"A ball?" Tony raised an eyebrow, amused at the suggestion. "I've been to a few, all in honor of me, of course."

"This one will be different. Do not take this as a day off." Fury slammed his hands against the table to further grab our attention. "This is a ploy to lead Loki out into the open; we need him to attack us directly so we can see what he's up to. Putting all of you in one area seems to be the most logical thing to do to draw his attention."

"How is that logical…?" I muttered under my breath. I had been on thin ice with Fury since the missing files incident, and my mutter did not go unheard. He whipped his head towards me, which was enough to make me shirk back towards the good Captain sitting beside me. Tony chuckled, having more knowledge on the situation than Steve did. I couldn't tell what it was, but it felt as though there was a rising tension between Tony and Steve; more so than usual.

"So, when is this ball?" Natasha raised a hand to draw the attention to her. "I'm going to assume you've prepared everything for us beforehand?"

"We have. Your attire is now situated in your room." I twitched at the thought of someone invading my personal space without my permission, immediately worrying about the file still stuck within my pillow. After that night I had absolutely no time to read any of it. I was constantly interrupted, and then I was thrown out on a mission with Tony once more. "The Ball is tonight."

"Well damn." Tony commented with a smirk. "Doesn't give me much time to get a date. Hey, you wouldn't mind going with me would you? Of course you wouldn't." Tony winked in my direction, causing me to avert my gaze from him with a blush. He was attractive after all, and the fact he was shamelessly flirting with me in front of all of these people caused me to become nervous.

Not even I missed the look Steve sent towards Tony.

We were dismissed, each of us filing towards our room where our attire awaited. Fury had given us just enough time to be ready before we would be dropped off. This whole idea seemed to be a desperate attempt to pull Loki from hiding. It left us open to attack, Steve still had his strength but without his shield he was unprotected and in extreme danger if guns were present. Tony wouldn't be too useful with his Iron Man suit, and in such a crowded area, Bruce could do far too much damage to the area around us. Natasha and Hawkeye were the only ones that could still be useful. I guess I didn't need a suit to fuel my power, but I could be just as destructive as the rest of them.

What exactly was Fury thinking?

He was putting us out in the open, where we wouldn't be prepared. I had figured him as a man who would have more planning for that…

The dress was loose on the upper part of my body and tighter when it reached my hips. It was dark blue, with a silver flower design around the waist that led up to my shoulder. The dress had to be zipped in the back, which I found difficulty doing on my own. There were two pairs of heels waiting for me to choose between, and I found humor in the thought of Fury going shopping for these items. How confusing would it be to see a big, scary man with an eye patch observing heels and trying to choose between them?

Natasha opened the door to your room quickly, causing you to squeak in surprise and cover yourself.

"Don't worry, I'm not one of the boys." She smiled. "I came to see if you needed help zipping up."

"O-Oh. Yeah, I do." She nodded and walked over, easily zipping up the back of my dress.

Hers was black, tight and slimming, much like her normal outfit. She was the kind of woman who didn't need make-up to look beautiful; she always looked stunning. After she finished zipping up the back of my dress, she stood with her arms crossed as I continued to fix my hair.

"How did you get weaseled into joining the Avengers?" I asked. Natasha remained with her arms crossed, watching me closely.

"I have a debt to pay off." She replied shortly. Something told me she hadn't come into my room for casual conversation.

"Ah…" I strapped on the heels, tugging to make it fit around my ankle correctly before taking a few experimental steps. When I didn't fall on my face, I looked back up at Natasha. "And is there any reason behind you deciding to visit me?" She smirked, in what I thought was approval.

"Fury told me to keep an eye on you, and even though I don't feel like there's a real reason to, I'd rather not strike the man's bad side."

"You say that like anything actually happens." It figures Fury would have everything to do with this. I subconsciously glanced over at my pillow, which was the wrong move on my part. Natasha followed my eyes.

"Something wrong?" She asked smoothly. I watched nervously as she stepped closer to my bed, before she sat on it completely. She crossed her legs, placing her hands on her lap. She watched me walk around the room, testing out the heels again before I turned to her.

"Well, I'm ready how about you?"

"You got a diary or something under this pillow?" She asked casually, her hand gliding across the surface. I shook my head, a bit more rapidly than I should have. I forgot I was dealing with a top notch spy who's set of skills involved interrogation; from what I heard, she always got the information she needed.

"It's not a diary, but it is personal information. Now, I'm done getting dressed so should we meet the guys?" She looked over at the pillow again, scrutinizing it for any detail she could report back to Fury later before she stood up.

"Sure." She replied coolly, leading the way outside. The guys had gathered in front of Fury, who seemed to be chastising Tony again. All of them had a suit that reflected their personalities, it seemed. Poor Thor looked as though his needed to be a few sizes bigger, but he was smiling none the less.

Steve stood towards the back, looking clean cut as usual. His dark blue suit really complimented him; I nearly laughed openly when I realized that his tie had white stars all over it. It looks like he'd never get away from the Captain America image, would he?

Tony was dressed in his classic black suit with a red tie; he did look stunning in it.

Bruce had on a rumpled gray suit that seemed to fit him; I thought he looked handsome and even more intelligent than normal in it.

Thor was dressed in an odd white suit, something that made him look quite out of place among the group. I could clearly see with every movement that the seams of his jacket wanted to rip.

Hawkeye had no tuxedo jacket to accompany his attire, simply a gray vest to put over his white dress shirt. His sleeves were already rolled up, showing of the muscles in his arms.

The attention was drawn to us when Fury looked up. I had figured the guys were used to seeing Natasha in sleek, sexy attire but I was entirely different. I blushed at the attention of the Bruce and Steve, who were both looking at me with their mouths agape. Steve smiled as I approached and stood beside him.

"You look- I mean you're-"

"Beautiful." Bruce finished Steve's sentence for him, turning to look at me with a kind smile. "I think Captain is trying to say you look very nice tonight."

"Well, thank you, Steve." I smiled at the tongue-tied Captain who simply blushed and turned his attention back to Fury. Although he was dictating rules, I couldn't help but feel like this night was needed by all of us. Even though we were to be aware of our surroundings, it was a well needed break where we could socialize with other people and be free from this flying metal death trap. I, for one, was looking forward to having some breathing space and not running into Tony around every corner.

I had a good feeling about tonight; maybe Loki wouldn't turn up and we'd have to refer to another plan.

I could only hope.