An Assassin Never Tells

T W E N T Y - S E V E N

May 29th, 2011

"Pepper. Hey, Pepper," I called across the room over the loud-ass group of people to, well, Pepper.

"What is it, Lilith," she snapped at me as she hustled over through the crowd.

"I-uh-I was just gonna tell you that I'm gonna go suit up because I feel like the party's gonna go sideways."

"And why would you say that?"

"Rhodes just pulled up," and I left to my room. I was hoping that I would be able to escape the commotion of the party, and Pepper's wrath, by retreating up there, but boy was I wrong. It was like I was still in the room. I rushed to get my suit on, remembering my mask and shield, and ran down to Stark's workshop to see if there was anything I could do remotely. Unfortunately, there was not, and I ran into Rhodes, the both of us all suited up.

"Hey, who the hell are you," he asked, looking me up and down as if I were some great threat.

"I'm Agent Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D., not that it's any of your business," I replied, "now, sir, I have to advise you not to go up there like that. It could seriously provoke Mr. Stark."

"Mhm, sure. Yeah, I've met Agent Coulson. He's a dude."

"I'm his daughter. Now, please, get out of that suit."

"No."

"Colonel Rhodes, please."

"No way."

"Fine, just don't be, I don't know, super aggressive."

"Sure."

I followed Rhodes up to the party but staying far enough back to where I didn't look suspicious. I swear that it was louder as I got closer than when I was there earlier. There were some...not good sounds coming from upstairs, so while Rhodes rushed up to deal with his friend, I approached with as much caution as possible. Tony was yet to be truly introduced to this side of me, so this was uncharted territory. When I got upstairs, I hid out of view so that I did not attract unwanted attention.

"I'm gonna say this once," Rhodes said once he had made contact with Tony, "Get out."

I guess an angry man in a large metal suit holds a lot of authority because everyone left. They ran in towards the exits in every direction. We all knew that shit was about to go down, and the less involved you are, the less trouble you will get in.

"You don't deserve to wear one of these," spat Rhodes, "Shut it down!"

"Goldstein," Tony addressed the DJ.

"Yes, Mr. Stark," the DJ seemed to be really done with the whole situation as he popped up from behind his table. I mean, who could blame him. This was stupid and unnecessary.

"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to," Tony laughed.

Another One Bites The Dust started playing. Personally, it wouldn't be my first choice for a fight sequence, but the DJ does what the DJ wants.

Rhodes grabbed Tony from behind, "I told you to shut it down."

Tony flew backward into a wall or two, and I took that as my chance to run out and make sure the guests had evacuated the area. When I came back in, I approached Natalie and Pepper, and boy was Pepper mad.

"You know what," the blonde started, "ever since you came here-"

She was cut off by Tony and Rhodes breaking through the ceiling. Both Happy and I ran towards them to make sure they were alright. Happy pulled Pepper away, and I followed Natalie out, knowing that this wasn't our fight.

Once we got a good bit away from people, I turned to Natalie and fought to speak over the screaming crowd and fighting sounds from inside the house, "This is going to be a hell of a lot of paperwork, isn't it?"

"You know it," she yelled back.

Just then, the glass blew out from the house, and we got knocked back a bit, landing on our asses. It was not fun at all.

A/N: Hey besties!! I hope you all had amazing weeks! Thank you so much for all of the votes and reads and for adding this to your reading lists. It means a lot! I love you all, and I hope y'all have wonderful weeks this week! :) <3