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“You don’t have the authority to give orders,” Clint said. He was angry because she undermined him, and in any other circumstance she would feel bad. But Clint was getting on her nerves, and she couldn’t deal with his incompetence.
“Someone has to, and it’s certainly not you,” Monica snapped.
“You think this is easy?”
“No, it’s not, which is why you have to be on top of everything. Leadership is more than being a pretty face and playing a flashy game of tag!”
“I know!” Clint interrupted.
“Do you?!”
“Yes! I led the West Coast Avengers! I led the Thunderbolts!”
“And they both fell apart.” That was cruel of her, but she was angry. She should have never let him lead the team. She should have never joined the team in the first place.
“Oh yeah? What about you and Nextwave?!”
Monica tensed up. The mention of that name left a sick feeling in her stomach. She grabbed Clint by his collar and lifted him up. He was a dead man. “Keep Nextwave out of your mouth,” she said, “You don’t have any idea about Nextwave.”
Guts tried to intervene, but Monica glared at him as a warning and he backed off at the crackle of energy in the air.
“I didn’t…” Clint had real fear in his eyes. Good.
“Nextwave was an experiment to see how much we could take until it broke us. I don’t know what was real and what was implanted in my brain. I don’t even know if any of it actually happened. So keep Nextwave out of your mouth because even with all of that stacked against me I still did a better job leading them than you ever could,” Monica said. She dropped Clint and he stumbled, and then she walked away before he could say anything else.
Her whole body shook with anger. Who did he think he was? Some idiot with a bow who never had to work half as hard as her for anything in his whole life. She should have just accepted Luke’s offer in the beginning that way he never would have called in that moron…
Monica needed to calm down so in a flash, Monica was at Kadesh. She could feel Adam’s energy in the lab, and that was enough to calm her down just a bit.
“You there, Monica?” Adam called, feeling her like she felt him.
“Yeah,” Monica replied, heading towards him.
He was at one of his computers, and his chair was turned to her. He smiled. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Adam asked.
“Clint pissed me off,” Monica said before climbing into his lap and wrapping her arms around him.
“What did he do?” Adam asked.
“We were arguing because he’s shit as a leader, and he said shit about Nextwave,” Monica said, burying her face in his chest.
“He’s lucky to be alive,” Adam said, chuckling.
“Do you think I’d let everyone down if I quit the team?” Monica asked.
“Do you want to quit the team or are you just angry at Clint?”
“It’s a shitshow,” Monica said, “Clint’s managed to mess up every single mission. No one is working together. There’s no cohesion.”
“So instead of helping the team you’re going to leave?” Adam asked.
“I only care about what America and Vic think,” Monica said, “and I don’t want them to think I abandoned them when the going gets tough.”
“What does Luke think about you leaving?” Adam asked.
“He’d probably fire Clint to keep me,” Monica said.
“And you don’t want that?”
“Tell me I deserve better,” Monica said.
“You deserve better, my love,” Adam said, kissing her. He hesitated for a moment before saying, “But I think you should stick this out.”
“I knew you were going to say that.” She couldn’t even manage annoyance. He was nothing if not predictable.
“I know you’re in your take no shit era, and I don’t think you should. But there has to be some degree of compromise for any team. You’re not in charge because you chose not to be. You’re a better leader than Clint, everyone knows that, but you also know how hard it is to be on a team where you’re the leader but everyone else naturally wants to listen to someone else. Let him figure this team out, and if he can’t then you take over.”
“Stop being so logical, you know I hate that,” Monica grumbled, lightheartedly.
“Fine, let’s go to space and be the Captain Marvels, and we’ll save the universe,” Adam said.
“Why don’t we go to New Orleans and be homebodies for a little while?” Monica asked.
“Your father doesn’t like me,” Adam laughed, "Besides we can access the whole world from here. Do you want to go to Paris for dinner?"
"Not tonight. I'm gonna drop in on my folks," Monica said, "You can come. Win favor with my father or something."
"He thinks I'm too old for you," Adam said.
"You are too old for me," Monica laughed. She kissed him. "I always did like older men."
"Should I be jealous of anyone?" Adam asked.
"No, but you better keep an eye on Steve. He always had a little crush on me," Monica said.
Adam chuckled and kissed her again. "Something tells me he's not your type."