END-GAME

The first few days were the hardest, as far as Theo was concerned. They had a rough idea about their targets' location, but pinpointing it down and marking the snipers' spots was a whole different thing.

Tony, with the assistance of Jarvis and Marcus had been working their asses out for days,long long hours trying to match the pictures and seen places only to form a rough route for that group.

In the end, Tony managed to purchase two apartments, one for Theo and one for Alvaro, each of them surrounding the location they thought to be the target's main route. That way the snipers could monitor each movement, and with the assistance of the other agents and marines they'd be able to be one step ahead.

Theo was placed with Naveen,Peter and Pietro, whilst Alvaro was placed with Wanda,Marcus,Feye and Natasha. Theo thought that to be a rather poor management part by Tony, which she made sure to express.

“Why the hell am I stationed with those three? Just give me the girls”.

“Yeah, so that quarter of yours can huddle up. No shit, Theo. Not happening. I need you all to be vigilant”,he sighed.

She moved her head out of frustration, leaning back on her chair. They were all staying at her appointed apartment for the time being, only to take care of some last minute issues.

“You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?”,Natasha noted with an arched eyebrow.

“Look- “,Tony huffed out, “I can't keep the twins together. Obviously. And I can't keep you two together either”,he motioned his finger, pointing at both Theo and Natasha.

Wanda pulled her head behind, a little too offended by him as she exchanged a look with Pietro.

“Excuse me? Where's the logic behind that?”

“For one, redhead number three, you keep throwing things at Pietro's head. Poor thing's gonna end up with a concussion in the end. Secondly- Theo can keep the boys in check. Romanoff though? Nah, they're too similar. It's gonna be hell if they're together”.

Theo bit her lower lip; she wouldn't want to admit on that, but Tony did have a point. Her and Natasha always had trouble following orders while together, always clashed at some point. As he said, they were too similar. It would end up badly,one way or the other.

“What about Parker?”,she then asked.

Tony puffed his cheeks a little, “I don' know, I just guessed he'd do better with you. I'm afraid he'll drive Perez nuts”.

Theo motioned her eyebrows. He wasn't all that wrong. Peter had opened up his nostrils, trying not to get too offended by that.

“I'm mostly counting on Anderson to keep things in check over there, and you keeping things in check over here”.

Naveen walked over to Theo; he stood over her chair and all so slightly bent to reach her ear. She could feel his breath against his skin, and almost see that smug smile on his lips.

“I'll try and not take too personal that reaction”,he whispered.

She leaned back and sighed. “Please- do”,she said in a normal tone, not bothering herself to be quiet.

“M'self and Feye here- we gotta find a way t' get on the inside”,Marcus announced.

Theo knitted her eyebrows, got herself to raise her body ,”No way. You're not trained for that”.

“And y'are? Nah, Theo. They know all y'r faces. It's gonna be me 'n one of my marines for this one. Perez's the sniper, and Bourdeaux is no way near 'nough to screw with 'nyone like that. Lacks the experience”.

Theo clenched her jaw. He was quite right about this one.

This was one thing she hated about that team of hers. The lack of the element of surprise. Everybody knew their faces, there were figurines made after them- it was infuriating to her.

“One thing that let me from joining the Avengers in the first place- everybody knows your fucking face”,she said with a certain annoyance in her tone. “So much for going undercover”.

“You never liked going undercover either way,Bennet”,Marcus noted. “You're much more of an action girl”.

She pursed her lips. “Mm. Yeah, you got a point”.

“Too bad. I'd love to see you in a nice dress , putting handcuffs on people”,Naveen hummed.

She rolled her eyes, massaging her temples. It was quite annoying, how she wasn't all that intimidating to them anymore. Not as she was on her first day at least. This had always been her main trouble, be it with the marines or the Avengers, or any team she'd ever been a part of.

Everybody lacked a certain amount of respect when dealing with her, if not from the beginning, then after a while. It could have been that she was a woman, and thus they thought they could flirt their way around- either way, she didn't like it one bit.

She stood up,cracking her neck. Naveen had been watching her all the time. She placed herself right in front of him, and although he'd been smirking, her face was mostly blank.

Pietro himself had been waiting for that time quite a while now. It was always like that with her. She'd always offer a certain amount of time before becoming too harsh and / or rude.

“I don't have the slightest clue as to where you picked up that idea that you're this charming- but next time you speak like that to me, I'm gonna make sure it's gonna be your last. Copy that, Private?”

Naveen's smile soon faded out. He gulped down,trying to keep his chin raised at her. She was starring, her eyes never flaring, her lids never blinking.

“Yes”,he spelled out. “Dully noted, Theo”.

“It's ma'am”,she corrected him.

“...Yes, ma'am”.

Peter's eyes widened at that remark of hers. His only thought at the moment was just how right he'd been by being just a little afraid of her all this time. Theo's tongue was sharp as a blade, at times like this one.

She motioned her eyebrows, “Good”,she huffed out as she turned back to the others.

“One more thing- What're you gonna do if Jenny's there? Think she won't recognize you, Gunny?”

Tony had been watching, Natasha aiding with their exchanged looks. It was more than common – Theo putting someone in place, making them feel extremely ashamed, and then acting as if nothing happened, keep on speaking about the matter on hand.

“Even if she won't- “,Wanda spoke her mind, “Don't you think they'll already know about her associates? I mean,if they really blew her cover..”

“Jenny wouldn't talk”,Marcus stated in a hard and firm tone.

Theo tightened her lips; her gaze fell down as her eyelids slowly closed. As she had predicted, he was too personally invested on this one. Too much to be objective. And she had allowed him to be as much, by simply accepting to help.

“We still need a back up”,Alvaro chimed in, “Just in case, Gunny”.

“Yeah..”,Tony agreed, “We can't compromise this entire mission based on a lost fling here, Anderson”.

Marcus gulped down, his face growing entirely stiff. This was not an option here- to even think that Jenny would ever blow the whistle on them.

She was a damned fine marine- even without considering their past, she'd never talk. Not even by extreme torture techniques. She was trained for that.

“I can do it, Gunny”,Christopher stated. “Me and Feye. We can go in”.

“It's not gonna be easy, Matthews. As far as we know, Frost is a telepath. That's one thing- we know next to nothing about the rest of their powers”,Natasha noted in a sigh.

He turned to her, silent for a moment. He'd been thinking about it, and they all shared that same thought as Natasha. It was deep water, and they barely knew how to swim.

“What other option do we have here,ma'am?”

She didn't respond.

They didn't have one.

“So.. what do we do,man?”,Peter sighed, “This is soo messed up, like, reminds me of the first time I watched Reservoir Dogs- ever seen this one? Man, nothing made sense for a while, mister Orange was a cop, but they didn't know, and then mister-”

“Parker? “

“Yeah?”

“Shut up”,Theo basically pleaded in frustration.

Peter pursed his lips,then nodded.

Theo almost felt sorry at time like this one, like a mother scolding a rather innocently excited child- but they didn't exactly have time to spare on this one.

“Look- let's just monitor their movements a while longer, see if we can find a solid connection between the bombing and the killing. Then, we can talk about goin' in”,Tony suggested. “We can dig our way in with Kenya and Aussie over here”.

Marcus nodded, and seeing that, Feye and Matthews did so too. It's not as if they had any other option at the time.

“Does this place work?”,he then asked Theo.

“It's not ideal; having all these buildings in between-”,she sighed, “ I'll have to work my way around. Perhaps dig a hole in between the walls or something. Gotta find the right angle, just in case I'm needed,Stark”.

“Great. It's on my name, so.. trash it up,for all I care. Romanoff and I are gonna stay on the Quinjet for a while, track down the online trails of the hits. Try and figure out a better geographical profile, I don't know. You're all on your own in this, at least until we can get a better image”.

Natasha nodded in agreement. “Don't shoot, Theo. You too,Alvaro. We still don't got shit to convict them. We'll only gonna end up with corpses and injuries. Is that clear?”

“Crystal, ma'am”,Alvaro said in a calm voice, a faint smile on his lips.

Theo stood up, grabbed her riffle from the table as she figured she'd need to make a few more adjustments. She'd already used a few spots for the riffle in these past days, but as she had said, it wasn't enough.

“Reports are due daily. Alvaro and I will be in constant communication. I just wish we could have Daisy on this one”,Theo said. “Nobody can beat her on online hunting..”

“Johnson's with Barnes in Belgrade, Theo”,Natasha noted, “No luck there”.

“Hm”,she nodded. “Aight. Anyway, you better get moving”.

Natasha nodded, and after patting Tony's back they both stood up. Alvaro along with Wanda followed them till they reached the door. Theo sort of wished she could have talked Tony into letting Wanda and Natasha stay there.

If she had to be honest, she never truly liked being surrounded by these much men all so much. Missions in Iraq, staying in different tents and being hidden behind rock peaks was totally different.

Bursting in with the Avengers, a team formed by people she had known for ten years- also very different.

Being in a 50 squared apartment with three men, to sleep next to, and eat with, and live alongside for god knew how long – it felt like a bad idea, on many levels.

Given that she only ever got along with Peter, him being a child she genuinely liked, wasn't all that helpful. Both Pietro and Naveen could get extremely hard to be with, as it had become apparent.

As soon as the others left, a dead silence flew over the apartment. Theo stood up and grabbed her riffle, ready to study the walls a little more as to find an acute angle for her surveillance.

“Parker?”

“Hm- Yeah?”

“What the hell does your aunt say to your school whenever you're joining missions like this one? Like, what's the excuse for the absence?”

Peter scratched the back of his head a little.

“Well, with the whole 'blipped people suddenly gotten back' thing school hasn't exactly started yet, y'know. But,May seems to find meningitis to be a good enough excuse”.

Theo motioned her eyebrows at him. “Hm. Yeah, makes sense..”