Disclaimer: Oh, if only...
"No!" Valerie snapped, out of patience with her employer. "For the fifth and final time, no backup! Do you want this plan to fail miserably?" She glared at him hotly, fists propped on her hips. Thankfully, this fight wasn't public. Though she had no qualms about ruining his agents' opinions of him, she was sick and tired of this argument and ready to snap at the poor and unsuspecting should they so much as look over, let alone try to say something. The deserted corridor that Fury had decided to bring this point up with her was, all in all, the best choice. "I've told you that Hargreaves knows your agents! Even if she doesn't know all of them, with the exception of Natasha, none of them can blend in anywhere to save their life. If you want those schematics, you'll butt out and let me handle it. If you don't, then by all means, send hoards of idiots after her. I'm sure that'll work."
"No need to be sarcastic," Fury told her, maddeningly calm. "Now, about this plan of yours –"
"It's none of your business."
"You're stealing highly dangerous schematics from a madwoman," he pointed out, not for the first time. "And you're my employee. It most certainly is my business."
Valerie set her jaw and folded her arms tightly across her chest, adjusting her posture so that her spine resembled an iron poker. "We've been over the plan."
"Tell me again."
"Oh, of course," she agreed, sarcasm dripping from her cold words, "It's not as if I haven't already told you three times in the past two days."
His eye narrowed. Valerie let out an annoyed huff. "Fine. Loki and I get in, make some small chitchat, have some punch – you know, party stuff – then he makes a distraction, I go into the bowels of her castle, I get the stuff, get out, and we leave. Happy?"
By the look on his face, he wasn't. About ready to suggest that he should really start anger management classes because that much fury in one person (pun intended) could hardly be good for his blood pressure, she was prematurely interrupted. "I didn't ask for the cliffnotes version."
She groaned. Clearly, Fury wasn't going to leave her alone about this. "You're such a worrywart," she grumbled before sighing heavily. It seemed that she didn't have a choice; she'd have to explain the entire thing to him yet again. Honestly, it was getting old. "Fine. We get there, get in, and mingle for a bit. After a decent amount of time passes, Loki's going to make a distraction so that I can sneak past her goony guards and get into the restricted area of the house."
"And what distraction is Loki going to make?"
"I don't know and I don't want to know," Valerie said flatly. As far as she was concerned, the less she knew in that department, the better. "He assures me it'll work and that it won't end up in the destruction of earth or anything equally heinous, so I don't care."
"And you trust his word?"
She ignored him. "Anyway, after I get in there, there's going to be a lot of security to deal with. I'm going to have to bypass most of it by using her ventilation system."
"This is the part that worries me."
"Shut up. After I get past the majority of her safeguards, I'll exit the vents and sneak into her vault. From there it'll be a simple matter of disabling the security in there, stealing the schematics, and getting back out again. Once I'm back in the main rooms, Loki and I can slip out at any time."
Finished, Valerie relaxed and studied Fury carefully for his reaction. They both knew that there was no other option and that she'd get her way in the end, but he was a stubborn old goat that needed a lot of reassuring when he wasn't the one in charge of an operation. A very long moment passed before Fury heaved a sigh and rubbed his brow with his fingers. "I don't like this."
"I never would have guessed," she said seriously, swallowing the sarcastic tone that threatened to escape. He caught her meaning anyway and aimed a glare at her that she ignored. "Care to tell me which part?"
"All of it." The spy frowned. "You're involving Loki, you refuse to allow backup – I understand why," he added irritably when she opened her mouth to protest, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"I'm not particularly thrilled either," she said wryly, very carefully not mentioning that the reasons that she disliked this plan weren't at all connected to the issues that Fury wasn't pleased about. "Guess we'll both just have to deal with it."
He was quiet for a long time after that, looking at her thoughtfully. Valerie couldn't help it; she shifted uncomfortably under his piercing gaze. It might have been a horrible thing to think, but she was devoutly thankful that he only had one eye, considering that with two he'd probably be a terror to talk to. He was bad enough with one. When Fury finally spoke, she was completely unprepared for the tender worry that washed over her in his tone. "Are you sure you can handle the ventilation shafts?"
Pride stiffened her spine and sharpened her voice. "Of course I can!" At his slightly disbelieving look, Valerie scowled at him, putting all the force of conviction she could behind her words. "I'm a professional, Fury. I can handle it."
His eyebrow raised. "If you're sure," he relented.
"Positive," Valerie replied firmly, suppressing the shudder that threatened to run down her spine. She'd done that sort of thing before in the line of duty, and she could and would do it again. "Now, unless there's anything else you want to rehash, I'm leaving."
She waited just long enough for Fury to shake his head minutely before whirling off in the direction of the hanger, her skirt whipping around her ankles angrily as she did so.
As agreed, Loki waited for her just outside the hanger doors. Owing to the need to wear formal Migardian clothing for such an occasion, he'd decided to go with something similar to what he'd worn the last time he'd barged his way into a formal event. From the jacket down to the shoes, everything was nearly identical to that last outfit, with the notable exceptions of a lack of a cane and a simply striped scarf in green and gold, two colors he was not willing to relinquish. When she finally stormed down the corridor to meet him, Loki was all set to mention in acerbic tones how late she was, but the words faded on his tongue as he got a good look at her.
For once, her hair wasn't pulled and braided tightly back from her face. Instead, she'd done something to a soft coil of braid to pin it to the back of her head, allowing her hair to cushion her face instead of pull at it. Her eyelashes were darkened, her cheeks colored with an artificial pale pink that was mimicked on her lips, and she wore a dark dress with a comparatively paler purple wrap that prevented him from seeing her shoulders. He was so used to seeing her in casual wear that he wasn't at all prepared for this sight, and he was shocked to realize that she was actually quite lovely.
For a mortal.
"What?" she wanted to know, obviously noticing his scrutiny.
Loki shook his head slightly, thinking it best not to mention her appearance. "You look annoyed," he said instead, opening the door with a touch and gesturing her through. That earned him an odd look that was quickly replaced by the annoyance he'd noticed in her approach.
"Good," she muttered, heading straight for the helicopter they were to take. "That means I don't look worried."
"Are you worried?"
She gave a noncommittal shrug as the helicopter set off. "Are you?"
Loki smiled sardonically. "I am not the one with cause to worry." She glared at him and he ignored her. "This is your game, not mine. I am simply here to help."
Her lips twisted into a smile of her own. "You mean you're here to get away from your brother," she corrected.
"Perhaps," Loki admitted reluctantly. "Still, I believe my point stands."
Valerie just sighed, losing her stiff posture and leaning against the curved wall in a way that he would have called defeated if not for the way her eyes lidded as she turned her attention inward, evidently turning some bit of information about in her mind. Loki frowned. Perhaps she was content to sit there and think; he was not. His thoughts would inevitably go to places that he had no desire to think about. Besides, he'd had enough contemplating over the past year to fill a mortal's lifespan.
It wasn't long before the silence stretched into the realm of unbearable. Loki interrupted the tense atmosphere with a quiet, smooth, "Care to say why you're so annoyed?"
For a moment he thought she wouldn't answer, but, "Fury," she supplied after a pause.
"Go on."
That earned him a look through narrowed eyes. Regardless of her annoyance, however, she did continue, her lips twitching upward ever so slightly as she did so. For whatever reason, what he said had amused her – or maybe the fact that she knew she didn't have to explain anything to him and yet she was entertained her. "He was being Fury." Valerie huffed and shook her head. "He wanted to rehash the plan yet again even though he's not involved and therefore it's none of his business –"
"I know the feeling."
"Of course you do. You have a sibling." She eyed him for a moment. "He also wanted to know about your little distraction."
Loki raised his eyebrow. "Did he now? And what did you tell him?"
"That I had no idea what you were planning but I was pretty sure it wouldn't bring about the end of the world," Valerie replied promptly, green eyes glittering with amusement. He smiled faintly; it was at Valerie's insistence that neither of them know the plan in its entirety. She refused to know the particulars of his part, and by the same token wouldn't tell him precisely how she planned to steal the schematics.
"It's safer this way," she'd told him before he'd even had the chance to ask. "If something goes horribly wrong, we minimize the damage by not being able to say everything."
"You do realize that if something does go wrong, you will bear the brunt of the blame," he'd pointed out. She'd shrugged.
"So?"
It hadn't been a response he could argue with.
Loki pulled himself out of the memory without reluctance. He had already decided that if something were to go wrong he would do his best to minimize the resulting catastrophe. It wasn't because of his conscience or a sense of chivalry that he was very unwilling to admit that he had. No, Valerie owed this choice entirely to her own determination that Loki couldn't help but admire, despite the fact that she was a mere mortal. Something like that couldn't just be ignored.
Besides, he was growing rather fond of her company. It was nice to talk to someone who didn't either hate him or completely misunderstood him, and he wasn't willing to give that up quite yet.
"Only sure?" he retorted lightly.
"Sure enough," she shot back quickly. "I don't think Fury understands that if you screw up there's going to be absolutely nothing you can do to get yourself out of it."
"I am hardly helpless." His voice was cold. On second thought, perhaps her company wasn't worth it at all.
"No, you're not," she agreed. "But we're going to a place filled to the brim with people who, let's face it, either work in the black or in the darker shades of gray. These are not nice folk. And they outnumber us by…" she trailed off, frowning in concentration. "Too many."
Loki pressed his lips together, unwilling to let himself smile at her gap of knowledge, and motioned for her to continue. Miraculously, she did so without so much as a complaint. "You won't be able to use your silver tongue to get out of any trouble you might get into with them – I've met some of these people. They're –" She paused. "Let's just say they aren't really into people."
She looked at him them, meeting his dark eyes with a steady gaze. "I know what I'm talking about, Loki. And you know I'm right."
"My magic –"
"Is gone," she said flatly. He froze. How had she known? "Do you really think I'm an idiot? You'd have used it by now if you had it."
Before he could say anything to that, she sighed and held a hand to her face, fingers touching her forehead and cheek. "I think we've gotten off topic."
Loki said nothing. He just looked at her, letting his anger fade away to nothing as she shifted to rest her cheekbone on curled fingers. Much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point. "I see now where your trust in me is based," he said quietly, breaking the silence that had fallen. She glanced up at him, nodded, and let her gaze shift back to the floor.
"Mostly," she murmured.
"Mostly?"
Her shoulders lifted and fell in a very deliberate shrug, but she remained silent. Loki watched her for a long moment before knotting his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees, placing his chin on his woven fingers. There was absolutely no point in trying to restart the conversation now, or even in starting a new one, if he was reading the faint worry Valerie was trying so desperately to hide right. She wasn't going to play along, that much was obvious.
And so the two remained quiet and still, one looking at the floor, though not really looking at anything at all, and one with his eyes set firmly on his companion, until the helicopter landed.
According to the plans Valerie had somehow managed to get her hands on, the mansion wasn't really a mansion at all, but an old factory converted to act like one. Nobody knew just why this had been done, since the lack of windows meant that nobody in their right mind would ever live there, but it did make for a good place to hide things, even big gatherings of people. Actually, that might have been the reason it was created in the first place. Certainly none of the criminals she knew liked to hang around places of grime and filth. They tended to get into the business for riches, after all.
Of course, she hadn't, but then again her situation wasn't exactly normal. Not by any standards.
It had been quite a walk to the converted factory from where the helicopter had landed, but she hadn't minded. She had no idea if Loki did or not; the man was infuriatingly difficult to read when he closed up, and he wasn't saying anything with words or body language. When the place was finally in sight, however, he offered her his arm. Surprised, Valerie hesitated just long enough for his arm to start to lower before she made up her mind and laid her hand on his forearm. It was telling that his arm didn't tense beneath her fingers, and she assumed (rightly, she would later learn) that though this was a courtesy humans had long since foregone, Asgard hadn't tossed it away.
Still, Valerie didn't say anything about it as they entered the building easily using the password that she'd wrestled from Tobias earlier. The guards Hargreaves had hired either didn't know who she was or weren't being paid enough to care, and they let her and Loki in without any questions. Once they were in, her hand slipped off of Loki's arm. He didn't react, he simply lowered his arm and began a careful sweep of the place with his eyes.
The splendor that greeted them was probably meant to intimidate and incite jealousy, but Valerie just skimmed the tapestries, staircase, and hideously expensive rugs and electric chandeliers with a critical eye, looking for the door she'd have to take to get into the ventilation undetected. Just as she found it, however, someone hurried up towards her and her jaw tightened.
"Friend of yours?" was the first thing Tobias said when he got close enough to talk without yelling. She glared at him.
"What do you want?" she demanded in a low hiss. "People know you know me and if they see you here –"
"Yeah, you're trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, I get it." He leveled a calm look at her. "Going to tell me what this is all about?"
"No." She was tart and cold in her response. He frowned at her.
"Fine." The frown turned to a look of appreciation and he glanced up and down her body. "You clean up nice."
An angry flush spread across her cheekbones. "You have no right."
"So I can't pay a compliment to a beautiful lady?"
"If the lady in question objects to it, then certainly not," Loki interrupted, his voice a soothing balm to Valerie's roused temper. Tobias's face went stony.
"Do you care to introduce us?" Loki continued, glancing at her curiously, a glint of malicious humor sparkling in his eyes. For a moment, Valerie pretended to consider it before shaking her head slightly.
"Not really."
"How very rude of you," he chided lightly. "It is customary to introduce one's friends to one's partner, is it not?"
"Partner?" Tobias stared at them in shock. Anger slowly took over, clenching his jaw and hardening his eyes. Valerie ignored him.
"Friends, yes. Scum on the face of the earth, not so much."
"Ah."
"Now, look here –" Tobias started. Valerie silenced him with a look that she'd carefully perfected over the years, designed to make the target's innards turn to ice. By the look on Tobias's face, it worked.
"You do realize you have no claim on me, right?" she wanted to know, keeping her voice light and breezy. "You gave that up years ago." A smirk tugged at her lips and she let it show. "Besides, you, jealous? Of a business partner? I never realized I was so useful to you."
Anger flashed in his eyes. "I'd never be jealous of anybody that has to put up with you."
"Great. Be a good little boy and be an obnoxious pig somewhere else. The rest of us actually have work to do." She patted his cheek in the most condescending way she could manage before stalking off. As she left, the touch of cool fingers trailed her wrist briefly, a silent acknowledgement that the plan could proceed whenever she was ready. Behind her, she heard, "I take it you drink?"
A pause. Then, gruffly: "Yeah."
"Come along, then. It would be best not to ruin such a… distinctive gathering by allowing her to anger you."
A subtle, sideways glance told her that Loki had succeeded in escorting Tobias towards the refreshments. Satisfied, Valerie refocused her attention on the door that ultimately led the way to the treasure, and set off in completely the opposite direction.
A/N: No excuse. I have no excuse for this chapter being so horrendously late. Gah. It was originally supposed to have another section, but I couldn't get it to work and I was super late anyways, so... this is what you get. I'm so sorry about the lateness of the chapter, and I'll try to be more timely with the next one. I hope you enjoyed, and, with any luck, I'll see you lovely readers in the next chapter!
