Chapter 15
Loki was getting cornered by the Avengers and my family and he wasn't sure how to respond while I was in the Brig with the kids. "Yes?"
"You're using the mission as an excuse to get a date out of the kid?"
"It is not a date. It is a cover to help us get information for the mission, Rocket."
"Is she who you like, Brother?"
"No. I do not like anyone the way you think that I do."
"She likes somebody, though," Aleta says simply and looks at him. "And if you hurt her, they won't find a body."
"Because you will kill me?"
"No. Because she will. And we trained her in the Ravager way," Martinex smirks and Loki nods.
"I am well aware. I am not going to hurt her because I, firstly, do not have an opening to hurt her. And, secondly, I have no desire to hurt her. Now, if you will excuse me. I have a mission to prepare for." He pushes through them and goes to do anything else but be there and explain how he feels about me. "If only it were that easy to explain," He murmurs as he gets an outfit out tonight for his 'date' and goes off to do other things.
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I check on Gamora and Indri often, making sure they stop to eat something, and they seem less edgy and teenage level moody, both of them thanking me as I give them tips on how to do it more efficiently. I wander the ship a bit and make sure everything's ready for the mission, also going on it.
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1845 rolls around and I'm still not ready for the outing with Loki, making sure to stop Indri and Gamora so they can eat another meal. Thor looks at me, confused, and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Are you not supposed to be getting ready?" I look at him and he decides to elaborate. "For the meal to get information for the mission?" I furrow my eyebrows slightly before my eyes widen and I facepalm.
"Damnit! I forgot about that! You know what he's wearing so that I know what to base my outfit on?"
"No. I apologize."
"Damn. Alright. Go get something to eat." I go to find Loki and knock on the door to his Quarters.
"Brother, if you are here to pester me, I will turn you into a snake," He says as he opens the door before he sees me and his eyes go comically wide, his chest bare as he's getting changed. "Oh! Captain! I apologize deeply. What can I help you with?"
"What level of fancy do I need to be with clothes tonight?"
"A nice dress. And, if possible, you may need to find a way to cover your implant and head to attract less attention."
"That's a good idea. I'm going to go get ready, then, and find a way to do that." He bows slightly and I leave, sparing a glance at his bare chest again. "Damn," I whisper once I'm around the corner and head to my Quarters, kinda blushing.
Senso, Lumes, Kraglin, and Yondu were waiting for me and I do a doubletake. "Um, can I help you?"
"Naw."
"We're here to help you," Senso smirks and Lumes comes over, settling something on my head to cover everything on it that would attract attention.
"That will hide your implant and tattoos."
"And this," Senso holds out a black dress that went to the floor with sleeves and I look at it. "Will make you blend right in with the crowd where you're going. Go on. Go get changed!" She gently shoves it into my arms and I go upstairs, getting changed quickly. "And put on those shoes up there!" I look at the shoes and scoff, throwing them downstairs.
"Hell no! I don't do heels!" I put my boots back on and slip a couple of blades into them to hide them before going back downstairs, pulling at the neck of the dress slightly to try to move it to be more comfortable.
"That's how low it's supposed to go, Rogue," Senso rolls her eyes and I tap my foot slightly, thinking.
"Know what? Screw this," I mutter as I slice two twin cuts into the sides of the dress and cut off the sleeves to my elbows.
"Segs is gonna kill ya, girl."
"Nah, Segs loves me. And he should know my style by now. Damn, dude." I roll my shoulders slightly to get used to the dress and move it slightly so that the neckline is resting higher. "Who gave him this design?"
"Natasha."
"Of course," I scoff and rub my face slightly, using the scraps of the sleeves to tie the neckline together a bit so that my tits are covered more. "There."
There's a knock on the door and I attach my wrist com as I go over to open it. Loki was waiting and his eyes widen slightly when he sees me but quickly composes himself. "Captain," He bows slightly and I smile.
"Loki."
"Are you ready to gather information for the mission?" He offers his arm to me and I take it as I nod. "Lovely. It will be my treat," He explains as we disembark the ship together and walk toward the restaurant, which was next to the place we were hitting. "It is a nice place, yes?" I nod again and a waiter leads us to a table near the window with a pitcher of water. We order some food and drinks, both of us having an earpiece in so we can talk to the crew about what we can see.
"A lot of people walking by," I comment as I take a sip of my drink, glancing out the window to see the twentieth person go into the building in the past two minutes, and set the glass down. "That's twenty in two minutes."
"Oh, dear. How many have come out?"
"None. Oh, wait, one. One person." Our food comes out and I look at it, loving the smell of it. "That smells good." Loki nods his agreement and we take the earpieces out, putting them in our wrist coms before we eat. It tastes even better and... Words don't even begin to describe the taste. It tastes as good as Loki looks.
The thought is so sudden that I kinda choke on my drink and cough slightly. "Are you alright?" I nod and clear my throat a bit.
"Just went down the wrong tube," I explain shortly and he nods, looking at me.
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She is so gorgeous, even without the wig to hide her implant and tattoos. Especially without the wig. I wish that I could tell her how I feel about her. Loki looks out the window slightly and clears his throat.
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I look up and see the target of the job, barely smirking as I take a drink. "Found you, Waldo." Loki chuckles softly at that and the waiter comes over to deal with the empty plates from the meal.
"Dessert?" He looks at the two of us and Loki nods, ordering a slice of something similar to chocolate cake for both of us.
"It will allow us to gather more information, see how long the target is in the building, that type of thing," He explains and I hide a small smile behind my glass.
"If you say so. Let's see..." I tap a few things on my wrist com quickly and find out information on the building next door. "Oh, my. How scandalous?" I show him and his eyebrows raise.
"A bot brothel?" He hisses and I nod slightly, hiding the wrist com when the waiter comes back, giving us a refill.
"From the couples at the bar for the budding new couple, your tab is covered." He smiles and leaves the table after pointing to who paid the tab as we take drinks.
We both kind of choke on our drinks seeing Stakar and Aleta there with Tony and Pepper, all but Pepper giving us shit-eating grins. Pepper smiles gently at us and I just slowly lower the glass to eat the cake-like dessert.
"Does any of this taste... Funny to you?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "Hm... Must be the drinks in my lungs." He chuckles and I smile a bit as I finish the cake, taking a sip of the drink.
We both finish our drinks and put our earpieces back in carefully to not be seen before we leave the restaurant. "What now, Captain?" He whispers and I think, looking around a bit.
"Hm... Down the alley. There's got to be a way to get into the building." He nods and we move through the alley carefully, not wanting to alert anyone to us sneaking around while I activate my visor.
"That is a clever gadget. It brings out the forests that reside in your eyes." I freeze and look at him.
"What?"
"I apologize. I suppose that I... Got too deep into the role we are playing." I nod a bit and continue walking with him, using my visor to see if anyone was around, moving in silence. The forests that reside in my eyes? That's cheesy as Hell... But in a good way... I smile a tiny bit and keep walking alongside him.
We get to the back of the building and see the target moving quickly as he fixes his clothes while I deactivate my visor. We start to follow but two huge guys get in our way and restrain us while the target turns to smirk at us. "Well, hello there." He waves his hand and they cover our heads with sacks, dragging us through alleys after ditching our wrist coms and earpieces. We struggle but they hold us easily and keep us from getting away.
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We land hard in a room and I scramble to my feet as they slam the door, my hands slamming on the door. "Assholes!" I slam my fists against the door again and turn to start pacing while Loki sinks against a wall to sit on the floor. "How are you so calm right now?"
"I have faith that our crew will find us. If pacing assists you in calming down, pace away, Captain."
"I will." I pace and remember something, plopping on the floor to take off my boots.
"Why, Captain, if you wanted to undress, all you had to do was ask for help," He smirks and I roll my eyes, slicing along the sole of it slightly for the tracker to activate the distress beacon. "What are you doing?"
"Distress beacon on a tracker. I'm paranoid."
"It seems as though that might bode well for us." I nod my agreement and set off the distress signal numerous times to get their attention so they come to find us. "Who does that go out to?"
"Stakar, Aleta, Yondu, Kraglin, Martinex, Drax, Groot, Mantis, Mainframe, Krugarr, Charlie-27, and Nebula." He nods and I keep setting off the distress signal.
"I believe that they have received it."
"Better safe than sorry." I set it off a few more times before putting it back in my boot and activate the blasters on the other one to meld the sole back together carefully while he watches me. "Now... We wait." I lean against the wall across from him and we stare at each other for a few moments.
"What should we do to pass the time?" He asks and I look around the room a bit as words spill from my mouth.
"We could have sex." He splutters and blushes brightly as he looks at me. The words dawn on me and my face flames as I quickly cover it with my hands. "Oh, Gods... That is... Sorry..." I stumble over my words and we sit in silence now, both of us embarrassed.
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There's a loud ruckus outside of the room and it has been hours. We stand carefully and I motion for us to move toward the wall that's not in front of the door, which we both do quickly.
The door goes flying against the wall and Rocket pokes his head in with Groot. "I am Groot?"
"I have never been happier to see your ugly mugs," I smirk and go over with them. "We hitting this guy now?"
"Yeah. We're taking him for all he's worth but we've got to move fast or else the Nova Corps will catch us."
"We got Doc Strange?" He nods and I think quickly. "Have him open portals to the ship's storage area and we'll get our stuff that way before we go through ourselves."
"Krugarr's here too. We just have to give him some of the loot."
"Have him do the same, then. Let's move!" I clap my hands and they nod, running off to do that after Rocket tosses us our wrist coms. "Loki, with me!" He nods and follows me to steal shit, tossing the stuff through Doc Strange's portals.
I hear the signature Nova Corps ships and Krugarr lets me know that there's a portal open to my ship at the bottom of the stairs. "Let's go," I hiss and we move quickly but quietly through the house to find the portal.
"Freeze!" A Nova Corpsman yells and we stop, putting our hands up at the bottom of the stairs, inches away from the portal. "Turn around!" I shove Loki through the portal as I turn and they look terrified. "No... You're dead!"
"Not so much, pal. Say hi to the wife for me, yeah?" I flip him off as I give him a mock salute and fall back into the portal while he fires his blaster at me.
Charlie catches me and I smirk slightly. "Well hello there." He drops me and I scoff. "Rude." I stand and brush myself off. "Took you long enough to find us. Did you take the scenic route?" I smirk at Yondu and he rolls his eyes.
"Yer an idiot."
"Maybe." I take the wig off and toss it on my desk in my Quarters, which is where we had landed. "Where's Loki?" He answers that by popping up behind me and handing me a glass of whiskey while the others get a glass of Rhone.
"I bid you good night, Captain." He bows slightly and leaves while Aleta shuts the door behind him before I can respond, too busy trying to come up with something to say.
"Damn. You've got it bad," Martinex says and I flip him off, going to get changed out of this dress. "You do, Rogue!" I ignore him and get changed quickly, thinking as I do.
Maybe I do have it bad... But... Isn't that what makes it so good? I head downstairs after that thought and sit in my chair, disappointed that Loki wasn't in his usual spot for our discussions.
A knock comes and Stakar answers it, blocking the person from my view as they talk in hushed tones, not that I would hear anyway since I was too busy drinking my whiskey and ignoring Martinex's prying.
"Rogue, we have a guest." I glance over at him and nearly spit out my drink when Loki's standing calmly next to him.
"This is usually our time for our discussions over glasses of whiskey. Would you mind if I join you?"
"Uh... Yeah... I mean... Um... Just... Sit down."
"What about my drink?" He smirks slightly as he sits and I roll my eyes.
"Rocket, whiskey over two cubes of ice."
"How do you know what he drinks?"
"Because fuck you and get the damned drink, rat."
"Whatever you say, Captain," He scoffs with an eye roll and hands Loki his drink. "Your Godliness."
"Why do I allow you in my Quarters?"
"For the comedic relief and sarcastic remarks," Mantis says simply and I nod slightly in agreement.
"Yeah, OK. That's fair." Loki sips on his glass and I carefully look at him while I take a sip of my own.
"See something you like, kid?" Rocket smirks and I roll my eyes slightly.
"It might be that she wants to kiss the remnants of the chocolate sweet from Loki's lips," Mantis says and everyone looks at her. "He has some on his mouth." Loki wipes his mouth off with his thumb and I was still trying to wrap my mind around what Mantis just said while also thinking about doing it, taking a long sip from my glass.
"'Ere, girl. Lemme top ya off." I give Yondu my glass and he refills it, refilling Loki's too. "Enjoy," He smirks and we both take a sip.
"Gramps, you're being immensely suspicious." He just shrugs and pulls out his holopad. "I swear to all of the Gods, I'm going to blow that up one of these fucking days," I mutter under my breath as I take a sip and Loki watches me carefully enough that I don't notice, but the others do. Rocket kinda smirks and sips on his Rhone while the others do the same.
"Gods. Will you two just speak to each other about how you feel?" Senso rolls her eyes and I look at her.
"You mean like how you and Kraglin did before you got help with it?" She opens her mouth to respond before closing it, not having a good response, and I nod a bit. "That's what I thought."
"And I do not like the Captain, which I have said numerous times now," Loki says exasperatedly and I take a sip of my whiskey, keeping my reaction to that inside while my heart falls apart a little bit. "I do not like anyone the way that you all think I do."
"Well, Rogue has a crush on somebody. Who is it?" Martinex asks and they all look at me, making me pause in taking a drink as my mind races to come up with a believable lie. "We know it's someone from Terra, so that narrows it down a lot." Loki was watching me and I down the rest of my glass, setting it down as I lie through my teeth.
"Bucky."
"The guy with the metal arm?" Rocket coughs and I shrug, noticing Loki looked a little pissed at that as he finishes his drink. He stands and sets his glass on the counter before bowing slightly to us.
"I bid you all a good night." He leaves and Groot tilts his head slightly in confusion while everyone looks from the door to me.
"Really? You couldn't have come up with a better lie?" Lumes rolls her eyes and I stand, putting my glass on the counter too.
"Get out of my Quarters, I want to go to sleep. It's been a long solar cycle." They leave with no arguments and I check on Stark and Leta, gently pushing their hair out their face. "Sleep well, kiddos," I whisper and go to my bunk, collapsing into it to sleep, not even bothering to take my boots off as I drift off to sleep.
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I jerk awake to someone pounding on the door and go over to answer it quickly, glaring at Morgan. "What? It is 0130, what could you possibly want?"
"There's a fight going on and no one's breaking it up because it's in the gym. But, it needs to be broken up." I rub my face and follow her to the gym, leaving my jacket in my Quarters and going in just a tank top and the pants.
"Break it up!" The crowd parts and I go through it, seeing Loki fighting Bucky and Steve. I go over and pull them off of each other, throwing Loki away from the other two. He tries to charge and I whistle sharply, my arrow dancing in front of his face. "I said break it up! What the Hell is this about?" No one says anything and I look around a bit. "Anyone who wasn't a part of this fight, get back to whatever you were doing! Now!" They all scurry to obey and the three in the fight stay, same with the Avengers. "Bucky, start talking."
"Steve and I were sparring and that fucking nutcase attacks me from behind!"
"It has been a long time coming," Loki snarls and I vaguely notice my family watching from the wall, Nebula next to them.
"Nebula, you witness the fight?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Did it go down that way?"
"Yes, it did, Captain." I rub my face and let out a very soft sigh.
"Loki, there is no attacking a fellow crewmate from behind on my fucking ship! Nebula, have Tex make sure those assholes aren't gonna die." I grab Loki by the jacket and drag him to the Brig, throwing him into a cell before I slam the door.
"You can't do this," He yells and I slam my hand against the door, making him jump.
"Last time I checked, I was the fucking Captain of this ship! Be happy I don't kick you off of it! Enjoy your night in the Brig! And, maybe, you'll get some more brain cells when I let you out for the first shift!" I storm off and shut the door to the brig while still inside it, deciding to sleep there instead of going back to my Quarters. I sit in a chair and lean my head against the wall, dozing.