AN: Tumblr prompt: blood blossom tea

Drabble 21-Deadly Surprise

"Please, sit down. Have some tea."

Danny looked at the Red Skull warily as he sipped his tea. This undercover mission was dangerous, but he owed Fury and Cap a favor.

He had enough bad press from Amity Park, and he used that to kindle the rest of what was happening. Whenever there was a disaster like a fire or building collapse, he would proudly take the blame for it. He would pretend to fight other heroes, calling their ideologies fake dreams that will never come true.

Then the Red Skull sent to armored men to his hideout, inviting him to have tea. Inviting him on a partnership.

He has been expecting this, and he and Cap already had everything set up. The secret microscopic microphone that would go in his gloves, and some cameras invisible to the human and nonhuman eye that sprayed on, so the could get a visual just in case. And while he knew Cap wasn't okay with him on this mission, it had to be done, and Danny was the only one who could do it.

He has arrived at the meeting point, some discreet identical warehouse or wherever that reminded him of his fake hideout, and they had driven off. Fir good measure they blindfolded him and put him in some anti-ghost cuffs so he couldn't get out. It felt suffocating and wrong. But then again, this whole situation felt wrong.

They led his blindfolded behind down so many twists and turns he wanted ti make a joke about not knowing which was was up, but for once he was actually paying to much attention to the mission. Not a single quip could come to mind with how much he was focused.

He heard a few clangs around him as he walked into a room. The whole atmosphere changed. It was warmer than what he has experienced so far, and the attitude had completely changed. All of a sudden the blindfold was ripped off, and his cuffs fell to the ground with a large thunk. Danny blinked a couple of times to adjust to the warm sunlight that was coming from the windows. It was a mostly empty room that had large (evil) equipment against the walls, some flatscreens (both evil and not evil) and a nice little table in the middle. Red Skull was lounging in a comfy chair, legs crossed and sipping tea. Danny suddenly pictured him in a dress from the 1800s and had to press down his laughter. But even with the funny thought, the tension was still extraordinarily high.

"My pleasure," Danny said, walking forward and trying to ignore the guards that had their guns trained on didn't need any trigger happy lunatics to ruin everything. "Thank you for having me," Danny said politely as he sat down. "I love what you've done with the place."

"Bah," he waved Danny off."Flattery will not work, my dear Phantom. Besides, we have more important matters to discuss. Like our partnership. " He took another sip of his tea before placing it and the small plate on the table. Skull gestured to his cup. "Do you not like tea?" Skull's accent was almost gentle, but had an underlying threat to it all the same.

"Uh… er.. I love it." Not a lie, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous. Anything the great Red Skull wanted him to consume was bad. Even if it was a tiny, harmless cup of tea. But his stomach was doing flip flops just looking at it. He grabbed the cup and gave Skull a nervous smile before taking a sip. There was an immediate reaction from the moment the calm drink touched him. His mouth and throat burned, his eyes watered, and he was unable to breathe let alone talk. He grabbed at his throat, trying to gain stability using the table, but it just wobbled to the side, taking Jim down to the floor with him. His stomach started to burn, and he could slowly feel his insides being torn apart by the tea.

"Blood blossom tea is my favorite, but I can see that your body does not agree with it," Skull was saying. Danny was having a hard time paying attention now that the lining of his organs were probably melting off. It felt like it anyway. "Now, in what part of this partnership were you going to tell me you were on a mission for the Captain and Fury?"

Danny opened his mouth, but he couldn't talk. He couldn't ask for help. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he had to if he wanted to see what else Skull was going to do to him. Black creeped at the edges of his vision, and he fought to keep it away. He couldn't pass out. Not here. Not now.

He heard a door slam open, and he heard lots of footsteps. It was either Steve and his backup, or it was Skull's goons here to take him away.

His stomach exploded with pain when Skull rolled him over and pressed down. Danny tried focusing on the light, to stay awake, but Skull's head blocked the light as he pressed down harder, leaning forward with a gross, yellow smile.

"You were an idiot child trying to do a man's job," he hissed. Danny's fingers clawed at the boot pressing into his gut, but he couldn't get a grip.

He let out a blood curdling scream that sent chills down normal people's spines. He was hoping some form of a ghostly wail would come forth, but no luck. The blood blossoms in his system must be taking its toll on his powers. Any longer and he might be forced to switch back.

The Red Skull just laughed though, straightening up and throwing his head back as more men surrounded them. Strange. They were all in white…Skull's men didn't wear white…

Oh no.