The Black Dahlia

The night passed with no more sightings of Ashley Sinclare LeRoux. Kitty tried to sleep in her room at the Tower, but she ended up staying awake most of the night. Every time she felt herself drift off, she would hear Ashley LeRoux taunting her. His voice sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it. At one point, she swore she could see his eyes watching her restlessness. Her wrist ached despite the Advil she took to ease it and it only added to her frustration. She tossed and turned, alternating between being so cold that her teeth chattered to being too hot and sweating. Kitty had finally dozed off sometime after the sun had set.

She was woken up just after eleven by Deadpool jumping on her bed like a child.

"HEY VICS, WAKEY WAKEY!"

Kitty groaned in response and pulled the covers over her head. Deadpool, seeing this as a challenge, yanked the covers off of her and Kitty was glad that she had worn sweatpants to bed.

"Do you have a deathwish? I mean, I know you can't die, but I can and will shoot you." Kitty informed him as she rubbed her dull eyes, the dark circles standing out vividly from her pale skin.

Deadpool put his hand on his chest in mock-hurt. "But don't you want your flowers?" He asked.

Kitty sat up in bed and tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. "What the hell are you goin' on about?" Kitty's eyes widened when she remembered what day it was. They don't know, she told herself. They couldn't. She frantically grabbed her cellphone off its charger and checked the date again to make sure. November 30th. Sighing in frustration, she shoved the phone into her pajama pants pocket.

Deadpool led his friend down to the living room where the Avengers (minus Bruce Banner who, last time she heard, was now in Egypt) stood surrounded by flowers. The arrangements were everywhere, ranging in color and variety. When she entered the room, everyone turned to stare at her. A wave of nausea hit Kitty from the overwhelming perfume of flowers.

"What the actual fuck?" She gasped, examining the closest vase, full of lilies and hydrangeas. Kitty looked up at Tony, her eyes wide with shock.

"So, I take it that you don't know where these came from." Steve said as he waved his hand, gesturing to the arrangement of orchids beside him on the table.

"This came with it." Clint stepped around a very large vase of red roses to hand her a white envelope.

Kitty took it numbly and opened it, ignoring everyone's stares. Deadpool was looking curiously over her shoulder as she pulled out a piece of black parchment with elegant white script.

"To my dearest dahlia," Kitty read aloud. "With love." Her mouth opened in shock and she cocked her head to the side at Tony. "Ashley."

"Oooh, Vicky has an admirer! How cute!" Deadpool tried to pinch her cheek, but she was too fast for him. Kitty grabbed his hand roughly and he backed away, recognizing the deadly look in her tired eyes.

"Is this Ashley the one that grabbed you last night?" Tony asked her.

Kitty nodded mutely.

"Wait," Deadpool held up his hands. "Someone grabbed Vics last night and survived?" He asked incredulously.

She pushed up the sleeve on her arm. A distinct, deep purple and black, hand-shaped bruise circled her small, pale wrist. The whole room seemed to take in a deep breath as they surveyed the damage.

"Fuck." Deadpool muttered, shaking his head.

"Maybe you should do business with less scummy people." She shot at Tony as she walked past him to the kitchen. She poured herself a large cup of coffee and took a drink, ignoring the burn as it ran down her throat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked.

Kitty moved a vase full of dahlias to the floor and sat on the kitchen counter. "Well, the guy was at your fundraiser and he said you two have done business with each other for awhile. And here I thought Deadpool and I were the worst of your friends." She yawned and ignored Deadpool faux-hurt at the last remark.

Tony eyebrows laced together. "He tell you about himself? His full name, anything?"

"Yeah," Kitty replied. She took another sip of her coffee. "Ashley Sinclare LeRoux." She let a Southern accent slide through to resemble Ashley's voice. "Said he's from Louisiana."

"Hey JARVIS," Tony called. "Check employee files. See if we've ever worked with a LeRoux before."

The group waited in silence as JARVIS worked through the data. "There are no files of employment for any Ashley LeRoux." The cool voice answered.

"Probably gave you a false name, Котенок." Natasha suggested. She sat down in a large, comfortable chair and put her legs on Clint Barton's lap.

"JARVIS, please do an Internet wide search." Kitty requested. "If it's a name change, there'll be court files for it. The guy's got to be rich; This flower's a peony." All she got were blank stares. "It's a wedding flower, definitely out of season. I don't even know where you would get dark purple peonies. Just this flower alone is expensive enough and there's gotta be more than two grand in flowers right now in this room. And we should probably have 'em checked for poison. The petals of roses are waxy and can hold chemicals on them easily, while the fragrance can disguise the smell of most poisons."

"How do you know so much about flowers?" Steve asked, baffled.

Kitty paused, then rubbed her eyes. "He's got to be from old, Southern money. Probably Louisiana territory." She deflected. "That kind of accent is hard to fake and his was definitely real."

"I have a result, Ms. Vics." JARVIS informed them and silence fell over the room. "Mr. LeRoux was born in Mansfield, Louisiana. His father's name was Jackson Harper LeRoux, who worked with Mr. Howard Stark..."

"Jackson Harper?" Tony shook his head, raising one hand to rub his temple. "That explains it."

"Thank you, JARVIS. You know him?" Kitty asked Tony as she refilled her Deadpool mug with the last of the coffee before starting a new batch.

(Narrator: "This was an unspoken rule in the Tower- "Ye Who Drinks The Last Of The Substance Of Life Makes More". Steve had even taken to sticking notes on the coffee machine that reminded Kitty and Tony that, "No, coffee is not food. Go eat something.")

"Knew. He died before my father did. Harper worked with him on weapons design. He had his own company that contracted with us and the government." Tony shook his head and said, "I never met his kid."

"Okay," Steve said slowly. "Then why show up last night if you two never actually worked together?"

Nobody had time to answer, for at that moment, a sharp ringing could be heard coming from Kitty's pajama pants. She hopped off the kitchen counter and started searching her pockets frantically. She finally produced her cell phone, which still rung obnoxiously, and she stared at the screen. It was an unknown number. Cautiously, she pressed the 'accept' button and raised the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, my dear." A smooth voice answered.

"How the fuck did you get this number?" She demanded.

A deep sigh could be heard through the other side of the line. "Money talks, my beautiful dahlia. Now, be a doll and give the phone to Mr. Stark, if you would."

Kitty's eyes met Tony's. "Mr. Stark's not here right now. I'd ask if you'd like to leave a message, but seein' as I'm not his keeper…"

"Let's not play games," He advised her lavishly. "I know Mr. Stark is standin' right across the room from you. Put him on the phone. Please."

Kitty sighed and closed her eyes, handing the phone off the Tony. She tried to ignore the anger and paranoia that flooded her mind.

"Hello, Mr. Stark." Ashley greeted him.

"What do you want?" Tony responded, in no mood for pleasantries.

"Is everyone at Stark Tower as unfriendly as you?"

"Yes." Tony answered shortly.

"Fine." Ashley spat. "I was goin' to do this nicely, but my temper is runnin' low. I would like a meetin' with you and Ms. Vics tonight at my office."

"Like hell I'd let you anywhere near her."

Steve and Deadpool moved closer to Kitty, as if to protect her from the voice on the phone.

"The Rose Garden, then. A public place, plenty of witnesses. Oh, and let's make this as... pleasant as possible. No weapons, just the three of us havin' a nice meetin'."

Tony shook his head, sliding his eyes shut. "Fine." He agreed, knowing that this was the only way to settle this.

"That wasn't nearly as hard as I was expectin'. Now, if you could hand the phone back to Ms. Vics."

The phone made its way back to a now quite furious Kitty.

"I will see you tonight at six. And I was right, was I not?" He asked pompously.

"About what?" Kitty sneered.

"You and I havin' dinner tonight. See you then."

Kitty heard the click of the line going dead. She turned to Tony. "Imma kill 'em. Imma rip out the annoying bloody tongue of his, then cook it in gumbo and feed it to him."

"We'll settle this." Tony sighed, sitting in a chair and rubbing his eyes. "He said he wanted to talk business, and that's what we'll do."

"If it's just business, why me?" Kitty asked the question on everyone's mind.

"No way Kitty's going in there without backup." Deadpool cracked his knuckles as he moved closer to Kitty. Steve nodded in agreement, as did Natasha.

"LeRoux said just the three of us, no weapons. We'll be at the Rose Garden, so at least it's out in public."

"I'm not going anywhere near him without a weapon." Kitty protested. She grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and pressed it lightly on her wrist, wincing as the cold seemed to burn her skin. "I'll hide one in my suit if I have to. I've got a knife that'll fit in my boot."

"The Rose Garden isn't exactly somewhere you can wear your suit to…" Tony's voice trailed off, knowing where this was going.

"Oh, no." Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "No more dresses. Hell no."

"Kit…" Tony tried, ignoring Deadpool's laughter. Even Steve smiled a little.

"I don't even own another fancy dress!" Kitty threw her hands up in the air. "I have one, uno! Ugh." She ran her hands through her hair and put it up with a ponytail holder.

"I can go shopping with you." Steve offered quietly.

"Dios maldita sea, Tony. Espero que sepas que estás pagando por esta mierda." Kitty rambled as she left the room.

Deadpool laughed loudly, watching her leave with amusement. "She said you're footing the bill." He translated for Tony.