17. HYDRA Mission - Getting in Trouble

        Dad and I had been living in Avengers Tower for a few months. Along with Aunt Natasha, Aunt Maria, Bruce, and the occasional visits from Uncle Tony, Pepper, Uncle Clint, Sam, and Rhodey. Life in the tower was great and always exciting. Training with Dad had gotten even better with all the equipment Uncle Tony provided in the gym. My strength had also improved with all the help Dad gave me, and I was almost as strong as him. During one of our team dinners that Uncle Tony hosted, we had an arm wrestling competition. I was able to beat Tony, Rhodey, Nat, and Maria, but I couldn't beat Dad. I held up against him for a few minutes, but I eventually gave in.

Today was supposed to be like all the rest, but when you're an Avenger, your life is never normal. We had just finished finessing one of my moves in the training room when Thor arrived. Dad, Nat, and I were all in the kitchen having some water and yoghurt parfaits. Thor marched out of the elevator with a stern expression on his face.

"Where is Stark?" Thor boomed in his deep voice.

"Thor, is there a problem?" Dad asked as they walked up to each other.

"I have been staying on Earth with my lady Jane, and I have recently discovered the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"The three of us found out that HYDRA had been growing inside S.H.I.E.L.D. We had to shut down the entire thing," I informed Thor, wondering why this was such a problem.

"Then where has Loki's sceptre been placed? S.H.I.E.L.D was to keep it safe," Thor stated, raising his voice. Dad and Nat looked at each other with concern etched on both of their faces. After a moment, Dad was telling JARVIS to let Uncle Tony know that we had a problem.

We were all suited up and ready to go. My hair was braided into two separate braids, and I had my uniform on from Uncle Nick and Aunt Maria. Everyone was onboard the Quinjet, including Uncle Tony, Aunt Nat, Uncle Clint, Dad, Thor, and Bruce. Although, Bruce was only there if we needed a "code green." I was silently preparing myself for the fight that was to come in a few minutes. We had gotten information on all the HYDRA bases that were still standing, and we planned to infiltrate them all until we found Loki's sceptre.

"Everyone good to go? We're landing now," Uncle Clint announced to us. I took a deep breath as Dad stood up from his chair and knelt down in front of me.

"Are you ready?" Dad asked with a reassuring smile on his face.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I told him while sitting up a little straighter. Dad let out a breathy laugh, then stood up and offered me his hand. He pulled me up, and we walked out of the Quinjet together. The original plan was to sneak into the place and then attack. Unfortunately, that plan didn't go so well since a HYDRA agent spotted us as he was bringing out some things. Dad was able to knock him out, but not before the agent had sent a warning to the others. The HYDRA base wasn't huge or heavily armed, so the chances of it being the base with Loki's sceptre were unlikely. Even so, the team wanted to take out HYDRA anyway, and we continued to attempt infiltration. Dad, Nat, Clint, and I had all gotten into one section of the building while the others were somewhere else. Once we were sure the hall was empty, Dad began dishing out orders,

"Romanoff, Barton, you two locate any weapons or plans that may help us find the sceptre. I'll go find Stark to secure any laboratory that may be in the facility. Katie, you stay here as backup and make sure no agent tries to leave before the party is over."

The three adults nodded at each other and left to carry out their assignments before I could protest and say that I could do more. Despite being slightly ticked off, I stayed where I was and kept an eye out for any agents. After a few minutes of nothing but empty halls, I noticed an agent holding what looked like some sort of communicator and a blueprint of some sort. I didn't attack him right away as I thought that he might be able to lead me to a secret area or a room that could help us find the sceptre. I made sure no one else was around and followed him. He continued to walk down the halls in a bit of a hurry, then disappeared behind an electronic sliding door. I quickly slipped in just as it was closing but was faced with darkness. Blinking rapidly, trying to get my eyes to adjust, I started to take a few steps forward, then bumped into something semi-hard and quite large. A single light turned on, and I was face to face with two large men. I took a step back and saw the man I had been following smirk at me before disappearing. It was then that I realized he knew I was following him, and I was now in a bit of trouble. One of the bodyguard-looking men took a swing at me, but I swiftly ducked and did a somersault between their legs, going further into the room that I had been led into. The men turned and walked closer to me with menacing stares.

"Come on, gentlemen. We can talk this out like adults, right?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. They both simply chuckled at me, and I prepared myself to kick some butt. Luckily, I had been able to dodge most of their moves and had gotten some good hits in myself with my strength and force fields. I wasn't winning, but at least I wasn't losing. Just as I finished that thought, the men went to hit me at the same time, and I was only able to evade one of their blows. The punch hit me on the left side of my face and threw me against the nearby wall. I groaned as I slid to the floor and landed on my butt. Before I could get back up, one of the two guys grabbed my right arm and pulled me toward him. He then proceeded to punch the side of my stomach. I went to throw a punch, but I was so dizzy that I didn't do anything except tick the guy off.

"Tiny girl can't do much alone, can she? Boss said to be careful, but you are not a problem," the second man laughed, his accent thick, and I tried to clear my throbbing head so that I could get out of this. The only plan I came up with was to spit in their faces,

"This 'tiny girl' is more capable than you think." I was almost breathless, and my actions did not help me. The guy holding my arm wiped his face with his free hand and then smacked me across the face, causing a cut on my bottom lip. Strands of hair fell in front of my face. I felt so weak and helpless, and I hated that I had let myself think that I could handle this on my own. Yes, I had taken down twelve S.H.I.E.L.D-STRIKE agents on my own a little while ago, but that was a different situation. I didn't think about that until now, and now, it was too late. With the little bit of strength that I had left, I tried to make a force field to knock the two guys away from me. But before I had the chance, Dad's shield hit them both in the back, causing the men to drop me and turn their attention to Dad. I crawled out of the way while Dad quickly defeated the giant guys. My head was still throbbing, along with my side and arm that had been squeezed for too long. Dad came over to me and spoke,

"Katie Rogers, what did I tell you to do!"

I knew it was a rhetorical question, so I didn't reply as he helped me out to the Quinjet. As Uncle Clint took off, Uncle Tony pressed a button on his suit that caused the building to explode, destroying everything inside. Aunt Nat attended to my bleeding lip and bruised arm and side while I held an ice pack to my head. Dad refused to talk to me the entire way home. I knew I was in trouble because Dad only ever said my full name when I had done something wrong.

When we arrived back at the tower, Dad immediately walked toward the elevator, and I knew I had to follow. I stood up with a wince, causing Aunt Nat and Uncle Clint to look worried. The entire team watched me walk away with sympathy etched on their faces. The elevator stopped, and Dad and I stepped out onto our floor and walked into the living room. Dad started pacing around the room and then finally spoke,

"I gave you an order, Katie. Did you listen? No! May I ask why you didn't do as I said?"

"I just thought... I thought that I could handle it," I replied with pure disappointment in myself. I should have listened, I knew that, and Dad was clearly very upset with me.

"You never underestimate your opponent. You know this. I admit I've done some reckless things on missions, but I never went into a fight I wasn't sure about."

"I'm sorry. I was being stupid."

"You can't afford to be stupid, Katie. Do you realize what would have happened if I hadn't gotten to you? They could have experimented on you for the serum in your blood or killed you! I could have-"

I tore my eyes away from my feet to see that Dad had tears in his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, then sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. "I could have lost you."

I immediately felt guilty. Losing my life was always a worry, and I was scared today. But not being able to be there for Dad and causing him terrible pain made me feel completely horrible about what I had done.

"Dad, I am sorry. It won't happen again, I promise." I walked over and got on my knees on the floor to hug him.

"It will not," Dad said after a few moments of silence, "And to ensure that, you are grounded for a week. No training, no missions, and no TV."

I sighed but knew that it could have been much worse.

"Yes, sir."

"Now, go get cleaned up and rest, please."

"Ok. I love you, Dad."

"I love you, Katie."