Avengers Oneshots Ongoing

Cruise Day 1

Kate lent over the railing of the cruise ship and stared into the distance, relaying the report she had read about the Spider in her minds eye. She droned the same words over and over, determined not to forget them:

The mystery thief's is called "The Spider" and no one knows his real name, age, appearance or anything really. He steals from the rich to help poor people - quite a noble cause, had stealing not been involved in it. SHIELD wants her and Yelena to arrest him.

'Do you just stare out over the ocean to be dramatic?' A thick Russian accented voice asked from behind her.

Kate allowed Yelena the dignity of a smirk: 'Nope, just contemplating what goes on in that mind of yours.'

'Ah, I see now why you are staring out over the ocean for so long then.' her partner told her, coming to stand next to her, leaning her arms on the rail in much the same way as Kate.

'Oh no,' Kate told her, with a feigned air of one correcting something they said, 'I was contemplating that, but stopped after 5 seconds because there was nothing left to think about!'

Yelena scoffed, cupping her head in her hands, and changed the subject: 'There is a gala tonight on the 3rd deck.'

'Thanks, I'll avoid it.'

'The Spider might be there.'

'Guess I'm not avoiding it then.' Kate answered with a sigh, gazing at the waves lapping at the cruise-ship's hull. Yelena smiled:

'We don't need to be there long. Go in, see if someone is picking people's pockets, raid the snack table and leave.'

'I like the plan, especially the last part.' Kate admitted with a chuckle, 'Bet it can't rival your mac and cheese though.'

'Ah, but that's unfair, nothing can!'

*** later that night at the gala ***

'Remember: keep your eyes peeled.' Yelena cautioned Kate as they enter the gala. Kate gave her an eye-roll:

'It's not my first rodeo, you know that right?' she muttered to Yelena under her breath, who gave her a wicked smile:

'And this is like, my 534th rodeo. IF you spot him...'

Kate cut her off: 'Or her, let's not be sexist here.'

Yelena chuckled: 'If you spot him or her, don't engage, just call me through the comms.'

'Roger that.'

'And don't say roger that.'

'Copy that.'

'... I am so not saving your but if you die.'

'You won't need to.' Kate answered with a smile, as you strode into the room, the dark-green dress she had decided to wear trailing behind her. Yelena chuckled at her friend's antics and quickly mingled into the crowd as well, peeling her eyes to find any sign of anyone really picking someone else's pockets. She counted a total of 3 pickpockets, but none were professional enough to be The Spider, so she let them be - no need for unwanted attention she would bring if she called the pickpockets out on their behaviour.

A slow waltz song started to be played as Yelena quickly retreated to the side of the ballroom, not wanting to dance with anybody.

Kate meanwhile had the same plan, but did not succeed as well as Yelena, being caught off-guard as a young-man of around her age made his way towards her pointedly. Kate quickly glanced him up and down: he had brown hair, hazel eyes and stood quite tall.

Within no time he was next to her, offering her a sweet smile, as Kate gave up on being able to slip away from the ballroom quietly: 'Good Evening, care for a dance.'

'Very kind of you, but no thanks, I have to find my friend, she wanted my help with something and it can't really wait.' Kate answered rapidly, trying to spot Yelena, only to curse internally at how well the Russian was at hiding.

'Surely she can wait one dance.' The man implored, grasping Kate's hand, 'My name is Peter Parker by the way, what's yours?'

'Jane Howard.' Kate quickly told him, as she tried to tug loose from his grasp.

'Now is that really your name?' Peter asked softly, still holding her hand in his and using his free hand to lift up her chin so she was looking into his eyes.

His eyes. Hazel eyes. Swirling with colours. Switching from mud-brown to black as night, and back again. Colours swirling around in them. They were so pretty. Mesmerizing even. Kate found she couldn't turn her head away. She had to continue looking: she had to see those hazel eyes. She had no choice: she just had to!

'There you go, why don't you touch this beautiful pendant for a bit?' the man asked, his hypnotic gaze intensifying as he handed her a pendant. It had a spider hanging from it, with a red head and belly. It was beautiful, so beautiful. It was like the belly and head were glowing as she stared at them. She couldn't look away. It was gorgeous. It was the most precious thing she had ever held!

Yelena meanwhile, was not having the best time either: she was currently engrossed in cursing out a man in Russian. She had run out of curse words minutes ago, and was now just saying random words like goat, cheese and rainbow that sounded even slightly freaghtening.

The man was slowly backing away from the angry Russian lady, making a promise to himself to never ask anyone like her out for a dance ever again.

Yelena, being satisfied of gettting the man off of her back, turned back to the ballroom to find Kate. Kate was idly strolling through the people present, but something felt... offf. The way Kate just stared straight forward was weird.

Then, to Yelena's utmost surprise, Kate pickpocketed an elderly lady, taking the pendant that hung around the lady's neck. She walked somewhat like a zombie, or as someone who hadn't had their morning coffee, out of the ballroom.

Yelena furrowed her brows: something was really wrong here. Without a second thought, she followed Kate out of the ballroom, determined to find out what on earth was going on.

Peter smiled as he saw Yelena follow her friend, Kate apperantly, out of the ballroom. After forced Kate to steal the necklace from the old lady, just to find out how good she was at it, he had sent her off outside, telling her to make towards the nearest bathroom.

He had suspected that Kate had had a friend with her: it wasn't like SHIELD to have their agents do solo-ops. A quick scan of the room had shown him a blond woman, from the way she was cursing, probably Russian. Weird, he thought to himself, though in all fairness: the Black Widow was Russian as well.

He commanded Kate telepathically to walk towards a closeby bathroom, commanding her to stretch her arms out slightly, to lay the hypnosis thickly on it, so that even if her partner was dumb, she would notice something was off.

He saw the partner - he had to figure out her name soon - slipping out of the ballroom, idly walking after her friend. Not an idiot apparently: she was keeping her distance from her friend, which probably meant she suspected some form of magic in the game already. Peter followed closely behind, but made sure to hide in the shadows so that Kate's partner couldn't see him.

Kate entered the bathroom. Telepathically he commanded her what to do, smiling to himself while he was doing so: let the chaos begin.

Yelena saw Kate enter a room: that was weird, why would she enter some random guest's room. Yelena quickly ducked into the room, only to find a scene that stilled her blood in her veins: Kate was lying lifelessly on the floor.

'Kate!' she cried out, immediately crouching down next to her friend, feeling for a pulse by her neck. Kate's eyes were staring up, she wasn't dead: her pulse was still beating, but she could have been for how she was acting. Suddenly, Kate's eyes snapped towards Yelena, whom smiled down at her friend, relieved to see movement in her eyes: 'Kate, are you...' she started, but was cut off as Kate's hand grasped around her neck.

Yelena chocked out a breath: what on earth was going on?! Was Kate seriously trying to throttle her?! Yelena quickly pushed Kate off of her, banging her head against the floorboards, knocking her unconscious immediately: she was not feeling like dealing with a weirdly murderous Kate right now.

Suddenly, she heard a melodic voice from behind her: 'Doesn't she look peaceful?' a young man asked her. Yelena was about to retort that Kate was literally knocked out, but stopped as she thought about it: Kate did really look peaceful.

'Look at me?' the voice asked kindly. Yelena's alarm bells started ringing in the back of her mind: she should deffinetly not look at the man, but the alarm bells that were screaming felt like they were burried deep underground, the sound of them only faint. She did actually want to look at him. He had asked her after all.

She slowly turned her head, to find a man standing there with brown hair and hazel eyes. Deep hazel eyes. They looked like wells. Wells of wisdom churning around, thoughts flitting this way and that, in the form of colours. Mud-brown, regular brown, hazel, a dash of green and a hint of black.

'You want to hold this pretty pendant?' the man's voice asked kindly, handing it over to her. It was a spider with a red belly and red head, both pulsating with light as if they were alive. Yelena tore her eyes away from the man's gaze, and stared at the pendant fully. It was beautiful, so beautiful.

'Now, what's your name?' he asked her.

Yelena smiled, happy to tell him, happy to help: 'Yelena Bolova.' she answered truthfully.

'What are you doing on this cruise ship?' 

'We want to catch The Spider and bring him into SHIELD.' Yelena told him helpfully, smiling as she did: it was nice to help people, especially this man.

'Mhh. Hey, can you help me?'

'Sure, with anything! What do you need me to do?'

'I need some money. See the man down the hall? Can you take his money from him, without letting him notice, and then bring it back to me. Make sure he doesn't see your face.'

'Sure, whatever you want!' Yelena told him happily, exiting the bathroom and skipping into the hallway, approaching the man. 'Evening, sir!' she cried happily, in a very girly voice.

The old man tipped his hat: 'Evening young lady.' he responded, smiling at the happy girl who was in the process of skipping past. How he loved it when the youth was happy and running along hallways. How he loved it when they were still so innocent, he hoped she stayed like that for still some time.

Two minutes later, Yelena handed over a wallet to Peter, who smiled at her: 'Good job!' he praised, Yelena grinned happily: she had made him happy!

'Now listen, you need to take your friend back to your room, if anyone asks, she had too much to drink, okay?' Yelena nodded. 'Now then: you won't remember any of this: perks of hypnosis I guess and you'll be asleep for a whole day because of the strain your mind went through. But don't worry: we will meet again.' he added with a chuckle. 'As soon as you reach your room, put Kate in her bed, and go to sleep in yours.' Yelena nodded emphatically, scooping Kate up kindly, exiting the bathroom, and making her way towards their suite.

Yelena smiled as she walked on, Kate still unconscious in her arms. Upon reaching their rooms, she opened the doors, put Kate in her bed. Closed the door and plopped down on her own. Her eyes flitted shut and she sighed contentedly.

Peter meanwhile had exited the bathroom, smiling to himself: the coming few days were going to be fun. He loved toying with SHIELD agents. Happy with how things turned out he made his way back to the gala, determined to have a good night.