May 4, 2012- Manhattan
Kayla Ellis pushed through the door from the stairwell to find a man laying face down on the floor. Shattered glass surrounded him, and when she looked up to the broken walkway across the open atrium, she realized he'd fallen almost a hundred feet. She quickly picked up her pace, her heels clicking as she approached the man in blue.
As she leaned down to check his pulse, her small assistant and best friend hissed at her, "Kayla. Kayla, we should call for help, what are you doing?" The woman was petite and slim, with thick brown hair cut in bob at her chin. She watched her best friend with nervous chocolate eyes as the voluptuous blonde hovered over the body.
"Hey," She said, shaking his shoulder gently, feeling her stomach jump into her chest at how strong it felt, "Hey, are you okay? Wake up! Please, please don't be dead." Kayla carefully turned over the man, and a gasp escaped her throat when her emerald eyes saw his face, "He's... so handsome."
Suddenly, the man startled awake and looked up to see the blonde beauty kneeling over him. Recognition shown in his eyes as he scanned her to make sure she was okay, taking in her red halter top that showed off her cleavage and her skinny jeans that left so little to his imagination he was sure he'd be condemned to Hell for his sinful thoughts. But Steve knew exactly who the woman was, he'd gotten up the courage to ask her out moments before fighting off Loki disguised as himself.
"Kayla?"
Steve was starting to think his conversation with the blonde was a dream, because she didn't seem to have any clue who he was. At least, she didn't seem to have any clue as to their conversation before, "You know me?" She breathed softly, and Steve felt his heart sink as he pushed himself onto his elbow. Maybe it was all a dream, or maybe it was Loki playing tricks on his mind. This girl in front of him was real though, he was sure of it.
She didn't look at him the same way Kayla Ellis had looked at him before though, and it made him sad. This woman looked at him like a piece of meat, but the woman before looked at him like he was something so much more. He wanted that Kayla Ellis back, but he was having a hard time distinguishing what was real and what was not at the moment. He tilted his head back and forth, pain radiating from his skull as he squinted his blue eyes up at her, "I- I'm pretty sure I do. Kayla Ellis, right? Or were you just a dream?"
He hoped she wasn't a dream, but his throbbing head wasn't doing him any favors. He was starting to think none of it happened at all. It was Loki's mind tricks. It had to be. This beautiful dame would never give him a chance...
"You're the dream, Captain." Kayla hummed as she settled onto her haunches, boldly grasping Steve's cheeks to get a better look at him, "How about we get you cleaned up?"
"Yeah, I think that would be good." Steve murmured as mhis cheeks burning from her touch. She must have felt the way they heated up, because Kayla Ellis pulled her hands away and Steve wanted nothing more than for them to hold him again. He blinked, pushing away those thoughts as he realized he'd lost the Scepter. He looked around in terror, realizing Loki was gone, "Where's the Scepter? Did Loki take it? He was disguised as me."
When Kayla Ellis looked even more lost than he probably did, Steve was sure she'd been nothing but a dream, "I have no idea what you're talking about." She said bluntly, but her expression softened as she grinned coyly, lowering her head to the side to look at Steve from under her thick eyelashes, "But I'd love to hear more about it. Maybe... dinner? Tomorrow night?"
"You literally just met him." Her assistant Tiffany deadpanned, placing her hands on her hips. Kayla mumbled something about 'what is time anyway' as she looked down at the man resting on his elbow in the glass.
Tiffany looked up when she heard the sound of clicking down the hall. She saw someone in a red top vanish behind the corner and Tiffany began walking slowly to investigate whatever looked just like her friend. That would explain why Captain America seemed to already know Kayla. Something weird was at work. By the time Tiffany turned the corner though, the red top was gone.
Kayla Ellis didn't even notice that her best friend had wondered off, because she was drowning in blue eyes and that timid smile that made heat pool in her lower body. She wanted to make her joke about leading Captain America into her bed a reality. She wanted to feel his body on hers as he pounded her into next Tuesday, and if he kept that timid, innocent smile on his face the whole time she wouldn't complain. "I know I'd remember meeting you... so how do you know me?" She asked softly, using the side of her hand to carefully scoot the glass shards away so she could sit down fully with the man. He didn't seem to want to get up from the floor anytime soon, and after the fall he'd taken, Kayla didn't blame him.
Steve looked up at the woman, feeling embarrassed about what he was going to admit, "You appeared out of nowhere. Introduced yourself as Kayla Ellis, the President's daughter. We talked for a while..." Steve looked down so she wouldn't see how red his cheeks were turning, "I asked if you'd go get coffee with me, but then Loki took the Scepter and I fought him. You fell from up there and I caught you." He gestured up and Kayla paled at the story, thankful it wasn't real. "I feel like an idiot."
"No! No, you're fine, you took quite a tumble." Kayla assured him as she pushed back his long hair. He was shocked by how bold she was, touching him like that after only just meeting him, but Steve was beginning to understand that this woman might just be braver than he was. Kayla pulled her hand away quickly, seeming to realize she was crossing unspoken boundaries, "Should I call for an ambulance? Or I can get you a cab if you feel up to it. I'll come with you."
"No. I'm sure SHIELD has doctors that can patch me up." Steve finally grumbled as he slowly pushed his aching body upright onto his feet. Standing, Kayla gulped, getting the full view of him for the first time. He reached down and offered his hand to help her up, and she took it carefully as Tiffany doubled back to them.
"Security's coming. We're in deep shit now." Tiffany mumbled, hoisting her camel colored bag higher onto her small shoulder. Steve looked at the small woman quickly, then back to Kayla. "Why?"
"Because we aren't supposed to be here." Kayla admitted through clenched teeth, her cheeks turning red as her sleeveless top, "My father... he is the President... he told me I was supposed to stay with- my boyfriend." Kayla looked up, the wheels in her mind clearly turning. Steve was glad she was distracted so she couldn't notice how sad he looked at her admission of having a boyfriend, "Maybe ex-boyfriend. Not really sure. I'll deal with that later. Either way, I'm not supposed to be in Stark Tower."
"I'm glad you were." Steve told her softly, eyes roaming her waist length, bleach-blonde hair. He wondered if it was heavy. He'd never seen a woman with so much hair. It looked soft, and Steve found himself swallowing down the urge to reach out and touch it. He didn't think she'd mind, but at this point he wasn't sure if he was in his right mind or not.
"Miss Ellis?" A man asked incredulously as he entered the hallway, wielding a gun and looking around at all the glass lying around before looking back to the woman, "What are you doing here? What happened?"
"I wanted to come thank the Avengers on behalf of my father." She lied with ease, smoothing down her blouse over her tight jeans, "However, I noticed Captain Rogers in a scuffle and came to check if he was alright."
The security guard nodded slowly, looking to Captain Rogers, "Mr. Stark had a mild heart attack in the lobby. There's a medic on their way to his penthouse if you'd like to be checked out as well."
"Yeah, I probably should." Steve mumbled, placing his hands on his hips and looking down at the security guard with an authority that made Kayla's core burn, "Is Stark okay?"
"Yes." The security guard answered simply, looking from Captain America to the two women, "Once he's been cleared by the medic he wants to meet up with the team and figure out where to go from here."
"Team?" Steve scoffed and Kayla raised her brow curiously, but Steve just cleared his throat, "Yes. I'll head there right away."
"I'd like to come with you." Kayla muttered, grabbing his forearm tightly. "I won't leave until I know you're okay."
Steve tried to hide his grin, but he couldn't, so he covered it with words, "I'll be okay. I promise. Thank you for checking on me, Miss Ellis."
As Steve turned to head back toward the elevator, Kayla cried out, "Wait! You never answered my question... about tomorrow night."
Steve turned to face her, the corner of his lips curving into a small smile. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say yes very badly, but he didn't know if he was even allowed to go on a date, let alone go on a date with the President's daughter, "I'll, uh, I'll get back to you?"
Kayla's hopeful expression dropped, completely baffled by his lack of answer. Kayla Ellis was never turned down, and she sure as hell never got a 'I'll get back to you'. She was insulted, but that only made her want him more. "How? You don't have my number."
"Pretty sure I can get a hold of you. I know where you live." Steve replied, turning and heading toward the elevator, his eyes wide as he panicked. Was that flirting? Was that creepy? Had he just been rude to the First Daughter of the United States? Would she even want to see him again? Should he want to see her at all? This clearly wasn't the woman she'd spoken to earlier. This Kayla was different, less confident. She seemed younger, almost less experienced.
Loki had done a number on him. Did the God of Mischief know Steve would meet the real woman moments later? Is that why Loki chose her to distract him so he could steal the Scepter. Why her? Steve hadn't even met her yet, she didn't mean anything to him, but after their brief conversation, she did.
As the elevator doors closed behind him, Steve decided wanted to get to know her. He had to understand why she struck something in him he didn't realize he could feel anymore.
When the elevator opened and Steve emerged back into the lounge of Tony Stark's tower, he found the others circled around him, a mix of panic and complacency.
"I'm fine, really, Point Break took great care of me." Tony assured when Bruce insisted he be checked out by the medic who had arrived just ahead of Steve. As Steve approached, Tony looked up to him, "Did you get Loki?"
"Does it look like I got Loki?" Steve grumbled, unstrapping his glove with a huff. He could tell there'd be a lot of talking before there was any more fighting.
Tony Stark rolled his eyes dramatically as the medic placed his stethoscope to the left of his arc reactor without his consent, "Stop- please. I'm fine. I'm more worried that all the shit we went through today was for nothing. I flew a nuke threw a wormhole for nothing." Tony threw his arms in the air, drawing matching groans from Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton from their place at the bar. Tony looked over his shoulder, "Natalie- Natasha, whatever your name is, can you get me a scotch?"
"No." She answered simply, taking a sip of her beer as she leaned against the bar top.
Tony pursed his lips, clearly impressed by her, "Cap, what happened with the scepter? Those SHIELD people said you took it from them in the elevator."
"I didn't. Loki did. Disguised as me. And he played with my mind." Steve mumbled as he looked down, catching Thor and Clint's attention. Steve sighed and took a seat across from Tony, finding the couch too cozy for his liking. "I met the President's daughter. I met her before I fought Loki, he created her as an illusion to distract me. Then I met her again, for real."
"Kayla Ellis?" Tony perked up, a shit-eating grin breaking through his goatee, "You met the infamous Kayla Ellis? That's why you're so shaken. You're under her spell. Is she every bit the viper everyone says she is?"
"Excuse me?" Steve sneered, feeling his blood heat at Tony's cruel words, "She seemed very nice."
"Oh, she was nice? That means she wanted to suck your-"
"Tony." Banner cut him off, shaking his head to tell the billionaire to stop.
Steve looked from Tony to Bruce, then over to Natasha and Clint, who averted their gaze quickly. That told Steve everything he needed to know about the beautiful blonde, "She asked me to dinner tomorrow night."
Tony chuckled at Steve admission, waltzing over to the bar to get his own scotch. He poured two glasses, then offered one to Steve when he returned, "So, are you going to go?"
"I'm starting to think I shouldn't." Steve answered bluntly, taking the scotch to not be rude, but knowing it wouldn't do anything to help ease his nerves. The blonde unnerved him far more than the aliens did. Steve thought she seemed caring, and curious about getting to know him, but his teammates didn't seem to share the same perception of the woman, "I don't know if I'm ready to get to know people in the real world yet."
"I mean, Kayla Ellis will give you a crash course in twenty-first century dating, then leave you so you can find someone nice." Tony smiled playfully as he took a sip of his drink. "I think you should go. It'll be fun. For me, to watch, where are you meeting her?"
"I'm not going." Steve growled, draining his glass of scotch before leaning over and setting it down on the broken table in front of them.
"What are we going to do about Loki? He's got the Scepter and the Tesseract, so we're back where we started." Clint mumbled, looking from Tony to Thor, "Where would he go?"
Thor shook his head, taking a deep breath as he looked out the broken picture windows, "He could go anywhere. I don't even know where to start."
"Then we better start looking." Steve said firmly, meeting Thor's gaze with a firm nod, "Tell us what to do, and we'll do it."
"Wait here, and I'll inquire with Heimdall on Asgard if he has seen my brother. Once I know where he's at, I'll collect him and take him back home to face Asgardian justice."
Tony looked around at the others, then back to the demi-god expectantly, "So what do we do?"
Thor shrugged, "You wait here and if I need you, I'll send you a raven." With that, Thor stormed from the lounge out to the outside balcony, throwing Mjolnir to the air to transport himself back to Asgard.
The remaining Avengers all looked around, realizing they weren't needed for the moment. Tony snorted loudly, turning to Cap, "Guess you have time for that date after all."