Cold Enemies, Warm Romances

Chapter Twenty-Three ~DoT~

                Saleen glanced out the window, it had been almost two weeks since Loki had kidnapped Bruce and Clint yet he hadn’t made a move since, which had everyone on edge but they still managed to have some fun. Like dancing, going out for shawarma and Karaoke or joking around. She had grown quite fond of the Avengers, she considered them her family. She’d do anything for them especially Jessie, Bruce, Clint and Tony. Steve and Natasha were pretty great too but Thor was a little different. She hadn’t exactly gotten use to the way he spoke or the fact he was a god, but she knew she shouldn’t be talking because at times she was a walkin, talkin, butt-kickin Icicle. She smiled as she walked out of her room and into the hall. Farther down the hall she noticed Bruce walking away from her and decided to sneak up on him. Once she reached him she stuck a hand over his eyes which were glued to a data pad. “Guess who!?” She chirped basically as she obstructed his sight.

                She had felt that he noticeably became tense until he heard her voice. He let out a small sigh of relief as Saleen removed her hand and stepped next to him matching his stride with every step. “Oh, It’s you.”

                “Yepp! Sorry if I scared you, you were just walking and staring at the data pad in your hand.” She spoke gently with a warm smile.

                Which he returned, “Don’t worry about it. I was just looking over everything Coulson’s team had on Loki.” This perked Saleen’s interest.

                “Anything interesting?” She asked looking into his brown eyes.

                He glanced down at the data pat and hit a few things suddenly the files on the data pad flew into the air and became holograms in front of them, so Saleen could see it as well. “Well says here that after Loki failed in getting the Tesseract he was returned to Asgard where later he escaped but we already knew that, thing is he was spotted in another city in the States. He was at Washington D.C but weird thing is nothing was ever stolen and no one was found dead.”

                Saleen stared at the file in front of her a slight gasp escaped her, “Bruce… what’s the odds that Loki could just be visiting the city where Jessie and I grew up??” Saleen grew up on the U.S Army’s military base, Fort Hood. Her father had been in the Army but Saleen, Xander, Dylan, and Kaden wanted to join the Marines. Her mother had died in a bombing in Iraq when she was 3, she had been on deployment while Saleen’s father was at home arranging to ship out, Saleen would have been staying with Dylan’s family but the Army allowed her father retirement after his wife’s death. They moved around a couple times after that. Finally settling down in Washington D.C. where Saleen met Jessie, whom had moved there when she was little. Her dad after he was Honorably Discharged was offered a job at the Pentagon.

                “The odds are quite likely, considering he is probably trying to figure out any way possible to get to you two.” Bruce spoke. “It also says he was seen in Killeen, Texas near Fort Hood.”

                 Saleen looked at Bruce, “Bruce, I was born there…”

                “Maybe we should check this out. We might want to call everyone her so they can see what’s going on.” Saleen nodded picking up her phone. “I’ll call Jess and have her get Coulson’s team since I think she is hanging with Ward.” Saleen hit and held onto the number two speed dial button as Jessie’s name popped up then placed it to her ear while she listened to it ring. Her friend picked up after the second ring.

                “Hello?” Jessie’s voice rang in Saleen’s ear.

                “Hey Vertigo, We have a lead on Loki. He was spotted in D.C and Killeen, Texas, where we grew up. We think that we could use Coulson’s team’s help with this. Can you guys meet us at the main lab?” Saleen asked.