Invite:
The day was just lovely, like the day before, and the week before; but the effect was starting to get slightly tiresome for him. Of course, as long as the woman of his heart still enjoyed the environment, far from it for him to bring up complaints. He was just blessed to be alive and have her living with him on an extended vacation on the beaches of Tahiti – compliments of S.H.I.E.L.D.
A growling rumble drifted up from his left, and happy yelp snapped up from his right; drawing his attention from the endlessly rolling waves to the two fluffy animals whose leashes he held. Two canines, white and fluffy as only lap-dogs can be, frolicked in the sand, jumping and snapping canine teeth at the rolling waves. Phil smiled lightly at the dogs' antics; giving a brief thought to their origins. Both young dogs, females, had been given to the young woman in his charge, Jiru Star, by the enemy: Loki. The first one, a Maltese breed, white with black spots and fluffy as a feather mop, was taken into custody after the alien attack on New York ten months ago.
Along with a recovered scientist, the young canine would have been lost in the red tape had he not claimed the poor thing himself. Phil named the young puppy Zoey, because she looked like a Zoey. The second dog, a West Highland Terrier, was with the young woman in Nevada; its name was Starbite, or Bitey. S.H.I.E.L.D. would have red-taped Bitey had not the female owner caused a big scene. It was just as well, Phil thought, that both of the special dogs remained under her ownership.
"Bitey, it's no use posturing the ocean waves, they'll just come back." Phil looked down at the rambunctious terrier. Bitey just looked back at Phil with her black eyes and wagged its upright tail.
"WOOOF!" Phil's other four-legged companion, Zoey, spun around and around due to her excitement of taking a beach walk.
"Ok, fine; have it your way." Phil dropped the leashes and chuckled as the pair raced down the beach towards home.
Watching the two dogs race off at the speed of joy; Phillip Andrew Coulson caught his hand reaching towards his chest; touching that wicked-ugly scar that was an unwanted mark of the alien invasion. Even after a year, it invoked the memories.
As Director Nick Fury's reigning right-hand man, Agent Coulson never backed down from the line of duty; and was right there on the lines when it cost him his life. What was life if the one woman he loved was captured by an insane megalomaniac god raging war on humanity? Coulson smiled a small smile as he thought back to the first time he met the unassuming young woman; in New York – sleeping on a couch in Stark Towers.
Miss Jiru Star wasn't a deadly femme fatale like the Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, nor was she a magazine beauty like Miss Virginia Potts; but Miss Star's personality shone through and her average, earthy/wood-sie beauty became his only preference. Of course, her cyan/turquoise hair only added to her grounded beauty, framing her face in color and complimenting her sharp eyes. It was later discovered that her extra-dimensional powers acted like an aphrodisiac/lure on certain men, giving her a siren-like attribute which aroused a few male lusts. Oddly enough, this only affected those males who she had feelings for, such as the billionaire Anthony Stark, Gamma-physicist Doctor Bruce Banner and Agent Clint Barton. But not for him; Coulson loved her for who she was and knew in his mind, that her siren-like lure couldn't affect his feelings.
Not that his emotions towards her were any less powerful or strong; indeed, Phil nearly drove himself to the point of second-death trying to track her down after Loki vanished with her after the Avengers defeated an invading alien army. Having barely recovered from a knife through his heart, Coulson drilled Fury to find out what had happened to the young woman.
Pursuing and exhausting all avenues of search, Coulson was about to give up when Loki himself showed up; only to be captured and teleported back to Asgard. So, the search began anew; turning out astounding results. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the one to find the dimensional walker – Bruce Banner did. Apparently, Loki hid himself and the young woman in the remotes of the Rocky Mountains, in Doctor Banner's hide-away cabin.
Since discovering the young woman having post-traumatic amnesia, her relationship with the doctor had been brittle; and like before her amnesia, she had bonded instantly with Anthony Stark, which had given her a cybernetic prosthesis when the billionaire learned of her missing left arm.
It had taken Coulson a month to extract the young woman out from Stark's greedy-iron grip and take her to Tahiti. But it had been worth it, having the young woman finally all to himself – except for the two wily, spoiled-absolute rotten dogs. Both of whom were now jumping and climbing all over the young woman on the lounge chair.
"Zoey, Bitey, down." Coulson commanded as he crossed the remaining sandy space to stand next to the young woman.
"Hi Phil. Bitey; Zoey." Her voice was full of laughter as the two dogs, young, wriggled and wagged their tails in pure happiness. If he had a tail, he'd wag it too.
"Good afternoon, Jiru." Phil smiled brightly and had the hardest time taking his eyes off her lower torso. After months of working on her modesty, he finally convinced her to wear bikinis. So now she was relaxed, sitting on the lounge chair nearly nude.
"Ah, eyes on mine, Phil. You naughty man." She joked, tilting her sunglasses
"Can't help it, I enjoy watching beautiful things." He commented back as he picked up Bitey. "I see you're talking to Reed Richards."
"Eh, I was, but he's off on his own thing now." The young woman reached over and clicked off the vid-chat.
"I see." Phil nodded and ducked under the umbrella which was stuck firmly into the sand. They both sat in the sun for a few quiet minutes, watching the two dogs chase each other around.
"So, what are we going to do today?" The cyan haired female turned to her companion and stretched.
"Well, there are two options; Option One is to stay here for another month…" the sandy-haired man began.
"And the second option?" She inquired.
"Go to Stark's Halloween party." Phil smiled after a moment of dramatic build-up.
"Say what?" She looked over to him, her eyes incredulous.
"Yes, Stark has invited you to his annual All Hallows Eve party." Phil removed the piece of mail he had taken the dogs to get and handed it to her. "Although he did forget to mention me…"
"Well, that's just rude of him, Phil. Now we'll have to go and kick his ass." Jiru looked at the invite and rolled her eyes. It was indeed just addressed to her; stating she was invited to Anthony Stark's shindig in California. "Phil, Stark's party is tomorrow. We'll never make it…"
"Do you want to go?" Phil asked her.
"Yes…but talk about out of the blue. How are we gonna make it…we don't have a chance…no costumes."
"Don't worry your pretty mind on details." Coulson chuckled as he stood up. "I have a jet on standby."
"What!?"
"As for costumes, I have the perfect thing in mind."
"Phil…talk to me here, what are you plotting?" Jiru cried out as her companion sauntered towards the cabana.
"You'll see."
"Oh great. This'll be barrels of fun." Jiru muttered to herself and slid out of the beach chair, calling to Zoey and Bitey as she followed Coulson; wondering just how…what the man was planning.
XXX
calling to Zoey and Bitey as she followed Coulson; wondering just how…what her man was planning.
Stark Mansion, Malibu CA:
Stark's house was spectacular; as in million-dollar mansion perfection. The place was situated on a small spike of land which jutted right out into the Pacific Ocean. The white mansion, all concrete and glass reflected the nearby city lights. It was difficult to get a visual on just what the place looked like, since the sun had set twenty minutes prior, but Jiru had her face pressed against the limousine's window anyway. It was a low-key excitement to be back on US soil again; after several months in exotic humid Tahiti. She still wasn't sure just HOW Phil managed it, but he had them both in California in less than seven hours. Of course, they had left most of their possessions back in the Tahiti cabana, but she figured Phil would pull strings and get S.H.I.E.L.D. lackeys to clean-up and bring the rest of their stuff back to the U.S. Zoey and Bitey weren't left behind; she'd never do that to her two best friends.
"Please try not to smudge your make-up, Jiru; I'd hate for you to ruin your costume." Phil's voice chided her gently as their limousine pulled up in front of Stark's internally lit mansion.
"Oh Phil, come on, don't be a downer. You did a great job painting my face! I can't wait to see the look on Stark's face when he sees what you dressed us up as."
"Of course, I had several great ideas, but found this to be the most entertaining." The benched S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded sagely as he moved around the end of the car to open her door.
"I thought you'd want to dress up as Captain America." She smiled mischievously, as she stepped out of the limo. "And I would be some red-white-blue spangled All-American Chick."
"Tempting, but no; this is far-more you." Phil grinned as he took in her yellow and black costume. "I find this get-up cuter."
"Pikachu!" Jiru chuckled.