She had leaned away when the Wardrobe lady had come at her with makeup and had taken over at that point, swatting hands away. “For fuck’s sake, I’m not a god damn Barbie. I can do my own makeup and hair. Stop it. Mary, if you come at me with that curling iron, you will regret it till the end of your days, so help me God.” She left her hair down, curling in messy blonde curls, knives neatly hidden away beneath sleeves, and she even let Coulson tie the tie that they insisted on her wearing. She felt frumpy and the heels hurt her feet and... “This is stupid. I look stupid.”
“You look appropriate for the period, Barton.”
“Can you please just go and stand guard and wait for him to wake up? Please? Try not to terrify him too much? Act like you didn’t grow up in a barn.”
“I didn’t grow up in a barn. Grew up in a circus tent. Completely different, I’ll have you know. Although it did still smell like animals.”
“I’m going, Coulson. I’m going. Why a baby agent can’t take care of this, who knows? No, stick the assassin in pretty get up to wake up the super soldier. Stop looking at me like that, I’m going. I’ll get him to sign your cards too. Jeez.”
So she was there when he sat up finally, all blonde and muscle and almost disturbingly perfect. Damn, I would tap that in a heartbeat. Oh, right. Don’t terrify him. No objectifying the super soldier from the forties, no objectifying the super soldier from the forties, no..... damn, look at that chest.
“Good morning. Or should I say afternoon.”
“Where am I?” Nice voice too. Surely there has to be something not perfect about him, right? Otherwise life just wouldn’t be fair.
“You’re in a recovery room in New York City.” It was easy to feed him the party line, to smile sweetly, and clasp her hands in front of her, feeling the comforting press of the knives sheathed at her wrists. Her eyes tracked his movements, his gaze flicking to the faked windows.
“Where am I really?” Aw, fuck me. Coulson is going to be pissed. Lie lie lie lie. She was a good liar. A really good liar. She still knew that her smile was just a fraction off when she managed it.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“The game. It’s from May, 1941. I know cause I was there.”
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit.Ohholyfuckhe’sreallytallandohfuckdon’tstabthesupersoldier. She could feel the expression fading from her face and fought the urge to go for a knife as he came closer. “Now, I’m going to ask you again. Where am I?” She had several inappropriate thoughts about hot, angry super soldiers while calmly clicking the ‘oh shit’ button she had hidden in the palm of her hand.
The door opened behind her and she barely turned her head to look. She figured they would send in Coulson. Someone good at talking people down. Instead she got two grunts with guns and well, fuck, there he goes. Note to self: do not get hit by the super soldier. “Captain Rogers, wait..... god damn it. All agents, code 13. I repeat, all agents, code 13.”
She didn’t honestly know how she managed to get out of those ridiculous clothes and into her own gear as quickly as she did, but he was lost and she knew the shortcuts. She caught up to him just in time to watch him bolt out the front door, the tranq arrow just missing him. Second note to self: adjust leading distance. Target moves significantly faster than unenhanced human.
She pulled into Times Square on her bike just as Fury was walking up to him, and it was easy to slip through the crowd and restraining agents to hover just behind Fury, bow slung over her chest and helmet in hand. “You’ve been asleep, Cap. For almost 70 years.” She knew that lost expression on his face. She had had the same expression on hers when first pulled into SHIELD. Like everything around her had been a lie. Like everything was crumbling. “You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah.... yeah, I just... I had a date.”