Sup guys, I told you I already had the first chapter written. Anyway, I don't feel like naming these chapters because I can never think about what to name them... I know this chapter is a little short, but oh well. I hope you guys like it. xx
Chapter 1
"Tony Stark, mastermind behind the more recent Stark weaponry, was spotted at a party with twenty-year-old Eleanor Bennett, daughter of modern artist, Amy Bennett. The two were seen entering together and stayed close to each other the whole night. This new and odd couple looked to be having fun; Stark enjoyed showing off his eye candy as Bennett often whispered in his ear as they smiled for the cameras.
"But what of Starks' current girlfriend, Virginia Potts? Have they split? And was it because of the young girl hanging off Stark's arm the whole night?
"For those living under a rock for the past year, Eleanor Bennett was recently kidnapped by Loki, the alien god that attacked Manhattan a year ago. She frequently was seen conversing with Stark and the other agents as if friends. Has their friendship turned into something much more?"
Earlier that evening…
"Wanna play a game?"
Eleanor scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Not particularly with you," she replied coldly, eating another piece of caviar. "I know your games are nothing but trouble."
"This one is harmless," grinned Tony, glancing about the room. Eleanor set her fork down and raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "See the two behind me?"
"The old guy?"
"And the girl with him?"
"Yes, I see them."
"Daughter or mistress?"
Eleanor smiled wide, sitting up in her chair and carefully observing the girl seated across from the older man. She looked back at Tony. "That's got to be his wife – they're both wearing wedding rings that look oddly similar…"
"Nice catch," Tony remarked. "The couple over there? Behind you?"
Eleanor inconspicuously turned around and snorted. "That has to be his daughter! They look too much alike –" The woman and man leaned over the table and kissed. "Oh, gross…"
"How about – shit."
"What?"
Tony nodded towards the reporters walking towards them. He stood up and pulled Eleanor up by the wrist, leading her to the dance floor, which was overcrowded with people. Assuming they would be hidden by the many dancers, they instead flocked Tony and Eleanor, who was completely uncomfortable with the attention.
Tony put his arm around Eleanor's waist as cameras flashed in their faces. "Can't we go somewhere else?" whispered Eleanor in Tony's ear.
"Like where?" he whispered back. "We have to watch for that guy. Just look happy, sweetheart."
Eleanor put on her best fake smile as the cameras kept flashing. Tony looked truly happy to be the center of attention and he kissed several women on the cheeks and autographed some pictures of himself.
Tony nudged her gently with his elbow and Eleanor looked up at him, still smiling. "Look," he muttered, nodding towards the stairwell where a burly man was climbing the stairs. A scar covered the left side of his face and Eleanor turned back to Tony. He lowered his voice and spoke, not to Eleanor, but she knew to Fury. "We've got him."
Fury's voice sounded in her earpiece, too. "Follow him," he told the two. "Don't get too close yet. Word is he's got powerful weapons he stole from the Chitauri."
"Roger that," Eleanor whispered, as the fans began to disperse. She glanced at her dinner table, where her calamari was still sitting. "I wasn't done eating yet…"
"Come on," chuckled Tony. He looked around the room. Still, most people were looking at them. "People are going to notice if we go up there."
"Follow me," Eleanor said in his ear, latching onto his arm and smiling as another camera flashed. "We'll leave out the front door, get into your limo, and they'll drive us to the back. There's an entrance in the back of this building that I saw when I checked out the place earlier."
"You checked out this place before?" breathed Tony.
"I felt obligated," she replied with a smirk. "I thought you'd know New York building a bit more than me. Although, I am a bit disappointed that I won't finish my appetizers…"
"Is that all you think about?" sighed Director Fury in her ear. Tony cackled, drawing more attention than she wanted. They walked faster towards the front doors. "Potential threats are more important than food at the moment!"
"There's a shawarma joint a few blocks away," Tony said to her. "We'll go –"
"After you finish the mission!" interrupted Fury. "Next time I'll just get Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff to go, no matter how famous you two are!"
"Hey, yeah, Director? Shut up." Tony groaned as the two walked out of the building. They slid into Tony's limo and Fury was mumbling to himself. Tony told the driver to head towards the back of the building to drop them off discreetly. "I'm about to smash this damn earpiece."
"Heard that, Stark!"
"Yeah, yeah."
The limo stopped and Eleanor got out of the limo first, followed by Tony with a briefcase. She looked him over. "What are you going to do without your precious suit?" she inquired. "Can you even fight?"
"Can you in that outfit?"
"Please, don't make this about me, Tony," snapped Eleanor. "There's an emergency exit over here. The alarm has been disabled."
Tony followed her to a door and Eleanor kicked it down with the heel of her shoe. It broke open immediately and he half expected an alarm to sound, but she pointed up to the alarm above the door. It had been smashed and broken. "The bad guys got to it already, yeah?"
"They must have had this planned for a while," Eleanor said quietly. "There's a ladder over here. It should take us up to the top floor and we'll work from there. You have your stuff?"
Tony held up his briefcase and Eleanor nodded. "That's a lot of climbing to do," he noted.
"Well, you can go first, Tony," she said as he wriggled his eyebrows. "The last thing I want is to have you looking up my dress the whole way up."
"You assume too much," he laughed, climbing up on the ladder. "You actually think I'd want to see up your dress?"
"After seeing the way you drooled over those other girls earlier? Yeah, I have a hunch you'd try to sneak a peek."
"Is that jealousy in your tone? Or am I just imagining things?"
"Keep dreaming, Stark," replied Eleanor bitterly.
"Shut up, you two – someone might be listening."
Tony and Eleanor spoke at the same time. "Shut up!"
Fury grumbled to himself again.
Tony climbed surprisingly fast, especially with only one hand since he had to hold the briefcase with the other. Eleanor kept up with him, not breaking a sweat and as they neared the top, there was a creaking noise and Eleanor froze. "Tony," she whispered, grabbing onto his ankle. "Did you hear that?"
He reached the top floor and pulled her up. She was still and grasped Tony's wrist, pulling him into a small crevice as footsteps sounded.
They spoke in what sounded like Russian, two manly voices, and Eleanor licked her lips, touching her earpiece. "Natasha – do you copy?"
"I'm here," she answered right away.
"Can you translate?" breathed Eleanor.
"Hold the earpiece closer."
Eleanor removed the earpiece and held it out, her arm still encased by shadow. "Оружие уже почти готовы.Последнее, что нам нужно, это девушка, и она может дать нам информацию о том, где он находится."
"Я слышал, она работает с супергероями."
There was slight laughter by the two men, and then the first voice spoke again, in a more serious tone. "Найти ее."
"Мы пытаемся.Босс должен видеть вас. Номер 4E.
When the men had finished talked and walked away, Eleanor put the piece by on. "Well?"
"They're making weapons, it sounds like," Natasha replied. "They're looking for a girl so they can figure out where he is – I don't know who. They weren't very specific. The boss needs to see the one in room 4E."
"My guess is that the girl is you," Director Fury said next. "If they have weapons from the Chitauri, then they might be working with Loki, which may be the 'he' involved."
Eleanor's forehead creased. She looked at Tony. "Do you want us to fight?" she asked and Fury's voice rang through her head. He was annoying sometimes.
"Try to avoid it since Stark isn't trained in that area of expertise," Fury said. "Sneak it, plant the bugs, and get out of there quick."
"I'm a superhero," Tony chided. "Not a spy, thank you very much."
"Learn fast," muttered Eleanor, taking her heels off and jumping out of the crevice. She left her shoes there, so she wouldn't make any noise as Tony sprinted after her towards room 4E. She put her ear against the door, but heard nothing. When she looked through the keyhole, the door was empty. "No one's here yet."
She slid her card through the door and it unlocked easily. She opened the door and it was very dim and dark. Eleanor flipped the switch on and walked up to the computer in the middle of the room. Tony opened up his briefcase and took out a small black dot, placing it underneath the desk. "Got it," Tony said in his earpiece.
"Now get out of there," Fury stated. "We're waiting at the edge of town."
"Aww, can't I finish my dinner first?" Eleanor moaned, turning the lights off and sneaking out of the room.
"No!"
After grabbing shawarma sandwiches at the local restaurant, Director Fury scolded them for not coming back right away. He discussed the weapons situation with Tony, who was very experienced in that department. However, Tony hardly listened because he was busy eating the turkey shawarma sandwich in his hands.
"We'll talk about this at a later time," Fury growled, leaving the two in silence.
On the table was a magazine, already with photos of Tony and Eleanor together. The TV was playing the news story over and over again, showing video of the two walking into the party together and leaving together. She flipped through the pages and threw the magazine at Tony, who was chuckling across the table.
"I cannot believe Fury made us go together!" she huffed, crossing her arms. Her sandwich was already gone. Tony also flipped through several pages of pictures of the two. "What is Pepper going to say?"
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Tony replied. "Pepper knows what's going on. She knows I wouldn't dare date a child."
"I'm not a child!" protested Eleanor. "As long as she knows it's for a good cause. She knows we went for a mission, right?"
"She knows just as much as I do," said Tony, laughing at a picture of them. Eleanor was making a rather disgusted face at Tony as he was dipping his finger in cocktail sauce. "This is a good shot of us." He turned the magazine around and showed a picture of the two laughing in each other's faces. "We sure did a good job making it seem like we're a couple – although, I'm sure you were acting on your little crush on me."
"Excuse me? I don't have a crush on you and I never did!" snorted Eleanor. "You're too arrogant for my liking."
"Ah, so it's Banner, then?" teased Tony.
Eleanor's face turned red. "No!" she spat. "I never had a crush on any of you!"
"Shakespeare in the park?"
"Thor? No! Too big and muscley."
"Oh, I forgot. You're into weak, evil, war criminals."
Eleanor didn't answer. She rolled up the foil her sandwich had been in and sighed. She did know who Tony was talking about, but she hadn't seen or heard him speak to her in over a year. He was as good as dead. After Thor had taken him back to Asgard, Eleanor was sure that he had been executed for his crimes. "It doesn't matter," she muttered and Tony cocked an eyebrow. "It's not like I'll see him again."
"Move on, sweetheart," sighed Tony, closing the magazine and putting it down. "Try to find someone human to begin with." He finished his sandwich, licking his fingers.
"You're a riot," Eleanor said, rolling her eyes. "Truly."
"Which is why you have a crush on me in the first place."
Tony ran from the room as Eleanor threw the magazine at him, following him out so they could return to Stark Tower. "You cocky bastard!"
"So…" Eleanor sighed in the chilly night. Her breath was visible as she breathed out deeply. "You think that they're really after me?"
"Director Fury doesn't know shit," Tony chuckled. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Even if he was right, I don't know where Loki is. I don't know anything about him anymore. The day he was taken –" she looked at her feet. "That was the last time I saw him."
"I doubt it was you they were looking for, okay?" Tony tried to assure her. They walked down the street, still dressed in their party clothes. Tony looked spiffy in his tuxedo and Eleanor in a long, red dress that hugged her body. "Why would they need you? They know that Loki's been on whatever planet he's from locked up in a cell and probably dead by now."
Eleanor gasped. "You think he's really dead?"
"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it, too."
"I have," she replied desperately. "But I really hope he's still alive."
"Whatever," Tony said, not wanting to talk about Eleanor's love for Loki. "Hearing about your lovefest with him isn't something that excites me, no matter how kinky it was."
Eleanor slapped Tony's arm. "Shut up."
"How kinky was it?"
"Tony!"