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❛ ᴇᴛᴏɪʟᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪɴᴛᴇʀʟᴜᴅᴇ: ᴊᴜsᴛ
ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏғғɪᴄᴇ ꒱


❝ DAMN, HE GETS TO
DRIVE BEFORE I DO? ❞

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M I D G A R D

Throughout Agent Rose Daly's unusually long life, she had seen enough that the extraordinary things had become ordinary. It made sense in her line of work that seeing things fall from space was nothing short of mundane, but Nick had disregarded her grumbled complaints. He'd sent her off with Phil to some backwater town in New Mexico— though she supposed the road trip was sort of fun.

It was a bit of a downgrade from Malibu, California, though, and her godson Tony's mansion— even in its currently blown-up state. Still, it was rather relaxing to roll down the windows and let the warm southwest air whip through the car as they sped along. They'd been driving for most of the day and as they got away from the city, the desert roads stretched out before them with nothing around in the vast emptiness. She'd entertained herself by watching the expanse of blue sky pass overhead before she turned to the crossword puzzle book she'd brought.

Now the sun had set, allowing the air to cool for the night. Stars twinkled above them like diamonds in the darkness of space. That was one thing she would never tire of looking at: with all the changes to the world around her, the night sky had remained a constant (disregarding its seasonal variations, of course.) When everything got to be too much, it reminded her of how small her problems truly were in the grand tapestry of the universe.

They'd been sitting in a companionable silence for some time, but Rose finally broke it to remark dryly, "well, that was a lovely family reunion."

"Stark's your godson," Phil reminded her, unnecessarily. "You're the one crazy enough to agree to being the godmother of a self-centered egomaniac."

She pointed at him warningly. "Hey, all of that may be true, but he's my family. Only I get to say that about him. Tony's a self-centered egomaniac. There. Besides, I didn't know he'd be like that when he was born. He was a sweet kid."

"That's hard to imagine," the agent commented, making a slight face at the thought of the infamous Tony Stark being 'sweet.'

She shrugged. "Trust me, it was pretty adorable watching an eight-year-old genius make improvements to the toaster so that it would melt your butter and put it on your toast for you. Speaking of sweet, I'm starving— I would kill for some donuts."

"I don't think you have to go to that extreme; there's a gas station up ahead. They'll probably sell them to you for less than five bucks." He lifted one hand off the steering wheel to point at the artificial glow of lights that had just appeared over the crest of the road. "Besides, we need gas."

The woman straightened in her seat hopefully. "I could really stretch my legs. Once we fill up, can I drive?"

"This is a rental, Rose. After you totaled the last one and left me with the bill, I'm not about to make the same mistake twice."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "That was one time! Which would you have rather had in one piece: me or the car?"

"The car," he deadpanned, earning a playfully annoyed look from the brunette. "But seriously, I just wanted you to pick up the tab. In fact, I'm gonna have you pay for the gas since you always stick me with the check."

"Fine, fine," Rose agreed grouchily. "I'm your elder, you know— you should respect me more."

"I respect you plenty," Phil said easily as he pulled into the parking lot of the gas station.

They got out of the car and he put the nozzle in the tank, pushing the button for the kind of gas they needed. Rose stood and stretched, raising her hands over her head to loosen the coils of muscle in her back. Then she bent and let her fingertips dangle just above the asphalt. "That's the ticket. I've been wanting to do that since we left the California border."

"Well, don't get too comfortable," her coworker warned her. "We're not stopping for long. Fury wanted us there by sunrise tomorrow."

"I know, I know," she groused, standing once more. "My old bones just can't take all this sitting."

The older man rolled his eyes and gestured for them to go into the convenience store. She fell into step beside him as he snarked, "and yet you don't look a day over twenty."

It was true; while Rose had been born almost a century ago, her physical body did not match her mental age. (It didn't stop her from making jokes about the discrepancy, though.) She looked no older than the average young adult, with smooth, wrinkle-free skin and healthy, brown curls that stopped just below her shoulders. The only difference between now and her past self was the color of her hair— but rather than the silver or white expected from someone her age, she had just dyed it from red to brown. The story of how she got to be this way, however, was a tale for another time.

The bell of the shop dinged to announce their entrance. A friendly-looking brunette sat at the counter reading a magazine, and she glanced up to smile at them welcomingly. They nodded to her in return before they split up to get their desired snacks. Phil crouched before the donuts that Rose had asked for while she went to get a Coke for him and water for herself.

Call it paranoia or instinct, but the next time the shop's bell dinged, Rose looked up at the mirror in the corner warily. At the sight of two men with guns, she dropped to the floor and out of their line of vision. She wasn't afraid of them, of course— she'd dealt with far worse— just mildly annoyed that she couldn't even have one night off. The employee, on the other hand, did not have a history of being in dangerous situations and she lifted her hands immediately at their threat.

"Hands up, don't move!"

"Don't move or I'll blow your head up," the second gunman added darkly. Rose only sighed as her eyes searched the shelves for a suitable backup weapon. He continued, "who else is here? Who owns the car outside?"

"I do," Phil said from the back of the store.

She returned to her feet as well and raised a hand to wave at the assailants. "Hi. I'm here too."

One of the men whipped around to train his gun on them despite their pleasant replies. They remained unbothered as they stepped into the aisle. Phil clarified, "but it's really more like a lease."

The man who had his gun pointed at the employee jerked his head. "Toss the keys over here. Come on."

"Damn, he gets to drive before I do?" Rose complained. "Not fair."

Her coworker shot her a 'now is not the time' look as he carefully appeased the man. "Okay, okay."

Once they caught the keys, they turned back to the woman. "Empty the cash register. Start filling the bag with cigarettes."

"Excuse me," Phil spoke up again, holding up his weapon, "I also have this gun. You'll probably be needing that."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, making a show of patting her pockets so that she could pull out her knife. "I think you'll want this too. It's good for both defense and making sandwiches— but you'd probably want to disinfect it in-between."

The two men whirled back to face them, training both of their guns on the agents. "Put those down! Right now! Do it now!"

Her colleague held up his hand placatingly. "Okay. I don't want any trouble."

"Toss them over here, then."

He winced sympathetically. "I'd prefer not to throw it and risk the gun accidentally going off. Maybe I could slide it over?"

"Agreed," the brunette said. "Are either of you master swordsmen? This thing could really take off a finger if you don't catch it correctly."

They glanced at each other as their grip tightened on the triggers. "Yes, slide them over to my feet— but don't try anything funny."

"Okay," he allowed, stepping back calmly. "I'm just gonna move over to this aisle. I'm gonna slide it over to you."

He came to stand next to her and bent to push the gun towards them. Rose's knife followed shortly after. In the next second, Phil's hand had grasped the flour that was on the lowest shelf next to them while she shook the Coke in her hands. Before the gunmen had a chance to retaliate, her coworker sent the flour flying through the air to smash into the man's face, temporarily blinding him.

Rose took the opportunity to rush down the aisle as she unscrewed the lid of the soda, which she sprayed into his partner's face. He cried out in pain as the acidity burned his eyes. Just as his gun came up to wave blindly in her direction, Phil launched himself off the shelf to kick the weapon out of the attacker's grasp. He turned on the other man and used the butt of the gun to knock him out. The brunette kneed the Coke-man in the groin and jerked him so that his forehead collided with his knee, also rendering him unconscious. They lay sprawled on the floor, unmoving.

The Agents turned to the employee, who was staring at them with wide eyes and her hands still raised. They retrieved their weapons and placed the assailant's guns on the register's table. "Sorry for the mess."

Phil put the two packages of donuts on the counter while Rose added her water and the half-filled bottle of soda. "Can I get this fifty percent off?"

The older man only gave her an exasperated look, shaking his head chidingly. The brunette's expression remained innocent. "What?"

"Ignore her," he advised the employee, who still hadn't said anything. He snapped his fingers at the other woman. "Pay."

Rose let out an exaggerated sigh and placed a few crumpled bills on the table. "There. Happy?"

He smiled brightly at her. "Thank you."

"Keep the change," she told the stunned convenience store worker.

As they turned to leave, the woman spoke for the first time. "Wait— what should I tell the police?"

Phil shrugged. "Tell them those Tae-Bo tapes really paid off."

Rose glanced at him as mischief danced in her blue eyes. He observed her suspiciously, his super-spy instincts telling him not to trust her sudden stillness. Then, she abandoned their snacks— he scoffed at the fact that she expected him to carry all of them— and raced out the door. Ignoring the gas pump still attached to their car, she yanked the driver's side door open and slid inside.

Her coworker groaned as she waved at him cheerily from her rolled-down window. "Snooze you lose!"

✧ ✧ ✧

When they arrived at the site the next day, both agents stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. Rose slid her Aviators up her nose to help combat the blinding New Mexico sunlight. Her attention fell on the crater, which was surrounded by cars belonging to the sightseers.

"Oh," was all she said about the view before them.

Phil smirked at her. "You're actually disappointed, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "It's not even the strangest thing that's ever fallen from the sky for me. It doesn't even deserve the term of UFO— the unidentified factor is taken away because I know exactly what it is. It's a hammer. I can get one for fifteen bucks at Home Depot."

"Well, you're not wrong," he agreed cordially. "The Danvers sisters were much more dynamic than a hunk of metal in the ground." Then he turned away from the crater to speak into his earpiece as he contacted Fury. "Sir, we found it."

A/n: this quick diversion features another OC of mine, Rose Daly. The beginning of her story takes place during Captain America: The First Avenger, in my fanfic called Evergreen, which is for Bucky x oc and lead up to a Steve x 2nd!oc. It is second in my 'Heroes of History' MCU adaptation and can be read as a standalone or sequel/prequel. (Please see the 'introduction' chapter for more information about the series order!)