I no own, you no sue.
"We definitely have to go in there," Jan said excitedly, pointing to another boutique. Without giving Maxine anytime to speak up, she dragged her into the store.
It was a very high-end store. It was filled with the season's trends. It housed items from most of the big fashion designers' lines. The interior design of the place was very modern; with the dark hardwood floors, the light grey paint that seemed to have a metallic shine, and the glass tables and floor to ceiling mirrors that gave the building the illusion that it was bigger than it actually was. Even the soft pop music playing in the background was on the top of the charts. What Maxine thought that was more impressive was that the atmosphere that was created seemed expensive, like it took a lot of money just to get in the front door.
Not too long ago, Maxine would have walked right past the boutique, probably feeling intimidated. Then again, she probably wouldn't have been in this part of the city to begin with. Everything in this part of the city was trendy, up to date, fashionable, and very expensive.
The clerk walked up to them. "Hello Ms. Van Dyne. Could I help either of you today?" she asked.
"No thank you, I think I've got it covered," Jan said politely.
The clerk nodded, then gave Maxine a disapproving look. Maxine didn't mind, she'd been receiving looks like that all day. Every time they'd go into a new store, clerks and customers alike would give her disapproving glances. Maxine really didn't blame them though. She didn't look like she belong to the high-end life, what with her old black t-shirt, faded boot-cut jeans with holes in the knees, army boots, and leather jacket. The latter of which she was beginning to wish she had taken Jan's advice about leaving at the mansion, now fully remembering just how hot summers in New York were.
Maxine followed Jan to the evening wear section of the store. She looked over the racks, eyeing each item critically. Her eyes fell on a cocktail dress. It was made out of a glossy black satin. The dress was one-shouldered and was long enough to probably only make it to mid-thigh on her.
"Maxine, look at this one," said Jan, holding up a navy dress. It had a sweetheart neckline with the fabric crisscrossing over the bodice and an a-line skirt.
"Pretty," she said, pulling out the black cocktail dress, "What do you think of this?" She held the dress close to herself.
Jan gave it a scrutinizing look. Smiling, she looked at Maxine and said, "It would be the perfect little black dress for you."
"Key word; little," Maxine said. "Are you sure it's not too short?"
Jan rolled her eyes and said, "Just go try it on."
In the dressing room, Maxine slid the dress over her head and then zipped up the side. She looked into the mirror. The dress hugged her body tightly, accentuating her curves. It was longer than she had expected it to be, almost reaching her knees. Continuing to look in the mirror, Maxine started her bad habit of thinking were she could hide a weapon in this dress. It's too short and tight to hide a gun anywhere; I'd probably just hide a knife on…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud knocking on the dressing room's door, along with her friend saying, "Max! Are you coming out or not?"
"I can't," she replied.
"Why not? Does the dress not fit?" Jan asked.
"No, it's not that. The dress fits perfectly," she said, unlocking the door. As she opened the door she said, "I'd make everyone feel self-conscious, because I am a stone cold fox."
Jan laughed. She looked at her friend and said, "Seriously, you're getting that. Even if I have to force you to, you are getting that dress."
"Hey, do you hear me arguing?" said Maxine heading back into the dressing room.
Jan watched as Maxine talked to a taxi driver. She was just out of earshot. Maxine had said that she'd try to get the driver to take their things back to the mansion, but Jan knew the chances of that happening in New York were crazy low. She had even told her this, but still Maxine went ahead to try.
Jan was having a great time, and by the look of it so was Maxine. It was great that there was finally another girl on the Avengers. The guys were great and all, but Jan was glad to have a girl to go shopping with, or get their nails done together, or just even talk to. And the young super soldier fit the bill nicely.
Maxine was easygoing, upbeat, energetic, and a good listener. Not to mention she had a great taste in fashion. Jan remembered the little black dress Maxine had picked out, that had come from her own collection. Though when it came to being a new superhero, Maxine was a little too cocky for Jan's liking, acting like she was an old pro. She was definitely not like Cap when it came to humility.
Speaking of Cap, Jan thought. He was the only person that Maxine let call her 'Max'. Earlier that morning, when Jan first heard him call her that, she thought that it was Maxine's nickname. But when Jan started to call her it later, Maxine asked her to just call her Maxine, and not Max. Which Jan could only think of one thing that this meant. Maxine liked Cap.
Maxine walked back to Jan, grinning. Astonished, Jan said, "Don't tell me that you got that guy to do it."
"Yup, and he said that he'd make sure that they got in the mansion safe and sound," Maxine said, both picking up her bags off the ground and taking Jan's.
"How'd you do that? Threaten the guy?" Jan asked as the two went to the taxi.
Maxine laughed and said, "Depends on what you think I threatened to do to him."
"To kill him?" Jan asked suspiciously, wondering what else Maxine would have in mind.
"Well, then no, I didn't threaten to kill the guy," replied Maxine, putting the bags in the back of the cab.
"Then what did you do?" asked Jan.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to discuss SHIELD negotiation techniques," said Maxine jokingly.
"I hope it nothing illegal, or we'll be hearing from their union," Jan replied.
The two young women headed up the street; Jan leading the way as Maxine followed. They were discussing where'd they stop for lunch.
"There's this great French place that I like a few blocks down," Jan said.
Maxine grimaced and said, "I don't like snails."
"What?" Jan asked, genuinely confused.
"Don't French people eat snails?" Maxine asked.
"Maxine, they just don't eat escargot." Jan said, rolling her eyes.
"Still, there's always the fact that there are live snails in the kitchen where my food is being prepared," Maxine said, "You don't know if they got in your food or on your plate or something. It's very grody when you think about it."
"Great, thanks Maxine, you have ruined that restaurant for me," Jan said sarcastically. "And 'grody'? Really? "
"Yeah, I know, I'm old school," said Maxine. Her stomach growled. She asked, "Ok, so where are we going to eat?"
"You ate a pretty late breakfast. I'm still surprised that you're hungry already," said Jan.
"It's probably because I have an uber high metabolism, which is probably because I'm a freaking super soldier!" said Maxine pointing at herself.
"Chill out, Maxine, it's not like I forgot," said Jan. "And speaking of super soldiers: you like him, don't you?"
"Pfft. I have no idea what you're talking about," Maxine said.
"Come on Maxine. You like Steve, and you know it," said Jan, "Why else would you let only him call you Max?"
"Maybe the guy just likes to give people nicknames," said Maxine. Looking up and down the street, she asked "Where are we going again?"
"Maxine, you don't let me call you Max. Steve doesn't do nicknames, at least not for girls. It took me weeks just to get the man to call me Janet!" Jan exclaimed.
"Maybe Steve thinks that I wouldn't mind it because I'm a soldier, too," said Maxine, "Seriously where are we going to eat?"
"Why are you avoiding the question?" asked Jan, getting a little frustrated by her new friend's evasiveness.
"'Avoiding the question'? You're the one not telling me where we're going for lunch!" said Maxine in feigned frustration.
"Is that all you think about? When and where you're going to eat?" Jan asked.
"When I'm hungry, yes," Maxine said, glaring down at her stomach as it growled again.
Jan sighed, "Fine. I'll tell you where we're going to eat if you tell me if you like him. Deal?"
"Deal," said Maxine and sighed. "Steve's a great guy, but I've only known him for what, all of forty-eight hours? I'm not falling for a guy that I just met."
"So that's a yes, then?" asked Jan.
Maxine shook her head and said, "I answered your question, now you answer mine."
"Fine, fine," Jan said, "I think we should go to-"
Suddenly a fire truck raced past, with an ambulance right behind it, interrupting Jan. Both the emergency vehicles had their sirens blaring. The young women looked at each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Jan.
"Already ahead of you," Maxine replied, zipping up her jacket before taking off down the street.
Valkyrie raced down the crowded side walk, shoving people out of her way. One several occasions she almost ran into pedestrians talking on their phones. She had no time to apologize since she was trying to keep the fire truck in sight. Another roared down the street, flashing its lights.
"You're gonna have to be faster than that if you want to keep up!" Wasp said teasingly, as she flew ahead of her.
Valkyrie was impressed that her friend had managed to both change quickly and overtake her. She had had a very nice head start, only having to zip her jacket to look close enough to her costume and then sprinting down a few blocks.
She noticed a man getting off his motorcycle. She ran up to him. As he was taking off his helmet, she grabbed it from his hands and put it on.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" the guy exclaimed.
She pushed him away from the bike and said, "Borrowing this, come by the Avengers' Mansion and I'll pay you back later." Then she rode off.
Valkyrie swerved between cars, going well over the speed limit. Deciding that the road was too congested, she started driving on the sidewalk. People scrambled to get out of her way. She heard a police siren behind her. Looking into the rearview mirror, she saw the police car following closely behind on the road. She sped up a little.
She saw why the emergency vehicle had been sent out. An apartment building was engulfed in fire, smoke coming out of the windows; and though the firefighters were desperately trying to put it out, the fire threatened to spread to the surrounding buildings. There was a news crew standing by, catching everything on film. Wasp was flying out of one of the windows, holding an elderly woman by the back of her shirt, taking her to safety.
"Please! Please, sir! You have to help Megan! My little girl, she's stuck in there! We live on the thirteenth floor! Please you have to get her out!" A woman yelled at a firefighter, hysterical.
"We'll have your daughter out ASAP. We're just waiting on the ladder." The fireman said calmly.
Valkyrie jumped off of the motorcycle, and threw off the helmet. She sprinted into the burning building, ignoring the yells coming from the fireman to not go in.
The heat from the fire was excruciatingly hot and the light from the fire hurt Valkyrie's eyes, causing her to squint. Pulling her jacket collar close to her mouth, she sprinted through the lobby to the staircase. Kicking open the door, Valkyrie sprinted up the stairs, careful to notice how much fire damage they were taking. She figured she'd have enough time to get the kid and go.
Reaching the thirteenth floor, she once again kicked in the door. The fire wasn't as bad on this floor than it had been in the lobby, but the smoke was worse.
"Megan!" Valkyrie yelled. Odds were the girl couldn't hear her; the place was too damn big. She started to kick in doors and quickly search the apartments. "Megan!"
"Valkyrie!" A voice cried out to her. Spinning around, she saw Wasp. "We got to get out of here; before the building collapse!"
"Help me find the kid!" she yelled back. "You take the east side, I'll take the west! Yell if you find anything!" Without waiting for a response, she took off down the hall.
Valkyrie ran from another room, yet again no kid. She was running out of rooms and time. She was really worried that the kid might have already passed out from smoke inhalation already, or worse.
She kicked in another door. "Megan!" she yelled as she quickly scanned the first room. Nothing. Going into the next room she yelled again, "Megan!" There was a faint coughing sound.
Valkyrie doubled the pace of her searching. "Megan, sweetie, you have to come out!" she yelled, trying to coax the girl out of her hiding spot. The coughing grew louder. Valkyrie threw open the closet door, tying not to scream as the doorknob burned her hand, afraid that it would scare the girl.
Sitting on the closet floor was a small girl holding a doll. The girl was around four years old. She looked up to Valkyrie with frightened eyes.
"Megan, we need to get you out of here. You're mommy's waiting for you outside; she sent me in here to get you," Valkyrie said as she took off her jacket. Stooping down, she placed it around Megan, and then picked her up. "We just need to get my friend Wasp, and then we'll get you out of her."
Valkyrie carried the child swiftly out of the apartment. Once in the hall she yelled, "Wasp! I got her! Let's Go!" She ran down the hall a little farther, repeating what she yelled.
"Great! Let's get out of here!" Wasp yelled as she flew towards them.
Valkyrie nodded and headed for the stairs. She walked through the broken doors, feeling the heat intensify. What she had feared that would have happened had; the stairs were already manly ablaze.
"We're going to need another way out!" she yelled to Wasp.
"There's always my way," Wasp replied, "Follow me!"
She followed Wasp to a window that faced the street. Holding Megan tighter, Valkyrie kicked the glass, watching it shatter to the ground below.
Wasp grabbed the back of Valkyrie's shirt, and told her, "It's now or never."
Valkyrie nodded, pressing Megan closer to herself. She took a deep breath in and jumped. There was no feeling of falling as Wasp slowed them down to a gentle glided down. Landing away from the fire, towards the crowd of firefighters, Wasp let go of Valkyrie.
The firemen quickly had the fire back under their control, and soon it was out.
Valkyrie held the girl until her mother ran up to her. The mother was in tears as she took her daughter, embracing the child, she said, "Oh thank Jesus, you're alright! I was so worried!" The woman looked and Valkyrie and Wasp, "Thank you, thank you both. I don't know what I would've done if I lost her."
"It's not me you should be thanking, but Valkyrie. If it wasn't for her, I don't think things would've ended so well," Wasp said, nudging Valkyrie in the elbow.
Valkyrie wanted to criticize the woman for not looking out for her child. For letting her child hide in a closet while she ran out of the building. She wanted to, but she didn't. Instead she said, "It's nothing ma'am, I'm just trying to do my part as an Avenger."
The woman nodded slowly, taking her daughter over to the paramedics. Valkyrie quickly put her jacket back on as she saw the reported coming their way.
"Looks like lunch will have to wait a little longer," she said, as her stomach growled.
Jan laughed at this and once again playfully nudged Valkyrie's elbow.
So, that's the end of this chapter. You got to see a little Wasp and Valkyrie bonding and them saving the day. I hope you enjoyed it. I will update as soon as I can. I'm not going to say read and review, because if you've already read this so I'll just ask for you to review.
I love to here your thoughts about the story and Max, so, please review.
Thank you,
The Sterling Raven