Denise grabbed one of the gears off her corset and threw it into the darkness. A series of screams rang out and the gear flew back, dripping with blood, into her hand.
"That wasn't a part of the blue prints," Clint commented from above her.
"Yeah, well for being a more "intelligent" brand of HYDRA they seem to hide their thugs in the same damn place. Every. Single. Time," Denise sighed as she flicked off as much blood as she could before placing the gear back in its place, "How's it going topside, Spidey?"
"Well the insects are in the web, and the spider is about to devour them, over and out," came a young voice.
"Dude, that's just gross...don't eat the HYDRA operatives I'm sure you'll get some kind of disease," Clint advised.
"And you don't have to speak in code, it's a private line," Bucky added exasperated.
"Sorry," the young boy's voice sounded embarrassed, "I just thought that -"
"We're clear up here," Steve said, "now where do we go to find the administrative office again?"
"Are you past the atrium," she asked as she walked cautiously through the labyrinth like basement.
"Yes we're over by the East elevators," Vision confirmed.
"All right, fastest way there would be for you to go through the walls past the elevators on the right Vis. Go straight through 6 rooms and that 6th room is the one you want. Cap and Spidey make the next right and take out as many people as you can," she instructed.
"All right, you guys be careful down there," Steve requested.
"Roger, Rogers," Denise laughed.
"See, she gets me," Peter Parker said excitedly.
"You need to stop encouraging him," Bucky warned half serious.
Denise rolled her eyes, "The lab should be just a few more turns away, come on. Clint, What do you see with your elf eyes?"
"Not a damn thing Aragorn, we seem to be clear," Clint chuckled from the rafters.
"There's something serious we need to consider that we haven't covered yet," Bucky pointed out.
"It's too late for that," Denise shot back.
"Hey you can't be back here," a gruff voice shouted as the owner of the voice rounded the next corner.
Denise looked back to Bucky quickly and he lifted up his metal arm at an angle. She grabbed a large gear off of her belt a threw it at Bucky's arm. It shot off of his arm, hit the wall to the right, and sliced the thug's throat before returning back to Denise's hand.
"How is it too late," Bucky asked as the gear was whizzing through the air.
Denise growled as she harnessed the gear in place, "We're already in the middle of this!"
"I just need to know how you can memorize all these blueprints to these HYDRA facilities, but you can't remember to meet me at the caterer's," Bucky said as he rounded the corner and clothes lined another approaching thug.
He stuck his metal arm straight out and Denise ran up to grab it and flip over and scissor her legs around another guy's neck. As she brought him to the ground she raised her voice, "I had to train with the other junior chipmunks remember?"
"How about when we made plans to book the church," he asked as he put his arm in front of her face to block bullets as another thug started to shoot.
Clint shot the man from the rafters. "Thank you," Denise said as she ran forward acting as if she was going to attack the next man. She slid underneath his legs. He was unprepared for her to disappear and as he was looking towards where she went he ran right into Bucky's fist and was knocked out cold.
"I made plans to see a movie with Wanda since we don't hang out as much anymore," she defended, "and I had that planned first."
"What about when you were supposed to go dress shopping with the girls," Bucky pointed out as Denise elbowed another guy in the gut and then flung him over her back towards him.
He punched the guy into the wall and continued, "and you came back with $150 worth of Hot Topic merchandise."
"Here's the lab," Denise shouted before disappearing behind the door.
Bucky growled and took a deep breath. Clint jumped down and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "Women," he said rolling his eyes.
"Was Laura like this when it came time to plan your wedding," Bucky asked seriously.
"No...she was you and I was more like Denise," Clint sighed, "I don't know what to tell you buddy."
"Guys come look at this," Denise called.
When they walked in the room they saw several rows filled with containers of serum. Each row was labeled with a different phrase in another language, and each row had a different color serum. "Bucky, do yo recognize this," she asked bewildered.
"No," he said in a surprised tone.
"Take pictures," Clint advised, "these labels read like IKEA products - so Thor will probably know."
Denise took pictures and Bucky began to bag up the containers. "I am successful in retrieving the next set of blueprints and addresses," Vision's voice came over the com, "and I have found something else that we may need to look into."
"You topsiders go ahead to the quinjet, we're about finished her and we'll meet you there," Clint instructed.
"Yes sir Mr. Hawkeye sir," Peter said seriously.
"You don't have to salute kid, he can't see you," Steve said tiredly.
"Hey, let the kid show his respect if he wants to," Clint defended proudly.
"So there's a thing called Google Translate," Tony said in a teasing tone, "unless you want to call the big brawny blonde because your tired of big brooding brunette?"
Bucky glared at Tony and Denise put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not that, I tried that on the way over here. Whatever language this is, while it may look like - what did you call it again Clint?"
"IKEA furniture names," he said seriously.
"Yea that, it doesn't recognize it. Now since it resembles that language, he's our best bet to translate it," she reasoned.
"All right, all right I'll get ahold of Thunderstruck for you," Tony said as he walked out of the lab, "good work guys. Go ahead and get some rest!"
Bucky hadn't said anything to Denise since they left the HYDRA facility. She felt bad for being so distant when it came to the wedding. Although she had her reasons for stalling, she just couldn't bring herself to talk to him about it. For the past year, this is how it was. He would try and get her to make decisions about the wedding, she would avoid them, he would get mad, and she would have mind blowing sex with him so he would forget about it all for a little while. Then the whole cycle would start over again.
'Guess I know what time it is now,' she thought triumphantly.
As she shut their apartment door behind them, she sauntered over to where he stood in the kitchen. His back was to her so she wrapped her arms around his torso and flattened her body against his back. 'I love how we fit together,' she thought dreamily.
"I think it's time for us to take a shower," she said seductively as she reached up to kiss his neck.
He turned around in her grasp and put his hand on her hips. As he smiled he brought down his lips to where they were almost touching hers. "How about you go shower yourself, I'm going to bed," he said gruffly as he pulled away from her and walked to the bedroom.
She felt as if she was stabbed in the heart and the gut at the same time. "What the hell," she called as she ran after him.
He had never rejected her advances before. "I know what you're up to," Bucky said as he sat on the bed taking off his boots, "I may not have a perfect memory, but I'm not stupid."
"What the hell are you talking about," she yelled.
He sighed and looked at her with a hurt look filling his eyes. He spoke gently to her, "You have sex with me so you can try and distract me from getting you to help me plan our wedding."
She shifted uncomfortably and waited a few moments before answering, "Bucky..."
"Now you're calling me Bucky," he sighed as he got up from the bed to put his hands on her shoulders, "I don't know what's going on with you. I wish you would talk to me about it. Until you're ready to do that and plan our wedding - if you still want to marry me that is - then I'm not having sex with you."
"James," she breathed, "of course I want to marry you. I just -"
"What is it then," he implored.
She couldn't meet his eyes. Of course she loved him and wanted to be with him, but if she told him what was really going on he may not want her anymore.
"It's okay if you're not ready to talk about it, I've waited this long for you," he smiled down at her, "I love you."
"I love you too," she smiled back as she got on her tiptoes for a kiss.
He gave her a peck on the lips then pulled back, "But you still won't be seducing me."
"I was just trying to kiss you," she said angrily.
"And we both know what your kisses lead to," Bucky said as he turned to finish getting out of his mission clothes, "so you better make that shower a cold one...unless you want to talk that is."
Denise huffed, "How about a cold bed instead?"
"Huh," Bucky asked confused.
"I'm sleeping elsewhere tonight," she said as she stomped out and slammed the door.
"Wanda, you won't believe what just - OH MY GOD," Denise yelled.
As she opened up the door to Wanda's room she was greeted with the sight of Vision wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her. At her scream the two jumped a part. "Denise," Wanda started to explain.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Denise said as she shut the door, "I'm leaving. I'm sorry!"
"Nat, we have a LOT to talk about! First Bucky then what I just saw with Wanda and WHAT FRESH HELL," Denise screamed again.
This time as she opened the door to yet another teammates room she found Bruce on his back on Natasha's bed. She was laying on top of him and he was shirtless. They were making out slowly and intensely.
"Carry on," Denise said as she left.
The two didn't even acknowledge the intrusion.
"Steve, old buddy, old pal. How are ya - WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME," she yelled.
Steve was sitting on his couch with a shirtless Sharon Carter on his lap kissing him. At the sound of Denise's voice he pulled away from Sharon and turned beat red. "Denise. I um we um I mean," he sputtered.
Sharon laughed at Steve and Denise's faces and put her shirt back on, "Rough night Denise? Do you want to talk about it?"
"No...I am so not in the mood to talk anymore...I am so sorry...for the umpteenth time tonight I am sorry...I'm going to go. Y'all do what you do and good on you Steve. Sharon, be gentle with him," she said and added as she closed the door behind her, "Why isn't anyone locking their damn doors anymore?!"
Denise dragged her tired self down to the lab. There she found Peter leaning into a computer screen. "Parker, please don't tell me that you have a girl under the desk, porn on the screen, or a mix of the two," she pleaded.
"Huh," he said his voice cracking, "of course not! I'm looking into those files that Vision found!"
"Thank God," she sighed as she walked over to the computer next to him.
"Are you okay," he asked concerned.
"Not even a little bit," she answered honestly, "so distract me with some work. What exactly are we looking at?"
"He found a file started by Jonathan," he paused to rub her arm comfortingly when he saw her shudder at the mention of that name, "it seems he created a faction within HYDRA to try and reshape the whole thing from the inside."
"I didn't realize he had all that going on," she said quietly.
"He started with only two followers, but it's grown exponentially since his death," he said seriously, "they call themselves The Harbinger's of Mímir."
"What the hell does that mean," she asked confused.
"That's what brought me to the computer. In Norse mythology, Mímir was the god of wisdom. In fact, when he was beheaded Odin did some kind of magic on his head so it could still counsel him," he said impressed.
"Well, one things for sure," Denise stated.
"What's that?"
"We need Thor," she said simply.
He nodded and the two began to pour over the file for hours. By the time morning rolled around, Tony and Bruce found the two of them sitting side by side with their heads down on one of the desks passed out.
Tony snapped a picture and said, "Send. Let's see how Bucky Bear feels about that one."
Bruce stood and stared at Tony a while before responding, "You've got problems, man."