"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"PSST!" Rose hissed in his ear, and Ikol opened an eye.
"What?" He grumbled, sitting up and smoothing his hair in vain.
"Someone's coming over," Rose whispered in fright, pointing to the plane, where two dark were getting closer. Ikol placed his finger on his lips, miming silence. Together, they scrambled behind a palm tree, awaiting the mystery people.
"Ow!" one of them exclaimed, and both Ikol and Rose looked at each other.
"Callie?" Rose asked tentatively, ready to attack if it wasn't.
"Who else, motherfucker?"
"Oh thank God!" Rose launched herself onto her best friend, with Ikol following more slowly.
"Ugh, get off you under-grown supersoldier," Callie groaned, smiling as she said it. "Oh, and that's Angel," Callie said casually, pointing towards the girl behind her.
"Um, hi," Angel said, hiding behind Callie again, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Come on," Rose said. "Let's talk in the morning. We can come up with a plan then."
"Are you sure we can trust that Angel girl?" Ikol asked, more than a bit suspiciously.
"She didn't try to kill me," Callie replied, sitting up and turning towards him. "She had plenty of times to make the attempt."
"And are you two…"
"God no!" Callie exclaimed, shaking her head, "I've told you before, I'm not ready for a relationship like that."
"Just asking," Ikol said, putting his hands up in mock defense. "Come on, the night won't last forever."
Callie laughed, rolling on top of him. He leaned up and kissed her, his hands unzipping her dress. They paused long enough for Callie to pull off her dress before Ikol started kissing her neck. Callie looked up to the stars, which were now swirling above their heads as they tumbled through the sand.
Steve's POV
"What do you mean, 'she's missing'?" Tony yelled, slamming his hand onto the table. Steve had only just met the man, Fury standing solemnly before them.
"I mean, the plane they were on got attacked, and our scouts can't find them," Fury glared at the billionaire.
"They're not looking hard enough!" Tony shouted, suddenly standing up, his chair screeching five feet behind him.
"I think we all need to calm down," Steve said, attempting to cool the mood.
"Calm down?" Tony turned to the supersoldier. "Our kids are missing!"
"And yelling won't solve anything." Steve sighed. "Our best bet is to look for them ourselves."
"And get your butts kicked?" Natasha quipped as she strutted through the door. "We traced the plane before it went off our radar. There were signs of… non-human activity. And a lot of smashing and smoke detectors going off."
"So?" Tony shrugged, suddenly dead calm. "The non human is obviously Torrun, and the smashing, well… You know our kids. Always breaking government property."
"That's the thing. Torrun's heat signature disappeared early on, and it registered as human." Natasha said, shaking her head. "We have no idea where she is. We lost track of the others after the plane crash."
"Well then." Steve crossed his arms. "I guess we better look for them."
"So, how'd it go last night?"
Rose stared expectantly up at her friend, hoping for an answer. Secretly, she'd known about Callie and Ikol, but it gave her more joy seeing Callie admit to it than to just wait in secret.
"How'd what go?" Callie asked, taking a sip of her watery coffee.
"You know what I'm talking about…" Rose smiled as she cocked her head towards Ikol.
"Shut up!" Callie hissed. Rose noticed the blush starting to creep onto her cheeks. They sat together in silence for a while, listening to the sound of tropical birds singing in the trees and the fire crackling under a pot of warm water. Angela had been nice enough to let the three stay at her house until SHIELD found them. Rose was glad to be back in a house. To be honest, sleeping outside didn't really suit her well.
"More tea?" Angela said, eyeing Rose.
"Nah, I'm good." Rose nodded, before floating her empty cup over to the table and setting it down.
"So? You're a telekinetic?" Angela asked, taking a seat on the floor beside Rose.
"Basically." Rose shrugged. "Nothing too fancy. Iron Girl over here, though…"
"Rose, I swear to science-" Callie put her head in her hands. "I make suits."
" THAT CAN FLY."
"Yes. They can fly. Now please, I want to rest." Callie yawned.
"This is not like her at all." Rose whispered to Angela. "Usually she tries to hit me with something."
"Well, you all should get some more rest. We've got a long few days of hiking ahead of us." Angela sighed, before pushing herself off the ground. Rose watched with interest as she trotted over to a thick, bamboo door, opened it, and slipped inside.
I wonder where she's going? Rose thought. Though curiosity plagued her mind, she knew it would be impolite to barge in on whatever Angela was doing.
At least without knocking.
Slowly, careful not to make a sound, Rose got up off the ground and tip-toed over to the door. Softly, she knocked on the door, constantly checking over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't awoken the slumbering beast that was Callie.
"Who-Oh, it's just you." Angela's muffled voice could barely be heard through the door.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Rose, for the last time, no." Angela huffed. "Now stop bothering me."
Feeling defeated, Rose silently sulked back towards Callie and slumped into a chair next to her.
Might as well get some rest.
It looks like I'm gonna need it.
The hot, tropical sun beat down on the four as they trekked across the jungle. All except Angela were sweating like pigs, and the large leaving drooping from the thick trees provided little relief.
"Why couldn't you have just teleported us to where we needed to go?" Ikol wheezed. "It would be a lot easier."
"Do you want to stay undetected?"
"Yes?"
"Then it's safer to just walk." Angela said, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear.
It took about another hour before they had reached civilization. Slowly, as they emerged from the thick underbrush, a welcome sight greeted them. Buildings, coated in glass and stained grey, lined the busy sidewalk. Smaller, more colorful buildings were crammed between the office buildings, their bright color drawing eyes away from the industrial gloom.
"My friends," Angela drew in a breath. "Welcome to Mexico."
