother nodded knowingly. Fury had pissed all of us off at some point or another, so it was no surprise to Clint that the Director was the source of my distress. “What is it this time?” He asked casually, knocking an arrow and taking aim. “I’m sure we’ll have a meeting about it later.” I shrugged as he released his arrow and it sang to its target. I didn’t want to be the one to tell Clint that the Tesseract was back on Earth. I didn’t want to see the fear and the anger in his eyes when he discovered the source of the mind control he had undergone was terrorizing us again. I hated seeing my brother in his moments of weakness. “So have you talked to Tony?” He asked, hopping over the barrier to retrieve his arrow. “No, I haven’t. And I don’t really-“ “Hey sis, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Clint interrupted, scaling the barrier a second time before quickly walking out. “Hey! Where are you-“ “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.” Steve said from behind me, interrupting me a second time. “Well you are. So apologize and leave.” I huffed, filling a clip with ammo. “Amanda. Please, can we just talk?” He pleaded, and I saw him step closer to me out of the corner of my eye. I slid the clip in place and hit the safety on my gun, sliding it into its holster before turning to face him. I studied his face for a moment, it was the first time I had really looked at him since the benefit party. I wondered if I was the cause of the bags beneath his blue eyes. His face looked worn and haggard, and his normally perfectly combed hair was a bit ruffled. The sight made me feel the smallest bit of guilt. “What do you want to talk about?” I sighed, crossing my arms and leaning back against the barrier counter. Steve glanced around before answering, worried about being overheard, but there was no one else in the range. “I just- I’m sorry, Amanda.” He finally began, stepping closer again. “It’s just hard. I lost everything when I put that plane down.” I knew he was thinking about Peggy and I couldn’t help the bitterness that rose up inside of me. If he was so intent of having me, why couldn’t he just forget about her? “I’m sorry, Steve. But I can’t be with someone that’s living in the past.” I sighed, shaking my head. I found myself looking anywhere but him. Once again, I knew that if I made eye contact with those blue eyes of his, I would never be able to keep up this resolve. “Amanda. I’m not- I’m trying, alright?” The pleading tone to his voice forced me to look up at him. I saw the honesty in his eyes and felt my heart melt just a little. But a voice in my head told me that he had already walked out once, what was stopping him from doing it again? “Now’s not the best time.” I countered, steeling myself against him once again. “And when is the best time? When the world is falling down around us?” His voice was shaking, whether it was from anger or nerves, I couldn’t tell. “Dammit, Amanda. I want to be happy with you NOW! We both deserve to be happy.” His voice softened as he approached me, uncrossing my arms and taking my hands into his own. His blue eyes searched my own for an answer and I felt my heart melting for the second time. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. He found the answer he was looking for when I shook my head and peered up at him through my lashes. Damn the man, I was never going to win with him. He smiled softly as he leaned down to press a kiss to my lips. His lips were soft against mine until I parted them with my tongue. Steve dropped my hands to lift me up onto the counter by my hips, and deepened the kiss. I felt a moan escape from my own throat as he pressed himself closer between my legs, one hand on my lower back, the other on my hip. I had one hand on his chest and the other was tugging at his hair as I bit softly on his lower lip, eliciting another of his animalistic groans. As quickly as it began, our moment was ruined as Directory Fury called for the Avengers to assemble in the conference room through our earpieces. “Well fuck.” I grumbled, breathless. My forehead was pressed against Steve’s and his eyes were closed, a small bit of pink coloring his cheeks. I was almost certain he had never kissed another girl like that and he was probably embarrassed that it had gone so far. “Steve.” He opened his eyes and met mine, smiling before pulling away. “We should go.” He rasped, his voice husky. He pulled away and lifted me off of the counter, making sure I was steady on my feet before lacing his fingers with mine. -Clint’s POV- I watched closely with a smirk as my sister entered with the captain. Their hands were intertwined and they chose chairs next to each other, never breaking skin contact. I knew it was only a matter of time before they sorted things out. Steve was too persistent for my sister to ignore him for long. He would be good for her, and as a brother, I approved. Although, I was going to have to have a talk with him later on. Amanda caught me smirking at the pair of them and quickly stuck her tongue out at me childishly before Fury began talking. “Thor is en route. He should be here with in the hour.” He began. The fact that Thor was on his way made me a bit uneasy. This must be serious. “The drones that Prothmore is using give off a similar energy signature as the Tesseract. And a couple of weeks ago, we received a distress call from Asgard, informing us that the Tesseract had disappeared.” Fury continued, pacing in front of us. I clenched my jaw, thinking of what that bastard had made me do. I still wasn’t sure how many agents I had harmed while under the spell of the Tesseract, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. But if this mission was about the Tesseract, it was personal.

Notes

Well here's part eleven :) hope you guys are enjoying this. Let me know what you think? I have up to part thirteen written and I'm working on fourteen now. Any suggestions for bettering this story would be greatly appreciated. If anyone is interested I have a Jeremy Renner fic on mibba called The Truth About Love.