Chapter 2
“Is the report of an atmospheric disturbance near DC what I think it was?” Fury’s voice projected from the phone speaker.
“It depends on what you think it was,” Thor grinned at the rest of the team as he replied.
“Welcome back,” Fury sounded pleased with his arrival. “I think it’s about time for me to fill you in; however, that’s going to have to wait. Rogers and Romanov have been assigned a mission.”
“You say that like it wasn’t your choice?” Steve immediately picked up the unusual phrasing.
“It wasn’t, but we’re going to make the best of it. You’re supposed to report in 2 hours for the mission briefing. You likely won’t see me while you’re here, but I need you to keep your eyes and ears open on this.” Fury paused for a few seconds. “And Stark, if you’ve got any tricks up your sleeve that can keep those two from falling off the grid without the rest of you knowing, now would be the time to break them out.”
“Are you saying you think we’re at risk?” Steve felt TJ’s hand gripping his side, his head coming to rest against the back of Steve’s neck.
“I’m saying I don’t trust some of the players involved and would prefer not to take unnecessary risks. Be careful.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Natasha replied before Fury disconnected.
“Well, shit.” Tony looked from the phone to Natasha, Steve, and TJ. “JARVIS, I need their new gear here now.”
“It is preparing to depart Avengers Tower now, sir. It should be here within 40 minutes.”
“Good man, J. Somebody gets a gold star for paying attention.” Tony nodded thoughtfully.
“New gear?” TJ questioned, hoping that Tony really did have some tricks up his sleeve that would make sure the pair came back unharmed.
“You’ll catch on,” Tony grinned. “It’s a rare day that I don’t have new things in development for everyone on the team.” Tossing his phone onto the counter, he requested JARVIS pull up the 3D model of Steve’s newest suit. “Nat, you might want to do the same with yours. There are a few new bells and whistles that you’ll want to be aware of in case you have a need for them. Most importantly,” he looked back and forth between her and Steve, “both suits are fully laced with tech that will let JARVIS locate you at all times. The suits themselves should be next to impossible to tear, but in case someone managed to remove any piece of them I didn’t want to limit tracking to a single chip that could be separated from the rest of you.”
“Smart,” Nat shrugged as she held up her phone and headed to the door, both Clints following right behind her. “We’ll just be running through orientation.”
By the time the physical suits arrived, both team members were well acquainted with their new gear.
“I know usually I’d tell you that you really didn’t have to do this for me,” Steve’s hand rested on Tony’s shoulder. “But right now I’m really glad you did. Thank you.”
The billionaire forced himself to meet Steve’s eyes even though he knew his own were full of worry about what exactly Steve and Natasha were about to walk into. “You guys just stay safe. We’ll keep an eye on you from here and make sure everyone else stays safe. Now, why don’t you go put your fancy new gear on so you aren’t late.”
Steve squeezed his shoulder one more time before picking up the new uniform. Reaching for TJ’s hand, he pulled him along. The time to depart for SHIELD’s office was quickly approaching and he wanted a few minutes alone with him to make sure he was okay.
As soon as the bedroom door closed behind him, Steve let the suit drop to the floor so he could pull TJ into a tight embrace.
“Hey,” TJ murmured against his neck. “It’ll be okay. You’ve got the new gear from Tony. The guard spider is going with you. Plus, I have it on good authority that you’re pretty damned tough and resourceful yourself. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be here with the rest of the gang when you get back.”
Steve released him just enough so he could look into his eyes and was relieved to see that TJ seemed to genuinely believe it would be just fine. Unable to resist he slipped his hand into TJ’s hair and pulled him in for a bruising kiss.
“Damn. I wish we had more time.” Steve sounded a bit breathless when their lips finally separated.
“We’ll have plenty of time when you get back home. Now you better get that fancy new suit on before someone comes looking for you.”
Several minutes later they’d rejoined the rest of the group in the foyer. It was evident the group was a bit on edge, but everyone tried to give the appearance of remaining calm.
Natasha wrapped her arms around TJ’s waist, smiling as he pulled her tight. “Get you both home safe and I’ll make you more cookies.” He felt her giggle against his chest, but also felt the answering nod. “Both of you. Not just him.” At those words, she shifted so she could look up at him.
“I promise. I’ll do anything and everything needed to bring us both home.”
****
Sitting around the briefing room table, Steve tried to give the appearance that this was just another mission to him even though his gut was telling him something was very off.
Rumlow stared at him, offering a grin that made Steve's skin crawl.
“Should be a piece of cake, right Cap? Get on board, overpower some pirates, save the hostages, and reclaim the ship. We'll be home by dinner tomorrow.”
“Easy enough,” Nat shrugged. Based on what they'd learned so far there was a good chance at least some of the Strike Team members were involved in the corruption and something about Rumlow's behavior made her think he wasn't an ally.
“Unless there is additional intel, it looks like it is time to head out.” Steve didn't bother waiting for agreement before he rose and headed toward the door. If this was some sort of trap, sitting around wasn't going to get them in or out of it any sooner.
****
“See. We can watch their location,” Tony pointed at the small shield and black widow spider that were floating together over the map JARVIS was projecting into the living room.
“Are there limits to where it can track them?” TJ asked as he watched the symbols move. Based on the speed and distance they were covering, he guessed they were in a quinjet.
“We should be good as long as they're on the planet or even possibly a nearby planet. Not much in the way of established satellite networks in the other realms, so if Loki pops down from Asgard and kidnaps them we might have a hard time.”
TJ glanced toward Thor wondering if that was a scenario he should be concerned about.
“Fear not, TJ. My brother is currently in an Asgardian prison. He'll not be abducting anyone.” Thor tried to smile as he shared the news, but TJ could see his brother’s predicament bothered the Asgardian. Despite his worry over Steve and Nat, he made a mental note to find out more about Loki later. After all, he could sympathize with the struggle of being a brother.
Everyone continued staring at the tracker showed them moving across the Atlantic. Without knowing their destination no one was willing to walk away in case something happened.
“Wish I’d had time to integrate the comms units into their suits,” Tony grumbled. “That’s definitely next on the list of upgrades.”
“Shall I see if I can discreetly hack the SHIELD comms?” JARVIS asked immediately.
“I feel like I should have thought of that already,” Tony smacked his forehead. “Yes. Please. Hack away.”
Pepper squeezed his arm. “You can’t think of everything.”
“Can’t I?” Tony gave her a smirk even though his eyes betrayed his frustration with missing something that would have let them keep closer tabs on the pair.
“Just because you may be able to doesn’t mean anyone expects you to.” TJ offered worrying that if anything went wrong Tony was going to blame himself for missing something that might have helped.
Tony shrugged but offered a slightly more believable smile.
“Why don’t we order something for dinner?” Pepper suggested. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m too distracted to think about cooking.”
“Sounds like a plan,” TJ confirmed, noticing that everyone seemed to look to him. “That Chinese place we’ve ordered from before is good.”
“Shall I place the usual order?” JARVIS asked before Pepper could offer to call.
“Aren’t you busy hacking SHIELD?” Sam looked confused.
“Have a little more faith in my abilities,” JARVIS’s voice was something between smug and offended. “I am able to complete more than one task at a time. Not to mention, I’m almost done gaining access.”
A few seconds later they heard a new voice over the sound system. “We should reach the Lemurian Star in approximately 90 minutes.”
Before anyone could ask, JARVIS spoke again. “Dinner will be here in 45 minutes. In the meantime, I’ll send all available details about the ship in question to your StarkPads and phones.”
“Thanks, J.” TJ, Tony, and Bruce all replied.
“Looks like they’re headed to the Indian Ocean,” Clint commented as he began scrolling through the data JARVIS shared. “Something about this definitely smells fishy.”
Before anyone could comment further, they heard a knock at the door.
“JARVIS?” Tony questioned as he headed to the door, Thor on his heels with mjolnir in hand.
“My apologies, sir. It appears Director Fury is at the door.”
“Anyone with him?”
“No, sir. Only him.”
Everyone relaxed the slightest bit as they waited for Tony to welcome their unexpected guest. They didn’t have to wait long before Fury trailed the two Avengers into the room.
“Sorry if I startled you,” Fury stated as he entered the room. “I’m not entirely sure if my phone is one hundred percent safe since it is SHIELD issued.” He glanced around the room before his eyes settled on the map. “I see you took my advice.”
“It seemed prudent.” Tony shrugged. “Anything you can tell us?”
“The official mission is to retake the ship from a group of pirates led by Georges Batroc. I’m afraid the unofficial mission may be less heroic. I have reason to believe that the entire STRIKE team Widow and Cap are traveling with is on HYDRAs payroll and the so-called pirates are likely in on the game as well. If I’m not mistaken, Pierce knows I’m on to him and is trying to take out two of my most dangerous allies.”
TJ felt the blood drain from his face at this news. He knew Steve and Nat were more than capable of holding their own in a fight, but this sounded like unfavorable odds even for them.