Melanie walks into the large ballroom, her arm linked with Steve's. They both wear masks because it is a Masquerade Ball. Their job was to look out for HYDRA. Melanie didn't know very much about it, however. Her instructions were very vague as Director Fury refused to answer any of her questions. He had given her a small envelope and had then hurried off to deal with some other business that seemed much more important. She believed the only reason he had sent her on this mission was because he believed Loki would be here, and if anyone could stop Loki, it would probably be her.
She fiddled with the small black piece in her ear.
"SHIELD has eyes everywhere, Melanie," Steve whispers, his voice coming through the ear piece. "If you see anything, let us know. Nobody will touch you, I promise."
She nods and they break apart. There are a small set of stairs that lead onto the dance floor. Bodies twirl and spin around as elegant dresses brush the floor. Her eyes search the room. HYDRA could be anyone. She walks slowly through the dancing bodies, sometimes twirling in someone's arms. Sometimes her eyes make contact with others, but their gazes quickly shift away.
"Dance with someone, Melanie. Don't look too obvious," Steve's voice says in her ear.
She searches for a partner. A man about her height sweeps her in his arms and they begin dancing together. He spins her fast as the pace of the dance quickens. It's hard for her to see around her as the bodies flash by.
"You have no date?" the man asks, rocking her back and forth.
She smiles. "Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't."
She looks up into the balcony and sees Steve watching her. He paces around the top. She sees others too, SHIELD agents, leaning against the balcony, talking with groups of people, but their eyes, always pointed in her direction.
"They're always watching, aren't they?" the man says to her.
She doesn't have time to react when he lets go of her and disappears into the crowd.
"Steve, the man with the red and black mask, he's one," she says quickly as she's swept into another man's arms.
The men that were watching her suddenly move, including Steve, to follow the man she was dancing with. She watches them leave, craning her neck to see where they run off too.
"It always surprises me how easy it is to get you alone," a serene voice says into her ear, but it's not through the ear piece.
Her head whips around as she stares at the man in front of her, his arm wound tightly around her waist. Loki. He smiles his wide, devilish smile.
"I'd say I was surprised, but actually I'm not."
He spins her around, his emerald green eyes glowing behind the mask.
"You're taking a big risk, coming here. You know they're looking for you," she says to him, feeling the shivers travel down her spine at his cold touch.
"I'd take the risk if it meant I'd get to dance with you," he responds, his smile still spread across his face.
They move with the crowd. She searches the balcony for SHIELD agents. Several watch her. They don't seem suspicious.
"Are you sure HYDRA didn't just send you here to capture me?" she responds, locking eyes with him. His mask is very decorative, with green and gold laced in intricate designs.
"If they intended to throw you in prison, you would already be there. Besides, I am the only one allowed to have you." He leans in close so his lips touch her ear. "And I do wish to have you again."
She feels his hand travel farther down her waist. She quickly grabs his hand and pulls it back up.
She sticks her nose up, trying to swallow her pleasure. "So then why have you come? I feel like I made myself very clear when you came to talk to me the first time."
He leans away from her, grinning at her act of defiance. "You truly believe I would stay away from the girl who holds my heart?"
"Yes," she retorts quickly, "you have much better things to do then obsess over a mortal."
Laughing, he dips her down, submerging them in the crowd of dancers.
"HYRDA sent that man so that SHIELD would follow. Right now they're watching your every move. Those men up in the balconies, they aren't SHIELD. They've been replaced. Also, your solider is very much held up right now, and cannot aid you. Have your gun ready and meet me upstairs," he whispers quickly.
Before she can react he pulls her back up and places a hard kiss on her mouth.
Her mind goes fuzzy and when she opens her eyes again, he's gone. She looks around and then follows Loki's orders. She moves quickly through the crowd, pushing people out of the way. As she passes through the people she reaches up the side of her dress to pull out the gun that is strapped to her leg. She can almost feel people begin to move towards her.
She presses her finger to the ear piece. "Steve? HYDRA's here, that man was just a coy. Steve? Can you hear me?"
The ear piece makes a buzzing noise that's loud and piercing. She takes it out quickly and drops it on the floor, right under the feet of passing dancers. It shatters beneath their feet. She was on her own now.
The stairs are small and she ascends them quickly, slipping into the nearby hallway. She kicks off her heels and begins to rip away the lower part of her gown. The lower part of the dress is almost completely ripped off when suddenly she's grabbed from behind.
But she's ready.
With sudden strength she snaps back her elbow, hitting her attacker in the nose. It then takes her a few fractions of a second to whip around and hit him over the head with the butt of the gun.
"Melanie! Your left!" Loki calls out, just as she sees a man appear.
She readies the gun and then fires before he can get to her. Loki is suddenly at her side.
"You need to go, now," he orders as she begins to run toward the nearest stairwell.
She can hear the people screaming in the ballroom behind her. Several gun shots go off and some bullets whizz past her head. Yanking open the door, she bursts into the stairwell and begins sprinting up the stairs, taking two at a time. Loki follows close behind.
"What level?" she yells at him as they run. Men follow them up the stairs, shouting and shooting at random.
"The roof!" he responds.
Her legs begin to burn from exhaustion as they near the top. A single door leads to the rooftop and with all her strength she bursts through it, her shoulder shoved against the metal. But she's met with a surprise. A helicopter overhead shines a light down on her, and the wind whips her hair wildly around her face. Loki suddenly tackles her and they fall together over the edge, just as the helicopter begins shooting. She screams as they fall, his arms wrapped securely around her small body. When they land, she's surprised at how cushioned it is. When she opens her eyes she realizes she had landed on top of Loki, and they weren't on the crowded street. Instead they were in what looked to be an abandoned building.
She quickly scrambles off of him at the sound of his groan.
"What the hell?" she exclaims, leaning back on her arms as she catches her breath.
He slowly pulls himself up, winces as he does. "I had to get you somewhere safe, and alone."
She takes a deep breath. "Ok, did that have to include jumping off a building?"
"Didn't like that so much, did you?" he smiles.
She huffs, blowing the loose strand of hair out of her face. "Why was HYDRA there? And why were they shooting at you?"
"They didn't know it was me," he says as he stands himself up. "You are the only one who knows I was there."
"So you disguised yourself?"
He nods, his smile turning into a smirk. "A much better one than you had."
He bends over and pulls the mask off her face.
"You didn't answer my other question. Why was HYDRA here?"
He purses his lips before offering his hand to help her up. She takes it and they stand, but he doesn't let go.
"There is a certain kind of element stored here in the lower levels that they need to power their new line of weapons. They formed a distraction so they could take it. You were apart of the distraction."
It takes her a moment to process everything before she realizes what he had told her. She lets go of his hand.
"Wait, you used me?" she spits, her anger rising.
"If you want to put it that way, then yes, I did. However, it was for a good cause."
"A good cause?" she yells, before swinging a punch at him. He grabs it easily and whips her around so her arm is twisted behind her back. She lets out a squeal of pain but he doesn't loosen his grip.
"I need you to listen to me with no interruptions, understand?" he says between gritted teeth.
She pulls against him and he tightens his grip.
"Do you honestly believe that after everything that happened the last time I was here, that I would join up with HYDRA and try to take over the world again? It almost sickens me to think that you truly believed that. It's as if you don't even know me at all."
"Let me go!" she snaps.
"Only if you promise to listen like a good little girl," he says playfully.
He loosens her arm and she yanks away.
"Whatever you have to say, say it fast. My patience is running thin."
He sighs. "Oh, Melanie. Never anything simple with you. You posses an energy so powerful inside of you that even the strongest of gods could not defeat you. Yet here you are, helpless."
"If you're here to insult my minuscule strength then I'm done listening."
"No, no, no, you misunderstand my words. You see, this thing inside of you is so very powerful, yet you have no access to it at all. At one time you did, but now it's as if it is no longer inside of you. But it is! And that's the problem, my dearest. There are creatures that have begun to appear out of the deepest pits of these nine realms, creatures that until now were simply legends! They are preparing for something terrible, something that would end all things. And you know where it will begin? It will begin with you, and these things, they aren't going to stop until they find you and steal your power."
She backs away from him, trying to comprehend everything.
"These creatures, they're hunting you, and I have to protect you from them. HYDRA has monitors on everything that travels in and out of this realm. I'm sure SHIELD does as well, but I'm not exactly on 'good terms' with them. It may be hard for you to understand, but this, this is so much bigger than you or I."
"Why?" she interrupts quietly. He stops to listen. "Why do you have to protect me? Don't you want the power for yourself? Wouldn't it be so much easier if I just gave it up.. right now?"
He sighs and closes his eyes in frustration. "No, my love. It is so much more complicated than it seems. You see this power, it has a sister force that is hidden in Asgard. If your power is collected, and then the two combined, whoever controls it would be more powerful than any other creature in the universe. The last thing we want to do is put the power in the wrong hands."
"So what is going to happen? Even if I keep the power safe with me, they will never stop coming for me, and one time, they're going to succeed. And besides, you're right, I haven't been able to access my power since the night of the fire. Who knows, it may be inside the stone that HYDRA took from me."
"Your power is not inside the stone. They've tested it several times and there's nothing. It's inside you Melanie, you just need to learn how to get it out."
He walks closer to her so their faces are inches apart. She watches him slowly reach up and brush a strand of hair off her face. "I've spent thirty-five years of my existence holed up in a prison cell, thinking only of a simple mortal girl, unable to get her out of my head. If I spent that long thinking about her, I'm going to make sure I keep her alive, because it must mean she's important to me.
He leans in close and with a slight hesitation, maybe for uncertainty or dramatic effect, and places a soft kiss on her lips. She can't resist him this time. She lets her body melt into his, welcoming the familiarity of his touch against hers. Several nights she had dreamt of this very moment and none of them came even close to compare.
She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer. The anger she held towards him drifted away, and instead, her need for him flooded her conscious.
But it was when her mind became unnaturally fuzzy and her knees weak that she realized something wasn't right. She pulled back, her face puzzled. She tries to speak but she can't feel her mouth to say the words.
"Oh yes, you will hate me for this one, however, I do consider it payback, as you did sedate me with a cow's medicine. But, I can't have you going and foiling my plans."
She suddenly loses the feeling in her legs and she falls against him. He catches her easily, scooping her into his arms. The rage inside her is bursting at the seams but she can't move, and she can feel her conscious fading.
"I'm sorry Melanie Walker. Sleep well, my love."
He watches her shoot daggers at him through her eyes until they roll into the back of her head.
"God damnit!" Melanie shouts as she wakes up in the old warehouse where Loki had sedated her.
She looks around for her shoes but can't find them. She curses him under her breath as she walks stiffly across the cool wet floor to the nearest exit. Once she opens the door to the outside she knows exactly where she is. Down the street and to the left was Stark tower, where Jame was.
She wobbles painfully to the entrance, stating her name when she got close to security. Jarvis greeted her and the gates to the front opened. The cool air bit at her bare shoulders and legs. There are several sirens in the distance but she ignores them.
"Melanie! What are you doing here?" Pepper came out of the front doors, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders.
"It's a long story. May I come in?" Melanie said, her teeth clenched, trying to suppress her irritation.
"Of course, of course." Pepper wraps her arm around her shoulders and leads her inside.
"HYDRA swarmed the place. Loki got me out and then sedated me in an old warehouse nearby your tower. I don't know where Steve is, or any of the other SHIELD agents," Melanie explains as she sips on hot chocolate.
Tony sits across from her, a glass of liquor in his right hand. As he listens he sends a location signal to SHIELD to notify them.
"Why did Fury send you there in the first place?" he asks.
"I don't know. It wasn't in the file. Loki said that they were looking for some sort of element or something. I don't know."
"Fury, always one who makes sure to include all the answers to the questions right away. What else did you get from Loki?"
She huffs. "Well, the usual. There are thousands of creatures out there coming to kill me and he's 'protecting' me through HYRDA by monitoring what is coming in and out of earth."
"And you believe him?"
"What else do I have? And besides, this doesn't mean we're buddy buddy again."
Tony smiles, laughter in his eyes.
"Look, I slept with the man one time. One time! I don't love him like everybody thinks I do!" she snaps angrily, taking a swig of hot chocolate.
Tony raises an eyebrow. She glares.
"I'm not a traitor!"
"Nobody said you were, Melanie."
"But everybody thinks it! You're smart enough to see it too, Anthony. Don't lie to me, you know it's true."
He sighs, his smile falling. "There's a mess of things going on right now. It's hard to know who's who anymore. You have me, and Steve, and Pepper, and even Fury. We're all you need. If you can get Loki to help us take away your power and keep it safe, then nobody is going to call you a traitor anymore."
"That's comforting."
His smile returns. "Besides, I've heard you can be quite persuasive."
She rolls her eyes and groans, climbing down off the bar stool.
"Good night Tony."