Chapter 4
Andrea
"I am so bored!" Andrea said on the phone. She was speaking to Tony. Tony had to leave to the west coast for a business trip for Stark Industries. He couldn't bring Andrea with him. "You would be bored with me there anyway," Tony said.
"But at least, we would be bored together, and then find our own form of entertainment," Andrea said.
"You are one seductive woman. I will be back in a few days. Trust me, you would be bored here, and we wouldn't have time to find our own entertainment. I am on my way to a dinner with investors now. I can't let this slip up if I want to keep Stark Industries on top," Tony said.
"UGH!" Andrea said on the phone.
"What is everyone else doing?"
"Training for the most part. Nothing has been going on since you left yesterday. It has been boring," Andrea said.
"No new experiments to work on?" Tony asked.
"Well I could do a few things in the lab, I just thought I would save them for the daytime. I need something to be able to pass the time while you are gone and in meetings."
"Sounds like a smart plan," Tony said.
Andrea saw Mark walking by her door dressed up.
"Hold on, something is up," Andrea said.
"What?" Tony asked.
Andrea walked down the hall and saw Mark going down the stairs. "Where are you going so late at night all dress up?" She asked.
"Don't worry about it," Mark said. Andrea made a face at him, Mark sighed. "I have my phone with me if anything happens, but don't worry."
"Fine!" Andrea said as she watched Mark leave the mansion.
"Sounds like you got a mystery on your hands," Tony said to Andrea.
"I sure do, least the night got interesting. I will call you later. Enjoy dinner with the investors."
"Let me know what happens," Tony said as he hung up the phone. Andrea went to Steve's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so Andrea decided to open the door. She looked inside, but no one was in the room.
"Jarvis, do you know where Steve is?" Andrea asked.
"He is in the training room, Ms. Andrea. Should I tell him you are looking for him?" Jarvis responded.
"Nah, I will go see him. Thanks, Jarvis."
"My pleasure, Ms. Andrea."
Andrea went up to the training room. She found Steve training in his stealth on a monitoring system Mark had Andrea set up. The system measured noise, movement, and had lasers as the obstacles for Steve to move through. As she entered the room, Steve looked over at her. "Looking to critique me? I have been practicing."
"Nah. I was just wondering if you knew where Mark was heading to right now."
"Mark is going somewhere?" Steve asked. Andrea was hoping Steve would know, but it appeared she had more information on the subject than he did.
"Go get changed and do it fast. We have a little investigation to do," Andrea said throwing a towel at Steve.
"What are we investigating?" Steve said as he caught the towel.
"We are going to track Mark down and see where he is going. It will be fun."
"I am still confused. Where Mark is going? And how will we find him?"
"He has his phone on him; I can track him with that. Get dressed and meet me at the front door in ten minutes." Andrea said as she left the room. She heard Steve quickly follow behind her.
Andrea put on some ripped jeans, sneakers, and wore a regular tee-shirt for the adventure. She went downstairs and saw Steve ready and waiting. "Good, let's go," Andrea walked toward the door.
"Where are we going, though?" Steve asked as he followed.
"Oh right," Andrea blinked to turn on her computer. She found Mark's location quickly. "Follow me," Andrea led the way.
They found themselves at a night club. "This is weird, why would Mark be here?" Steve asked. Andrea looked at the club and realized it was a gay club, she squeezed the bridge of her nose, "I hope he isn't doing something stupid."
Andrea and Steve made their way into the club. They decided to stand near the side of the club to look for where Mark would be. "Do you see him?" Andrea shouted over the music. Steve shook his head. For a night club in New York, it was a large area. The dance floor alone looked like it was a New York City block. Andrea looked at the bar and around the room. She could not find Mark.
"You sure he is here?" Steve asked. Andrea blinked her eyes again to locate Mark's phone. She turned to Steve, "I am positive. His phone's signal is at this location." Andrea scanned the room one more time. Andrea saw Steve take out his phone, "Um, I think he isn't here for the reason you thought," and showed Andrea the message.
Andrea read the message, "Sit back and enjoy the show." Andrea was confused about the message. What could Mark be doing here? She looked to the dance floor and saw Mark. "There he is," Andrea said pointing Mark out to Steve. Andrea and Steve watched as Mark danced with a man. Andrea looked over at Steve, whose jealousy was growing with each passing beat of the music. Andrea grabbed Steve's arm. "Let's wait and see what happens."
Andrea watched in disbelief as Mark danced and flirted with the man. Then she gasped as the man leaned in to kiss Mark. Andrea didn't think Mark would ever betray Steve. Andrea grabbed Steve's arms in the heat of the moment, she could feel Steve's arm tense up as he clenched his fists. Then Andrea watched as the same man went flying into the wall after Mark punched him. The crowd turned to look at Mark. Mark was smiling as he looked around at everyone. Then Andrea watched as some of the men on the dance floor pulled out knives and then began to rush at Mark. This was an assassination attempt.
Mark jumped into the air and came crashing down hard slamming his fist to the ground. The shock wave sent the men flying back a few feet and falling to the floor. Mark stood up with a smile and jumped in the air again. He flipped and went into a downward kick taking out one of the men. Mark quickly went into an uppercut, hitting another man. While Mark was in the air, he spun his body to kick another man to the wall. The men began to rush Mark again. Mark punched one in the stomach and kicked the man back who tried to come from behind. Mark ducked to dodge a swing from a knife, and then kick swept the man while uppercutting him into the air. While in the air, Mark punched the same man in the stomach sending him flying into another. Mark landed and ran to another man jumping to bounce from the man's chest and turning to punch downward at another. Mark kicked another man into a second, only staggering the second man. Mark went into a one-two punch jab, knocking out the second man. Two men came rushing from the end of the dance floor, and Mark jumped toward them with his back to them. Mark elbowed one man in the stomach, turning to kick him back. Mark grabbed the second man's hand as he tried to swing the knife, disarming the knife from him and then punching the man in the chest to send him backward.
Andrea was just watching the show like Mark said to do. Steve looked at Mark's movements like he never saw someone fight so fluidly in his life. Andrea looked at the men knocked out near her. She knew this assassination group, but she couldn't bring it to her memory. Then Andrea heard gunfire. The DJ was also part of the group. He pulled out a machine gun and shot it at Mark. Mark ran toward the DJ, zig-zagging to avoid the bullets. Mark jumped up to kick the DJ. Mark punched the DJ in the chest and then slammed his head down on the turntables, knocking him out.
"I know this assassination group," She said to Steve. Steve watched as Mark was looking around the dance floor.
"Who is he looking for?" Steve asked. Then Andrea heard missiles being fired. Mark turned to the back of the club where he saw the origin of the missile. Mark jumped to dodge the missiles, and when he landed, he zigzagged toward the launch point.
"He found Arsenal. He is the leader of the assassination group. He uses his advanced weaponry to take down his targets," Andrea said. Andrea saw Mark heading toward a man who held a rocket launching, able to launch multiple projectiles at once. Arsenal fired again, causing Mark to back flip to avoid the missiles. Arsenal came toward Mark with a giant stun baton. Mark dodged the swings and punched Arsenal twice in the stomach. Arsenal swung his baton again, and Mark back flipped to avoid the hit. When Mark landed, he launched himself forward, hitting Arsenal with a series of punches. Arsenal went flying backward and landed at the end of the dance floor. Arsenal stood up and looked at Andrea and Steve. Arsenal pulled a gun out and pointed it at Steve. Mark came flying forward and punched Arsenal in the face so hard he flew through the windows of the club and landed on the streets. Andrea looked to Steve whose jaw was wide open from watching the entire scene. Andrea closed Steve's jaw for him and saw Mark walking toward them.
"Boom," Mark said gesturing an explosion with his hands.
"You're such a show-off," Andrea said.
"What? I told you I would be okay and to not worry about it. You had to follow me using my phone," Mark said as he held it out. Mark opened the phone and dialed it. "S.H.I.E.L.D? We have the Arsenal assassin group here at my location. You can send agents to come arrest them. They should be knocked out for a few hours," Mark said as he ended the call.
"No deaths?" Andrea asked.
"I was asked to not kill anyone. So I am keeping that promise," Mark said folding his arms. "Now why did you feel the need to follow me?"
"I was bored," Andrea answered honestly. Steve looked to Andrea worried about how Mark would take that kind of answer. Mark unfolded his arms and walked toward the bar, "Fair enough. Drink?"
"Did you leave any of the bottles not broken?" Andrea asked as she followed Mark. Steve still stood where he was and looked around at all the men knocked out from Mark's attacks.
Andrea looked back at Steve. "Steve, want a soda?" she asked over the music. Steve seemed to have snapped back to reality when Andrea asked the questions. "Uh, sure," Steve said as he walked toward Andrea and Mark. Mark jumped over the bar and pulled out a bottle of wine. "For the lady," Mark said as he handed it to Andrea. "So kind," Andrea said as she opened the bottle. Mark grabbed three glasses. Andrea poured wine into two of the glasses. Mark grabbed the dispenser and poured lemon-lime soda into all three glasses. Steve walked up to the bar, and Andrea handed him his drink.
"Is this how you two would act on missions?" Steve asked. Andrea and Mark looked at one another and paused to think of the answer. "Pretty much," Andrea said to Steve. Mark nodded.
Andrea took a sip of her drink and got comfortable at the bar. "Here I thought you lost your damn mind and were planning to cheat on Steve," Andrea said to Mark. Mark looked shocked at Andrea's thoughts and looked to Steve. "Did you think I was?" Steve nodded. "I may do dumb things, but I am not insane. Why would I even think to ruin what I have with Steve?" Mark said to Andrea.
"Cause you get stupid ideas now and again. Granted, your stupid ideas involve you putting yourself in dangerous situations risking your life, not cheating," Andrea said and then took a sip of her drink. Andrea turned to Steve, who looked to be remembering what they first saw on the dance floor. Andrea watched as Mark put his hand on Steve's hand. "Hey," Mark began, "I wouldn't think of ruining anything we have together. I want to make it better if anything." Mark said with a smile. Steve smiled back. "Is it weird to say I was happy this was an assassination attempt?" Steve said turning to Andrea.
"It would be if we were regular people. Right now, it is the best thing to say," She said spinning in her chair to see the dance floor. "Did you have to slam that guy's head into the turntables? The music is all weird now. It would have been a fun night to go dancing."
Andrea could hear Steve laugh at her comment. Andrea spun back around in the chair. "How did they call you out anyway?" Andrea asked.
"Some fool tried the flirting thing in public. He was a bad actor, and it had me notice something on his hand: a tattoo of two bullets. I remembered the tattoo as a rite of passage to join the Arsenal assassination group. So I played along as you saw and then took them out," Mark said.
"Someone was flirting with you in public?" Steve asked, and Andrea watched as the jealousy returned to Steve.
"Calm down, Steve," Mark began. "People flirt with you in public all the time. You are just too innocent to notice." Steve looked up almost horrified at the idea he flirted in public. Andrea nodded her head agreeing. "You didn't notice the men and women flirting with you on the way here? I mean on this street alone you got a couple double takes. You get flirted with more than you know my friend," Andrea added.
"Sorry," Steve said, "I never knew I was flirting."
"It's alright. Like you said, you didn't know it was flirting. Besides it's nice to see you get jealous now and again," Mark said with a smile. Steve glared at Mark, "Don't make me jealous too much."
Mark laughed.
"So you think someone in the United Nations hired the Arsenal Assassination group?" Andrea asked.
"Don't know, most likely it is the case. I have Natasha looking into it for me. This started sooner than I thought it would."
"So what now?" Steve asked. Andrea and Mark held up with glasses, "We have another drink, and then we head back to the mansion. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents will be here soon to arrest these guys," Mark said. Steve held up his glass to join in with them.
"Well since you took them out so easily," Andrea said gesturing to the knocked out men, "I think we don't have to worry about other assassination attempts. Isn't the Arsenal assassination group one of the best?"
"They were ranked up there with us; we were number one of course. They are not cheap either. So no, I would say we don't need to worry about me getting killed. Maybe that will make you feel better after seeing all that?" Mark said looking at Steve.
"It does," Steve said. Then Steve looked to Mark, "Are you training me to learn to fight like that? Your style isn't one set fighting style. You adapt to the movement of the other fighters so well."
"I am trying to get all of the Avengers to learn that. Tony struggles the most with it. Andrea knows it well, and Natasha is picking it up fast based on our old training. Clint is different. I have him learning to use his bow fluid with his fighting style. You are picking it up as well, but you are stuck in wanting to focus on one technique at a time," Mark said.
"It takes a while to learn, you will get it," Andrea said.
"After seeing that, everyone on the team could learn to fight better. Is it like how we fought in the factory?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, it is. When you learn to fight more fluidly, teamwork becomes more fluid. It's a larger extension of each person. My attacks go into yours and vice versa."
Andrea finished her drink and put it on the bar. She got up and began to walk toward the exit. "Come on, hookers. It sounds like S.H.I.E.L.D. is here. We might as well enjoy another club since we are out."
Mark finished his drink and put it on the bar. Mark jumped over the bar and stood next to Steve. "Would it be acceptable if I flirted with you at the next club?" Mark said with a smile. Steve finished his drink and placed his glass on the bar. Steve stood up and grabbed Mark. "You better only flirt with me," Steve said.
"I MISS TONY!" Andrea shouted from the front door. Mark and Steve laughed. "Well, we better dance with Andrea as well. We don't want her missing Tony too much." Mark said. Steve kissed Mark. Then they both walked over to Andrea. "You pick the next place. I think you should get the choice since you miss Tony," Mark said.
"Alright!" Andrea said as she turned and walked out the door. "To the next club!"