Chapter 7
"That dress is marvelous Cherry Bomb. I think my heart just stopped." I rolled my eyes at him. Tony was such a dog. I could see him out of the corner of my eye looking me up and down. I turned to look straight into his eyes.
"My eyes are up here pervert."
"Yes they are."
"Alright you two, here are your ear pieces to keep you connected with your teammates." Coulson passed back two tiny ear buds and we put them in. It was easy for me to conceal as I put mine in the ear that was covered by my hair. Tony put a Bluetooth over his in a clever ruse and nobody would suspect a thing.
"Can you two hear me?"
"Loud and clear Cap. By the way, it's too bad you can't see Shea in this dress. She is smoking hot. OW!" He tried to shield himself as I swung at him with my purse. "What the hell do you have in there? A brick?"
The sound of my laughter filled all of our ears and I heard Steve grumble in the background.
"Okay you two, behave over there. We need to go over the plan." I could hear Nat's patience slipping in her voice. I raised my purse at Tony one more time in a silent threat, to which he raised his hands in surrender.
"Right. Shea and Tony will be inside searching for our man while Agent Romanoff and I stay up here for backup. Your job is to locate him and remove him without incident if possible. We need to get him out before something happens."
"Nervous baby doll?" Damn him, he had to say it out loud. He must have noticed me fidgeting.
"Yes I'm nervous. This is my first mission and I'm one of the primary agents. What if I screw up?"
"Don't be. Remember if you need me, I'm only a few seconds away. Just say the word." The Captain's words made me smile and put me at ease, if only slightly.
#
We had made the transition to the limo and were now arriving at the benefit. The limo pulled up to the steps and the press crowded to try and get a look at the next rich benefactor to arrive. Our driver walked around to the door and opened it. The cameras started flashing as Tony stepped out and the volume of voices exploded. He turned around and grabbed my hand, helping me out of the back seat in a gentlemanly fashion. I tried my best not to look like a deer in the headlights. Tony offered me his arm and I wrapped mine around it. He led me up the stone steps and into the massive hall. People were milling about here and there, chatting and sipping champagne. An orchestra was playing music and several people were dancing in the middle of the floor. We scanned faces on our way in, but no one looked remotely like who we were looking for.
"Well, what do we do now?"
"We're here aren't we? May as well try to enjoy it. May I have this dance?" He bowed dramatically and held out his hand, making me laugh. I nodded and let him lead me to the dance floor. He kept hold of my hand as we faced each other and he but the other on the small of my bare back. I placed my other hand on his shoulder. We started to move with the music, Tony holding me close. This made it easy to watch over each other's shoulders and speak to each other in hushed voices without anyone overhearing.
"Anything yet guys?" Our ear pieces crackled with Nat's inquiry.
"Not yet, we're working on a full scan of the place right now." We continued moving in slow circles as Tony replied, looking at each and every face. After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, someone on the second floor balcony caught my eye.
"Tony. Second floor, pale skin and dark hair. Is that him?"
"Looking." The man left my view as Tony spun us around to get a better look.
"I've got a confirmed sighting guys; I think he recognized me." I tensed in his arms, afraid now. I didn't know what he was capable of. All I had learned was that he had stolen the Tesseract and stole one of our Agents. I was afraid if he recognized Tony he might attack.
Before either of us could react, he had descended the staircase and attacked a man. Everyone started running and screaming. This made it much harder to locate him. We decided to run for the door like everyone else, knowing it was likely where the people would go so would he.
He suddenly appeared standing above everyone on a pedestal. He identified himself as Loki and demanded everyone kneel before him. Tony and I were off to the side still standing and he hadn't noticed us yet. He was now wearing a horned helmet and waving a scepter at the crowd.
"Really, that's your name? Loki – the Norse god of mischief?" Me and my big mouth. He turned his head to me and a grin crept onto his face.
"And what might your name be my dear?" I didn't want to use my powers in public right now, so I reached into my purse and put my hand on my gun just to be ready.
"We will never bow to men like you!" An old veteran stood and shouted. 'No!' I grabbed tighter to my gun and prepared to draw it.
"Take an example from your elder! He will show you what not to do!" He pointed the scepter at the old man and as I was about to draw my gun, Steve appeared from seemingly nowhere.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany there was a man standing above everyone else. We didn't get along." Steve threw his Shield and the battle began. The crowd took their chance to run and Tony and I cleared the area as fast as we could. Steve overpowered Loki within minutes and took away his scepter.
I noticed the scepter discarded over to the side and picked it up. Nat brought down the Quinjet. Loki was now bound and being led onto the aircraft with a scowl. He looked back and saw me with his weapon, eyes widening slightly. Tony and I brought up the rear of the parade. The hatch closed and we took off.
Steve turned around and froze when he saw Tony and I. He was eyeing me with a strange glint in his eye that I couldn't read.
"Like what you see Cap? Told you she was smokin'." I whacked him with my purse again and he tried to shield himself with his arms.
"Hey, hey! I'm just saying you're a regulation hottie! Geez can't even take a compliment." I pushed past Tony to put the scepter in the corner, as far away from Loki as possible.
"Whoa! How the hell did I miss that ink? I've been with you the entire night and didn't see that once!" I turned back around and said nothing, just smiled and sat down on the bench opposite Loki.
"What are you talking about Stark?" Steve didn't understand the slang for tattoo clearly and had no idea what Tony just saw. I had completely forgotten that the dress had exposed my back piece and was thankful that only Tony had seen it so far.
"Are you blind? Am I the only one who saw that?" He looked around for backup and when he saw he would get none, he looked back to me.
"Show them what I just saw."
"I have no idea what you're talking about Tony. It's a little chilly." I made an excuse as I slipped on a thin black jacket over my dress, thus covering my back.
Suddenly, a large crash of thunder sounded across the sky and through the jet. Loki jumped.
"What's the matter? Afraid of a little thunder?"
"I'm more worried about what comes after it." Loki told Steve, and then there was a huge thump as though something landed on the aircraft.
