Fractured

This wasn’t the first time his dad had been on a complicated mission, as his mother like to put it. Cooper could still remember the first time he heard that come from his mother’s mouth. He was four and he didn’t understand why his dad wasn’t home yet. “But Mom, Dad promised that he would be here!”

Cooper was too angry to recognize the look in his mother’s eyes. He knew what it was – it had been a look of worry that she tried to mask with patience, even with a squirming toddler that was his sister in her arms. He still felt guilty to this day for throwing an temper tantrum about not being able to go see the drive-in movie with his dad like he promised instead of being a bit nicer to his mom. “I know he did, sweetie, but Dad’s work trip unexpectedly ran a little long.”

A week later his Aunt Bobbi came to stay with him while his mother left to pick up his dad. Four days later they returned. It was late and instead of being in the living room trying to stay awake on the couch to see him, he was upstairs in his room playing with his Captain America action figures. He was still mad at his dad for having missed the movie, after all. Cooper heard the two pairs of feet coming up the stairs and contemplated whether he wanted to feign sleep so that when his dad came to see him he could ignore him or not. That was, until he heard their voices clear as day. “You need to go get some rest, honey.”

“And I will but I want to see the kids first.”

There was something about his dad’s voice that didn’t sound right. He couldn’t really describe it. All he knew was that it didn’t sound like his dad. Like any Barton, his curiosity got the best of him and he crept to his door and widened it just enough to peer through the crack. He almost wished he hadn’t. His dad looked thinner than he remembered and his skin looked paler than usual. One arm was in a sling and the other was wrapped around his mother’s shoulders as she tried to help walk him to the bedroom. “And you will, but in the morning after you’ve slept and look less…”

“You can say it, you know. I look like shit.”

“I was going to say less ghost-like and more human.” His dad did chuckle a bit but it turned into a pain-filled cough in a matter of seconds. “Probably shouldn’t laugh with busted ribs.”

“All the more reason why you need to lie down. I’ve already put Lila to bed and Cooper…”

There was a pause and Cooper heard the heavy sigh from his dad. “How mad is he?”

“He’ll be okay. You remember what it was like at his age.”

He saw how his dad wanted to point out something when the echoes of Lila’s cries filled the hallway. His mom looked at the room and then back to his dad who just nodded. “Go take care of her. I think I can walk the extra few steps to the bedroom.”

Laura had smiled and gave him a soft kiss before carefully untangling herself from him and heading down the hall to Lila’s room. Cooper watched as his dad leaned against the hallway wall and pondered if he wanted to go out and see him or if he should just remain in his room. “You know I can see you, right, kiddo?”

Cooper hadn’t realized that his dad’s eyes had fixed on him as soon as his mom had left. Sometimes it sucked to have the world’s most observant dad. He slowly let the door open the rest of the way, his face void of any emotion. Mostly because he didn’t know how he felt. Sure, he had been mad at his dad but now, seeing him, he was scared. He watched as his dad pushed himself off the wall and tentatively took a few steps towards him, carefully pointing to the inside of his room. “You mind if I come in, bud?”

Instead of saying anything Cooper had stepped back and let his dad enter his room. It was weird to see him move so slowly, especially when he tried to sit down on his bed. Cooper had seen his dad come back hurt before but this was different. He vaguely recalled a memory where he may have seen his dad like this but it was so fuzzy. “I know I made a promise, Cooper,” Clint started as he looked up at his son’s face, “And I broke that promise. And for that, I am so very sorry. I just want you to know that I did everything I could to try and make it back on time.”

Cooper’s eyes were almost scanning him. He could see the weird colors and lumps on his dad’s face and how his right shoulder looked funny. “What happened?” Cooper finally asked, his voice soft.

Clint sighed heavily as he patted the spot next to him on the bed so Cooper could sit down. He did and when he was sitting down Clint wrapped his arm around him and pulled him in. Cooper felt how his dad stiffened and heard the grumble in his chest from what he could only assume was discomfort from his “busted ribs” but he didn’t move. “Oh, kid,” he sighed as he rubbed his back gently with his thumb, “I want to tell you but you and I both know your mom will probably kill me if I tell you. She can be real scary when she’s mad.”

“Yeah,” Cooper muttered as he wrapped his arms around his dad’s waist, “She was really scared while you were away.”

Clint sighed as he nodded. “Yeah, I bet she was.”

“She doesn’t like to show it, but I know she was.”

“Yeah?” Cooper nodded as he looked up at his dad. “I can see it. Just like how you see things.”

Clint smirked and chuckled as he ruffled his hair. “I bet you can, buddy.” Cooper laughed as well as he tried to squirm away from his dad’s disruption of his hair and for a moment, Cooper could ignore the scary look of his dad. Even as Clint’s smile seemed to soften. “Listen, buddy, I’ll make you a deal, okay? Tomorrow I’ll make it up to you and we’ll have our own drive-in movie night. Sound good?”

Cooper was nodding when the sound of his mother clearing her throat pulled their attention to the door where Laura stood with a sleeping Lila in her arms. “You’re supposed to be in bed resting, mister.”

“Busted,” Clint mumbled to Cooper which made him laugh. Clint kissed the top of his head and muttered, “Love you, buddy. Get some rest, okay?”

Cooper nodded and watched as his dad stood up from his bed and stumbled towards his mom. “Hey Dad?”

“Yeah, Coop?” Clint asked as he turned to look at his son. “I love you.”

Clint smiled. “I love you too, buddy.”

That wasn’t the last time that Clint’s work trips lasted a little longer than anticipated. It happened two more times that year. “Dad’s work is lasting a little longer than it’s supposed to but he’ll be back as soon as he can,” his mom would tell him each time.

Cooper learned very quickly what that meant. He was six when his dad came back from another elongated work trip. He didn’t physically look hurt but he was sick. Deadly sick. “Dad just got a virus on his trip but he’ll be okay,” his mom had told him.

Cooper didn’t believe her.

He wasn’t supposed to but he snuck into his dad’s room when his mom was cleaning up another one of Lila’s disasters in the living room. His dad was passed out cold with numerous machines hooked up to him, feeding him liquids and medicines. It was almost more scary than any time he came back hurt. He was holding his dad’s hand when he heard footsteps coming up the stairwell again. Not wanting to get caught Cooper hid in his parent’s closet and watched through the crack as Uncle Fury came in with Auntie Nat. “It looks like the antidote is working,” Uncle Fury said as Auntie Nat nodded. “It is but he’s still got a long way to go before he gets the neurotoxin out of his system. Laura said he’s been more coherent lately but she also said he forgot what happened to his brother last year.”

Cooper bit his inner cheek as he noticed how Uncle Fury’s shoulders seem to drop a bit. “Did Laura say if he’ll gain any of his memories back?”

“She’s hopeful. She talked with her sister and Bobbi agreed that the memory loss is only temporary. Once the swelling goes down he should, in theory, regain everything.”

“This is Barton we are talking about. He’s always got something swollen around him.”

“I heard that.” Uncle Fury and Auntie Nat looked at the bed and noticed how his dad’s eyes were starting to open and how he tried to sit up. “Hey, take it easy, Clint,” Auntie Nat urged as she sat down on the bed next to his dad and took his hand, “You shouldn’t be trying to sit up.”

“I’m sick and sore, not dying or dead,” his dad grunted as he sat himself up and leaned against the headboard. “Nice to see you again, Fury.”

“Likewise, Barton. How are you feeling.”

“Like I got hit by a bus.” Clint rolled his shoulders out as he felt the need to stretch. “You making sure I didn’t kick the bucket this time, boss?”

“Something like that. Figured I’d stop by and make sure you were doing alright. You had a close call there in Mirrakesh.”

Clint seemed to chuckle. “Before you say anything else that’s confidential you might want to hold off for a minute. We got a little spy in my closet.”

 Cooper blushed a little as all the eyes turned to the closet door. “It’s okay, buddy, you can come out now.”

Cooper sheepishly stepped out. “I didn’t mean to spy.”

“It’s okay, kid,” Uncle Fury smirked as he looked back at Clint, “Like father, like son. You want us to give you a minute, Barton?”

Clint nodded and waited until the two others had left the room before ushering Cooper over to him. “I thought momma told you that you weren’t supposed to come in here.”

“I know, Dad, but…” Cooper didn’t finish. Instead he jumped on the bed and curled his feet under him so he could look at his dad. Apparently he didn’t have to finish as Clint just took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I know, buddy. I was too. You know Mom told me that you were really brave while I was gone.”

Cooper nodded. “Lila doesn’t know yet what Momma means when she says your work trip is extra long yet.”

“And you do…you definitely get your smarts from your mother.” The last bit of that statement was so quiet Cooper almost missed it. “Well, since you’re so smart and brave, I want you to make me a promise then. Okay?”

Cooper nodded as he inched a little closer to Clint. “I need you to be Mom’s right-hand when I’m away, okay? Your mom, she….well, she can be a little stubborn and doesn’t like asking for help so I need you to be there for her when I can’t be. Can you do that, bud?”

Cooper nodded. “I promise, Dad. But you have to promise you’ll always come home so I can tell you how I helped Mom.”

Clint laughed as he pulled Cooper in and gave him a tight hug. “Yeah, buddy, I promise. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

Every time after that Cooper kept his promise. He looked out for his mom and his sister whenever Dad had to leave for a work trip. He tried to hide it from Lila as much as he could like Mom wanted but one year before New York, Lila had overheard Mom tell Cooper what was actually happening. Lila didn’t handle it well. She would have nightmares the entire time Dad was gone. Cooper would sleep in Lila’s room and reassure her that Dad was coming back. “How do you know that, Cooper?” Lila asked one night, crying.

“Because Dad promised he would always come back.”

And that’s what Cooper told himself now as he sat in the Avenger’s Compound. It had been a week since they had arrived. Mom didn’t tell him everything but he knew enough to know what was going on. Dad and Uncle Tony were missing after something happened at the White House and Mom was helping everyone track them down. Lila, it seemed, was still completely oblivious to it all. She spent most of her time with Thor who seemed to be taking on the mantle of babysitter really well. Honestly, Cooper was happy that he could keep her so well entertained because it allowed him to roam around the compound.

Today he wound up in Tony’s lab. The AI system, FRIDAY, seemed more than happy to let him in and although he wasn’t supposed to touch anything he couldn’t help but tinker with some arrowheads on the table. “How did you get in here?”

Cooper turned, quickly hiding the tools behind him as he saw the tall man standing in front of him with his arms’ crossed. He had been one of the guys to bring them to the compound….Sam. Yeah, it was Sam. He was sure that was what his name was. “Nothing.”

“Don’t look like nothing,” Sam commented, stepping closer and noticing the little project on the table. “You know Tony was working on making that for your dad, right?”

“Yeah,” Cooper nodded, looking back at it for a minute, “Yeah, Dad used to play with his own arrowheads in our barn. He showed me how he made them and we would come up with ideas together.”

Sam smirked as he got a closer look. “You’re pretty damn good, kid. Tony might need to watch out…hey, you want to see something cool?”

When Cooper nodded Sam pulled out his phone and hit some buttons. Faintly Cooper could hear a whizzing and then a little red and white drone appeared next to Sam. “This is Redwing. Redwing, this is Cooper Barton. He’s Hawkeye’s kid.”

Sam pressed another button and the droid raised and lowered one of it’s flaps like it was waving, making Cooper chuckle. “I built him myself. Stark had a hand in developing certain pieces of him, but he’s all mine. I was going to do a check up on him to make sure his systems are functional if you wanted to join me.”

When Cooper nodded again Sam laughed and nodded at him to follow him to the little workstation Tony had set aside for anyone who needed to borrow some of his workspace. Sam powered down Redwing and started taking him apart, carefully watching Cooper out of the corner of his eye. He could tell the kid was interested in what Sam was doing but he could also see that his dad’s disappearance was still very much bothering him. “How old are you, kid?”

“Twelve. I turn thirteen in October.”

“Twelve….” Sam muttered to himself as if mulling it over until he chuckled and shook his head. “Well I’ll be damned…”

“What?”

“Your dad….I met him way back. I was in the Air Force and I was part of a test pilot program deployed downrange in Afghanistan. Your dad was sent undercover to check out the program and see what the fuss was all about. Now, I didn’t know who he was at the time. The guy introduced himself as Master Sergeant William James and damn, he was an arrogant son of a bitch…” Sam paused, realizing he probably needed to watch his mouth around Barton’s offspring.

“It’s okay,” Cooper reassured, “Dad sometimes forgets to not use bad words around Lila and Nate too.”

“Alright. You can keep me in check, then. Anyway, this was about thirteen years ago. He and I were out on a mission to diffuse a bomb and it didn’t really go all that well. Your dad….he saved my life. And on the way back he was telling me about his girl back home and how she was expecting his first kid. Told me that even after everything that happened while we were in Afghanistan and all the crazy sh…stuff he had seen, nothing scared him more than being a bad dad. After I learned that he was actually an undercover SHIELD operative, I thought it was all bull. But now I know he was talking about you, kid. And from where I’m sitting, he did something right because he raised a very smart, brave kid.”

Sam didn’t know if his story at all helped but when he saw a smile on Cooper’s face, he deemed that it had to have worked. “I promised him I would be brave for Mom when he was gone. Like he promised that he would always come back.”

He didn’t let it show but Sam felt a slight sting in his gut when he heard those words. Nothing in their work was guaranteed. This job was dangerous and any moment could be their last. It was a promise that Clint knew he wouldn’t be able to fulfill one day. But there was no way in hell Sam was going to say otherwise. “Your dad always keeps his promises, doesn’t he?”

“He tries.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, I bet he does. Well, I’m gonna make you a promise too and I promise you that we’ll do whatever it takes to bring him home, okay?”

Cooper nodded as he started poking at Redwing’s circuits. Sam probably shouldn’t have made that promise but he did. It was what Steve would have done. Not wanting to dwell on his coma buddy in the room downstairs, Sam decided to focus instead on what Cooper was doing. “What do you see, kid?”

“If you split this circuit and route the new end to this terminal you can make him more quiet.”

Sam examined the wiring and smirked. “Well I’ll be damned…should we test this out?”

Cooper nodded more enthusiastically and the two got to work splitting the circuit and putting it back together. “Hey FRIDAY, can you bring up the different feeds of everyone in the complex?”

//Certainly, Sam.// The holoscreen projected in front of them and Cooper looked on in awe of it. “Wow…that’s so cool.”

“Yeah, it is,” Sam smirked, looking at the different cameras. Laura and Natasha were in the briefing room, probably still going over lingering questions from the incident. Rhodey was talking with Bruce in Bruce’s lab about something that he was sure was way over his head. Pietro was asleep on the couch with little Nate on his chest while Kate sat by with a cup of coffee…probably her fifth one that day. He had to hide his laughter when he saw Thor with Lila in Thor’s room having what was definitely a tea party, complete with tutus and tiaras. “FRIDAY I hope you’re recording that.”

//Of course.// Sam chuckled as his eyes landed on Bucky who was in his own room cleaning his guns. “Bingo. You want to see if Redwing can sneak up on Bucky there?” Sam asked, pointing to the feed in question.

“Yeah,” Cooper replied enthusiastically. Sam grabbed his control pad and turned on Redwing before handing it over to Cooper. “I think you should do the honors. Don’t worry, I’ll guide you.”

The light in Cooper’s eyes was incredibly bright as he took the control pad from Sam and followed his instructions on how to maneuver Redwing. He followed the course and Sam watched on the video feed as Redwing slid in through the vents and hovered behind Bucky without Bucky seemingly aware of it. “Alright, when I say, hit that blue button…..now.”

Cooper hit the blue button and Sam watched as Redwing on the screen emitted a loud, obnoxious bird noise. Bucky jumped, pulling his knife and preparing himself for an attack as he turned around, only to relax and look incredibly annoyed by the drone behind him. For Cooper and Sam, though, they were laughing. “Not bad, kid. Not bad at all.”

~~~

Everything was going swimmingly, according to Zemo. He was sat in his office, watching the various monitors with the different security footage that was watching his subjects. Stark was toiling away in the lab while under heavy watch from the three agents assigned to him. Barton was in medical getting “treated” for the injuries he had sustained when the Barton brothers had been reunited. “I still think you should have let me go a little longer with him,” Barney muttered from his seat across the room.

“All in good time,” Zemo replied, glancing away from the cameras for a moment to look at his associate, “I need Stark to continue his work for just a bit longer first so we can move into phase two.”

“I still don’t understand why you even care about that Extremis bullshit. You said it yourself – the world don’t need more super soldiers.”

“And you are corrected, Charles. Steve Rogers was a mistake. James Barnes, while useful, was a mistake. Men should not be granted the power of the gods.”

“So then why have Stark work with it at all?”

Zemo smirked as he pressed a couple buttons on his keyboard. “For the same reason I sent you in to see your brother. It is all part of the experiment, my dear Charles. Soon enough, you shall see why Stark’s work is necessary. But for now, I have another assignment for you.”

Barney gazed at Zemo and stood up to approach as Zemo held out a file. “Sergeant Barnes is no doubt searching for the missing Avengers. I know his methods – he’ll be searching for Cross and Rumlow. I need you to provide some fake leads for our sergeant to follow to ensure that we will not be disrupted.”

“And what about the rest of the Avengers?”

“That’s where part two of your mission comes in. If you would so kindly turn the page.” Barney flipped over the page and read the brief. “You sure she’s ready for this?”

“I have every faith in our newest agent to keep an eye on our lovely Avengers. You’ll be instructed to check up with her every now and again and let me know what she finds.”

Shutting the file, Barney nodded. “You got it, boss.”

“Herr Zemo?” Their eyes turned to the agent in a labcoat that was now standing in the doorway. “I hate to interrupt, but I have the results from Barton’s latest bloodwork.”

Zemo waved at the scientist to enter so he may take the results. As his eyes scanned over the document, he smirked. “The levels are improving. I think it’s about time we move onto phase two for him.”

“Shall I set up interview room five again?”

“No, no…I want him brought to my office. I want him to be…comfortable.” The agent nodded before he turned, pulling out his walkie and issuing the instructions while he left. “With all due respect, boss, but I wanted to be here when you started phase two on my brother,” Barney spoke up as he tapped the file in his hands.

“I am aware, however in order for phase two to be successful, I need you to complete your task. Now run along, Charles. You have a plane to catch if you are going to land on time to meet our agent.”

The look on Barney’s face as that of pure annoyance. Zemo knew how much Barney wanted to be in on anything regarding his younger brother, however, Zemo needed to make sure that every move he made was exact and precise. One slip up could ruin the entire operation he had planned. Agent Barton was a highly-trained SHIELD agent. He was an expert in interrogation techniques and tactics and surely would not be fooled by simple methods of deceit. Even with the drugs coursing through his blood, Zemo knew better than to underestimate him.

Zemo pretended to be busy reading a book when Clint was led into the office. “Ah, Agent Barton, welcome. Sit, please," Zemo smiled as he motioned to the chair across from him.

Clint gazed over his shoulder at the two Hydra agents who had “escorted” him to the office. “Do I really have a choice?” he asked before sitting down.

Zemo laughed under his breath as Clint raised his hands up in front of his face to show the shackles. “Think we can take these off now?”

“I am afraid now, Agent Barton. Your skills are well renowned.”

Clint shrugged as he lowered them into his lap. “Worth a shot.”

“Indeed. Now then, you are probably wondering as to why I have brought you here.”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“I just want to have a chat.” Zemo took a moment to smile as he folded his hands in front of him on the desk. “I have heard such wonderful stories about you from your brother, but as we both know there are always two sides to the story, no? That and, well, there are a lot of holes that he couldn’t, unfortunately, fill in for me.”

Zemo noticed how Barton seemed to stiffen at the mention of his brother. Visual queues were all Zemo needed right now. That way he knew where to poke the figurative bear, so to speak. “And what makes you think I want to talk about any of that with you?”

“Oh, I’m sure you do not wish to discuss these things, however I will remind you of the rules I set forth. I could remind you, if you so wish…”

“No.” Zemo had to admit that the quickness of Clint’s rebuttal was quite shocking, everything considering. And, so it seemed, Clint thought the same thing. He cleared his throat and sat back, not realizing he had inched forward a bit when he worked to cut Zemo off before he could finish his sentence. He didn’t say anything and Zemo just smirked. “Shall we get started, then? Your brother mentioned your childhood and how rather unhappy it was. Your father…Harold, yes? He was not the nurturing type. He preferred the bottle to his family. Am I correct so far?”

Zemo watched Clint’s reactions to his words. While his face remained stoic and untelling, his body spoke volumes. The unintentional shifting in his chair, the way he stretched out his neck and rolled his shoulders. Clearly uncomfortable. “Were you glad, then, the night of the car crash? I mean, it was tragic. Your mother seemed like a nice person…”

“What are you playing at, Zemo?” Zemo shrugged as if he didn’t  understand what it was Clint was referring to. “I just wish to know the man behind the bow. You see, when Agent Romanoff dumped all those files on the web of SHIELD, yours was quite scarce. In fact, I could almost find nothing about you. Just basic details on missions that you were part of, your basic information and your level within SHIELD. Even the Black Widow had more information than you.”

“SHIELD had been doing surveillance on her for some time. I was hardly on SHIELD’s radar like she was.”

“I think we both know that isn’t true, now is it?” Clint’s brow furrowed as Zemo reached into his desk and pulled out a file. “February 6^th, 1989. Barcelona. You were…what? Only 18, no?”

Again there was that shifting in the chair. “SHIELD was following up on a lead of a deadly assassin that had been working his way through Europe for the past year. Nothing out of the ordinary except for two things – the number of confirmed assassinations was abnormally high for the span of a year and the method of execution was the same across the board. An arrow through the eye socket of each victim. The original task force, headed by an Agent Nick Fury, was supposed to eliminate the threat but after the incident in Barcelona in February, Director Margaret Carter made the decision to bring them in as an asset.” Zemo paused as he looked up and smirked in Clint’s direction. “A similar story to how you brought in Agent Romanoff. How did you convince Agent Fury and Director Carter to remove the kill order on you?”

Clint was eyeing him as if he didn’t  understand why he was asking him that. Fair enough. “I proved that they could trust me.”

“Trust,” Zemo hummed as he sat the file down and leaned back in his chair. “You don’t have the best track record with trusting people, now, do you?”

Zemo took Clint’s silence as confirmation of his beliefs. “And you do not exactly trust others because of this. I certainly wouldn’t, if I were you. Looking at your history, every time you’ve trusted someone they’ve used it against you. Your old mentor, Buck Chisholm. Jacques Duquesne. Your brother. Your father. It’s a wonder that you trust your team as much as you do.”

“They’ve earned my trust.”

Zemo smirked as he turned the computer screen showing Tony in the lab working on the Extremis vials. “Perhaps you should rethink that. Did he tell you about what it is he is doing? What he does when he is taken away each day?”

Clint’s brow furrowed as he watched the screen. Honestly he had no idea what Tony was doing. He just knew that Tony was “working on a way to get them out.” Whatever that was. So he just shrugged. “I’m not exactly a genius like him. Probably would have gone over my head.”

“That’s not what your file says, Agent Barton. Your SHIELD file says you have an IQ of 120, which is very high for someone who never finished high school. Not that it matters. No, you see, Mr. Stark here comes  and works in this lab every day on a substance that I am sure you are quite familiar with. You know of Extremis, no?"

And there it was. That crack in the dam. He noticed how Clint’s body seemed to get rigid and how he sat up a bit straighter. “Of course you do. I’m sure Stark told you all about it and how he’s working on modifying it for me and, in exchange, I leave you unharmed.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Zemo struck a couple keys and the feed changed to a screenshot of a recording. Another keystroke later, Clint watched as the video feed began. “We had a deal, Zemo. I help you with your project and you leave Barton alone.” Zemo stopped the recording and turned his attention to Clint who’s brow had furrowed in confusion. “Do you believe me now, Agent Barton?”

“No…no, you doctored this somehow. Tony wouldn’t….” But Clint’s voice trailed off and Zemo just smiled a bit brighter. “I assure you, Agent Barton, I did no such thing. This is all very real. But if you don’t believe me, why don’t you ask him yourself.”

Clint’s eyes leveled on Zemo and in the blink of an eye he was lunging out of his seat in Zemo’s direction. The guards behind him jumped forward and grabbed him, trying to pull him back before plunging a needle into his neck and injecting him with a sedative. It worked and Clint stumbled as he fell limp in his seat. “I think he took it well,” Zemo smirked as he looked at his agents who were starting to hoist up the delirious Avenger, “Inject him with another round of the chemical and drop him off in his cell. And be gentle.”

The agents nodded before dragging Clint out of Zemo’s office. Zemo just rolled out his shoulders and turned the computer screen back towards him and changed the feed to the live security footage of Tony in the lab. Yes, things were going absolutely according to plan.

TBC…