A/N. Hi! :) ... okay you guys are going to hate me after this chapter. But what's a story without a little suspense and action? Anyway, I won't keep you. Read on and enjoy :D
CHAPTER XX
"Well, don't you look all…?" Felicity hesitated, "Dressed up."
Everyone rolled their eyes at her but no one said anything. Pepper, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Tania, and Steve were getting ready to leave for the party and had gathered in the lounge with the others to say good-bye. Unfortunately, Felicity had followed them and was criticizing everyone's looks.
Pepper continued fixing Tony's tie, ignoring the obnoxious woman behind her. "You look positively smashing," she told him.
"And you are striking," he returned, "Meow."
Felicity pretended to gag. How immature of her. How old did she think she was, eleven?
"You all look marvelous," Betty reassured, smoothing out Tania's dress. "I feel like a mom sending her kids away to prom."
"All that's missing is a corsage," Tania played along.
"I… may have one," Steve mumbled, blushing a little. He reached into his back pocket and for a split second, Tania thought he would produce the ring. But it was disproved when he actually did have a flower in his hands. It was a white Lilly – her favourite.
"Oh… it's beautiful," she breathed.
A chorus of "awwww…"s echoed in the background. "It's also plastic," he admitted shyly.
"Boo..." Tony dissed. No one paid him any attention.
"It'll last longer," she said back to her boyfriend.
He smiled at her and wrapped it around her left wrist. A flash went off and they both turned to Graham, who was holding the camera. "I wasn't home for your first prom, so I'm going to commemorate your second."
Tania shook her head with a loving grin on her face. "This isn't prom."
"Well I'm going to pretend it is."
"Whatever."
"You know what, this does feel a little like sending you away to prom," Bruce confessed, putting an arm around his wife's waist.
"They grow up so fast," Graham sniffed, wiping away a fake tear.
Chuckles emanated from several people around the room. "Well we'd better go," Natasha stated, looking at her watch. "The show starts in an hour. If you guys want good seats we'll have to get there early."
The Widow was wearing an emerald green silk dress that was ankle-length with a long slit all the way up her thigh and was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. She wore a long orange haired wig similar to Pepper's hair colour that fell in curls all the way down her back with brown contacts again.
Clint was also in disguise, with a fake mustache and an all-white tuxedo with a matching green tie to Natasha's dress and his hair gelled back with enough gunk to hold a house together.
Tony and Pepper weren't in disguises because they didn't need to be. If they were recognized, no one would care or suspect anything. They went to fancy things like this all the time (well, Pepper did, and she occasionally dragged her boyfriend along).
Steve was wearing another brown wig with a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose and Tania wore a blonde wig that had been twisted up in an intricate bun. Natasha had created a fake nose to cover her real one and when she looked in the mirror she hardly recognized herself. It was perfect. Her cell phone was tied around her right ankle and Peggy's knife was around her left – she never left home without it. Her pocket watch was wrapped around her right hand several times like a series of bangles and she borrowed one of Pepper's very large, very expensive, diamond necklaces that felt extremely heavy around her neck.
"Natasha's right," Clint agreed, one hand tucked into the inside of his jacket. "We should go. Is Happy waiting outside?"
Tony nodded. "Yup. He's in the car."
In order not to set off too much suspicion, Clint and Natasha would arrive first in the car Tony had given Clint when he first moved into the Tower (not that the public knew that, the car had never been used) while Tony and Pepper would arrive in their limo. Steve and Tania would appear several minutes later by another one of Tony's lesser known but just as expensive cars.
They bid their friends and family good-bye before setting the plan into motion. Once they were all inside, they regrouped in a remote corner of the grand hall but never interacted, simply remaining in the same room and watching each other. They used their comms to discreetly communicate to each other.
"Okay, Hawkeye and I will split up and head to the bathroom exactly one minute before the lights dim, signaling everyone to watch the show. Once everyone is seated, we'll look around and keep you posted," Natasha whispered into her drink with Clint by her side.
Across the room, Pepper and Tony were talking to what appeared to be a business associate of theirs and couldn't respond, trapped in the social convention of carrying on a conversation.
Near the doors to the theatre itself, Steve and Tania stood arm in arm, munching on hors d'oeuvres. "Copy that," she whispered before placing another little bite of food in her mouth.
"We'll contact again during intermission," Steve muttered under his breath as he pretended to observe a marble column.
"Move out," Clint ordered.
Forty-five minutes later, the lights flashed, indicating that everyone should be seated. Natasha and Clint had already left for the washrooms, so the four remaining Avengers and honorary Avengers made their way to their seats among the throng of people. They showed the guards their tickets that Tony had bought the night before and headed inside. Steve and Tania had seats near the back in the middle while Pepper and Tony watched the show from one of the balconies above.
"Rescue, Iron Man, where are you guys? I can't see you," Tania asked, barely moving her lips as she randomly threw her gaze around the room.
"We're right above you," Pepper answered in her ear. "We can see you but don't turn and look. Just keep watching the show."
Tania didn't answer, instead favouring to interlace her fingers with Steve's on the armrest and cross her legs. Ten minutes after they had been seated, the lights dimmed almost completely and the red curtains opened.
For an hour and fifteen minutes, the four of them sat and watched the musical. Steve found it enjoyable. It didn't use much technology and it was something he could follow, having seen the movie back in the forties in theatres.
Tania and Pepper also liked the first half so far, both thinking about how talented the actors were. It was obvious that a lot of money and hard work had been put into this production and it showed in a very good way.
Tony, on the other hand, was bored out of his mind. He couldn't stop fidgeting and kept making sarcastic remarks. He too, had seen the movie and didn't see the point in re-watching it live. It made no difference to him whatsoever. He kept making quips throughout the play and Pepper continued to shush him whenever he did so. He sighed loudly and she shushed him again.
He couldn't have been happier when the lights came back on. "Finally!" he whined, stretching his body and groaning when his back and neck cracked.
Pepper rolled her eyes at him and ushered him out of the balcony. They rendezvous-ed back in the grand hall with Tania and Steve via the comms. Clint and Natasha were yet to be seen.
The intermission was only a fifteen to twenty minutes long. They didn't have much time to waste. "Hawkeye, Black Widow, do you copy?" Steve tried, pretending to cough into his shoulder.
No answer.
A hand tapped his shoulder and he turned. There stood Clint in his disguise with a blank look on his face. He turned to Tania and began signing. They know we brought company. We have to bring you with us. Nat stayed behind to make sure I didn't run away.
Clint, what's going on?! Tania asked, hand gestures shaky and frantic. Steve looked between the two, completely lost.
I'll explain later, but right now I need you to come with us. We can't bring Tony or Pepper – they'll be recognized as Avengers and the whole plan will sink. Come with me. He gestured for them to follow him and they did.
Steve didn't ask and Tania didn't explain. They couldn't. There were too many people. They soon got lost in the crowd before entering through a door that said, STAFF ONLY. When it swung shut behind them, Tania explained their conversation to Steve and the others over the comm as they walked down the eerily silent, white corridor.
All the while, Clint didn't say anything – just kept leading them forward. Steve grabbed Tania's hand and brought her closer to him, making sure his grip was tight. They were walking right into the heart of the enemy, from what he understood. He prayed that Tania would not be recognized and squeezed her hand for comfort. She squeezed back once.
They turned a corner and slipped through a door on their right that had been left ajar. Clint closed it behind them.
The trio found themselves in what appeared to be a meeting room with over a dozen men sitting around the table and leaning against the walls and standing off to the side. Natasha stood out like a sore thumb in her bright colours as the men all wore dark grey, black, or navy. Clint immediately marched over to Natasha and stood beside her, removing a cigarette from his mouth that Tania hadn't noticed until now. Clint didn't smoke. But apparently the character he was playing did.
He began speaking perfect German as if he had grown up with it to the several men. He gestured to Steve and Tania, who were still standing by the door, trying not to let their anxiety show.
One of the older, more chubbier men at the head of the oval table huffed and answered back, waving his hand vaguely in the newcomers' direction. This conversation went on for a little while and Steve and Tania took the chance to look around the room.
It was a fairly small room cramped with what was probably almost twenty people. The men ranged in age from early twenties to what appeared to be as old a hundred. They all had some forms of blonde hair and blue eyes and were all looking fairly unhappy with their current situation.
"... wollen wir HYDRA für den gleichen Zweck kommen ..." Tania and Steve both snapped to attention. It was Clint who was speaking, both hands in his pockets (and probably wrapped around some sort of weapon) to the chubby man from before.
The couple shared a way glance. Hydra? As in, the followers of Johann Schmidt? They had survived? That wasn't good. Despite the time machine having been destroyed along with Tony's Malibu Mansion, the fact that the two of them had gone to the past and possibly changed everything was ever present in their minds. Was this a repercussion of what happened in nineteen forty-five?
Tania remembered being told that Hydra's sole purpose was to avenge their leader's death and to get revenge on Captain America. She paled. That was it. Hydra wanted to kill her in order to get to Steve. Her grasp on his hand tightened visibly.
While Clint continued talking, Steve caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but not enough to actually follow what they were talking about. They were speaking incredibly fast and he just couldn't keep up.
Tania turned her head to the right and jumped when she realized that there was a really old man in a chair just about a meter from her. Steve instinctively pulled her closer and she placed her other hand on his bicep as she looked back at the man. They made eye contact.
They both gasped. She recognized him from somewhere, but couldn't put her finger on where. It wasn't Austerlitz, that was for sure. He seemed to recognize her as well, but also couldn't seem to point out from where.
One of the younger men standing next to the old man noticed this and his eyed widened. He knew who she was. He pulled a gun on her and Steve lunged forward, grabbed the man's arm and aimed it at the ceiling just as the gunshot went off. "Es ist Kaptain Amerika und seine Freundin! Sie sind alle Spione! Hol sie dir!"
All hell broke loose.
Everyone acted at once. The man from before went to throw an uppercut into Steve's gut but the Captain caught his fist mid-swing and twisted, before pressing his foot against the man's chest and yanking back on the arms. The man screamed before Steve used the butt of the gun to whack his temple. As his opponent fell, unconscious, he grabbed the gun and whirled around, shooting one of the men by the desk with newly acquired firearm.
A few feet away, Tania ducked under a punch before dropping into a crouch, ripping her dress to spread her legs wide (oops… she'll pay Pepper back later) and spun her left leg in front of her to knock the attacker off his feet. She felt a gun being pressed against her temple and her body reacted without her brain's consent. She whipped her forearm against the gun just as it fired and spun around, swinging her left leg up high and managing to kick him in the neck (not really where she was aiming… but whatever worked). She must have hit a pressure point because he collapsed like a rag doll. A large hand gripped her left arm tightly and she was pulled backward and slammed into the wall harshly. She grunted before he yanked her forward and she ended up sprawled on the floor. A voice in the back of her mind that sounded suspiciously like Natasha spoke up. "NEVER get on the ground if possible. If you do, get up or you're done." Tania spun her legs away from her attacker and pushed herself to her feet, turning to face him again. She ran and used his right thigh as a foot stool as she brought her right leg up to step on his chest and then kick her left foot forward into his face as hard as she could. She landed unsteadily on her feet while he staggered back, dazed. She took this moment to grab a painting off the wall and smash if over his head.
On the other side of the room, Natasha grabbed one man's arm and hit a pressure point in his neck, dropping him instantly. Immediately, she spun and blocked a punch from one of the henchman before shoving her foot into his chest, knocking him backward where she jumped into the air and slammed her heel into his throat. Two men approached her from behind and she whipped her head between them before leaping forward onto the large oval table and dropping to a crouch before placing all her weight onto her hands. She spread her legs into the splits and used her hands to spin herself around like a propeller and took out three different henchmen at once. She slowed her pace and lowered one knee to the table, followed by her other leg. She flipped her hair up to get out of her face to before threading one leg through the space between the other leg and her arm and slid forward, slamming her foot into one man's crotch before rolling backward and hopping onto his shoulders, trapping his head between her thighs. She threw her torso and arms backward, forcing the man to bend with her as she whipped her body around, bringing his with her by the head before she crushed his neck into the ground.
A few feet from her, Clint performed a front handspring which turned into a back handspring where he landed on one man's shoulder, performing the same move as Natasha in perfect synchronisation with her. When the man was on the ground, he back flipped before doing a perfect split midair to kick two men on opposite sides of in the faces before landing in a frog-like crouch. He stepped forward and grabbed the arm rests of one of the office chairs before swinging it to his right and bashing it into the back of a HYDRA soldier's head, knocking him out immediately. He clutched another attacker's shirt and easily threw him into one of the others chairs in the row, sending it backwards far enough to push away all the other chairs on wheels and end up in a cluster against the wall on the other side of the room. Clint delivered a roundhouse kick a man in his way before jumping and scissoring his legs against the man's head, breaking his neck instantly. Without looking, he reached behind him and grabbed another man's head, bringing it under his arm before grabbing his jaw with one hand and the scalp the other. He twisted sharply before dropping him and dive rolling onto the table. He stood up on the far left side, tilting the table to the ground where he slid down like a surfer before hopping off. He grabbed two guns from the men he had just killed while ducking behind his newly made cover and made quick work of the henchmen on his side.
Natasha saw what Clint was doing and cartwheeled over to him. He tossed her a gun and she caught it easily, turning so that they were back to back and shooting all of the HYDA soldiers she could see. They were all down within seconds. Now for the ones on the other side.
Tania managed to get a few feet closer to Steve while fighting, but there were still a couple opponents between them. A punch to the side of her head that she couldn't block shoved her to the ground on her stomach. Another gunshot went off and Steve fell beside her. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood pooling around his stomach.
"STEVE!" she shrieked.
The Captain was still alive, but he was coughing up blood and struggling to get up. Someone stepped in front of her and she screamed at them, lashing out. She was on the ground. This was very bad. But Steve shot and maybe even dying and she was a little distracted. Using this to their dull advantage, the HYDRA minions managed to get a cloth around her mouth and nose.
She screamed and clawed and punched and kicked but she was being held down. They had been so close. There were only four of them left out of what, twenty? They had been doing so well.
She looked around before her vision could get too fuzzy to see and inhaled the horrible chloroform that made her gag. She couldn't see Steve but she saw Clint and Natasha pop their heads up from behind the table and start shooting. But then blood spurted from Natasha's shoulder and she cried out, falling backward behind the safety of the table.
"NO!" Clint cried out, but the sound was fading out until all she could hear was a dull ringing. The colours began blurring together but she registered gunshots and then the disappearance of Clint's bright white tuxedo, leaving only the light wood of the table and the black of the clothes of men around her. And then nothing.
Her head lolled.
A/N. Oh, and again, you're not supposed to understand the German. Just the words like HYDRA and Captain America and stuff. I'll update soon, I promise! :)