Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 4

Cheshire might have only been on the hellicarrier for no longer than thirty minutes, because she was quickly whisked away in a quin jet by Natasha, dragging along a Steve Rogers also. An agent had found facial recognition of the man that had stolen the tesseract in Stutgard Germany. So that is where the trio was headed. Cheshire piloting and Natasha maning the guns. The captain sat awkwardly in the back, not knowing how to start a conversat with two female, twenty first century, deadly, assassins.

"So how do you guys know the hostages?" He asked whilst twiddling restlessly with his thumbs. A slow silence followed the question as Natasha made it evident she was not going to answer. Cheshire sighed but thought it rude to ignore him.

"We know most of the agents through work, one of them being a very personal friend of ours, but Dr Selvig is.... Important. Not only to me but to some of my.. Non-work related friends." She explained cautiously, sharing a glance with Nat once in a while.

"Who might be your personal friend?" He poked and prodded at Tasha's patients, and Cheshire could tell she was going to lose her temper with the sensitivity of the subject at hand. 

"You know what Captin, why don't we talk about something else? Ask me anything you please and I'll tell you when your crossing the line, huh?" Cheshire smiled at him over her shoulder as she felt Natasha's intense warning stare but ignored it anyway.

"Ok, why do you look like a cat?" He replied without missing a beat. Cheshire chuckled at his curiosity.

"I was given a serum a few years ago that made me develop features like a cat. For example physically and I've been given their senses. I was also awarded with a couple.... Advantages that not all cats might have." She told him while focus img on the directions.

"What do you mean advantages?" The captains eyebrows knitted together in a puzzled frown behind the two women.

"I'll show you at a later date." She smirked. Steve chuckled and continued to question.

"Ok, if you were given this serum not to long ago, is your name still actually Cheshire?"

"It's a nickname." She replied bluntly.

"What's your real name then?" He pressed.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Stevie." She warned, telling him he crossed a line.

"But satisfaction brought it back." He finished. There was a dead silence that filled the air craft. You could cut the tension in here with a knife.

"So what about Selvig?" Steve recovered the atmosphere on the jet with- guess what- another question.

"I met Erik on  a mission in New Mexico, a couple friends of mine would be pretty sad if they knew what state he was in right now." Cheshires voice clouded with emotion as her mind thought of all the predicaments he could be in. She only snapped out of her trance when she felt Tasha's cold hand of reassurance on her shoulder, which she smiled thankfully at. 

"I'm sorry." Steve's voice was quiet and nervous.

"It's not your doing, you shouldn't blame yourself for another's grief. You aren't to put too much on your conscience Stevie, else you might get distracted." Cheshires voice turning cheary again.

"How long have you lived in America?" Steve changed the subject once again.

"About ten years now, moved here after I escaped from the lab and turned eighteen." Cheshire's eyes began to droop at her mistake before they firmly shut and hoped Steve didn't pick it up. She could feel Nat's glare burning a hole into the side of her head.

"Is that when you started working for SHEILD?" Cheshire let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding in and answered.

"Pretty much, yeah." The plane fell silent once again, after a moment, Cheshire began thinking out loud.

"Human beings are pretty stupid, aren't they?" She flicked a couple switches as they began descending.

"Elaborate honey, we don't understand." Natasha said after she didn't continue.

"They think of the silliest names for some of the best inventions. Like a fire truck. A fire truck is full of water and tends to put out fires, not start th-" Cheshire stopped rambling because she thought she might have been overwhelming the captain, Natasha was used to her so she didn't mind. But the cap was not.

"Are you ok, Chesh?" Natasha asked her. She mumbled a response then announced their arrival.

"We're here." She said monotonously. Cheshire flicked the switch for the back door and it started opening. The captain the jumped out and in front of an elderly man who was about to be killed, blocking the beam with his shield. The threat looked cold, emotionless. He had shoulder length, black hair and a pasty skin tone. His eyes were fluorescent green and glowed weirdly. He wore a black and green leather trench coat with gold accents, along with gold curly horns that made him look like an animal. Cheshire immediately recognised the criminal as Loki, Thor's brother. Thor was from Asgard and only came to Midgard once before, but Cheshire had shown him round once he stopped threatening her. Thor was one of her best friends and she would need to contact him to collect his brother immediately.

As Cheshire got lost in a train of thought, the captain began fighting with Loki. It wasn't until loud AC/DC music began blasting from speakers in the quad that she noticed. 'Highway to Hell' began ringing in Chesh's over sensitive ears and she lifted her hands to cover them. Tony. She thought. Right on que, iron man flew down from behind a building and knocked Loki on his ass, helping out the captain. Tony stood tall in front of a fallen God and readied most weapons on his suit, aiming them at Loki. Steve stood from behind him and dusted himself of lightly.

"Make your move Reindeer Games." Tony's voice echoed in the jet. As the words left his mouth, Loki's battle-costume-thing disappeared, replaced by normal attire. "Good move." Tony commented before standing down.

Tony, Loki and Steve boarded the jet after landing it. Natasha cuffed the criminal and made him sit in clear sight. Not a word was spoken until Cheshire took off again.

"Hey honey." Tony said to Cheshire, patting her head lightly and standing behind her with his arms crossed. "You miss me?" She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. Truthfully, Cheshire missed Tony even if he was away for five minutes, but she couldn't let him have the satisfaction.

"I was gone for ninety minutes. If it were tripled, you might have had a chance." She was smug with her reply. Only her smile fell at his next words.

"Aww pudding, you haven't got to lie around your friends. They won't judge you for missing me." He leaned down and kissed the top of Cheshire's head, right between her ears. She pulled her hand away from the controls to push him away by the chest. He chuckled but stumbled back.

"Are you two dating?" Loki sniggered at Steve's question but didn't say anything. Cheshire gave Steve a are you kidding? Look and he then shut up.

"She wishes Captain." Tony muttered which was followed by a yelp, curticy of Cheshire.