Resurgence

Chapter 13: Ava

Time passed as we kept our post in silence. We witnessed Reynolds leave in a cab. Before it was time to prep for my undercover work, I turned on the TV for some background noise. The movie, "The Night of the Iguana", was on. I smiled at one of the actresses and reminisced the stories I'd hear from my grandfather.
"That's Ava Gardner. She was a pretty good singer and actress, but people only remember her as one of Frank Sinatra's wives. Unless its different on this earth. My grandpa used to tell me all these random facts about hollywood back in the day. He was a real cinephile." I tried to make small talk to brake the tension I know he still had from earlier. He simply gave me a soft smile to show he acknowledge what I had said. He remained at his post.
The evening crept in and the time for the benefit came closer. I began to get ready in the bathroom. I did my makeup with a light smokey eye look and a soft red lip to match my dress. My hair laid on one side of my shoulder in soft curls. I slid into my evening attire and put on black heels. I stepped back into the room to put one of the comps in my ear. James did a double take and gazed at me admiringly. He snapped out of his daze when I asked if he could hear me through the comps. We did a soundcheck and went over the plan one last time: I was to go to the benefit posing as the wife of a made-up military operative that was currently away for work. I was to follow Reynolds' wife to gain more information on him and the possible weapons deal for the projects the benefit was funding. After I'd extract the USB any way I can from a man known as General Goulding.
It was said to be located in a fingerprint-locked safe in one of the offices of the event center where they also kept sensitive account information of their donors.
Confident enough to complete the mission, I grabbed the clutch that matched my heels and made my way to the benefit. It would be too risky for James to go because someone could make his cover. He wouldn't be able to mingle with the crowd given his lack of social skills-plus his metal arm was a dead giveaway. Instead he stayed behind to keep an eye on things and be alert in case backup was needed.
I entered the enormous building that was done up an elegant scene. It appeared more as a gala than a benefit. I gave them my fake invitation to move past the second set of doors. I went in and did my best to blend in and interact with the wealthy men and women who donated to this, in my opinion, idiotic fund. I went to the restroom to see if I would pick up on any gossip about Mrs. Reynolds or General Goulding. To my misfortune, there was no one there. I really thought that there'd be crowds of women fixing their hair and makeup in front of the sinks' mirrors, but I suppose that was sexist of me to think. Yet, I began to fix my own when a middle-aged woman came out from one of the stalls.
"Oh my! Your dress is just to die for, dear. The color looks beautiful on you. My, I remember when I was a young beauty like you," the woman said in a sweet voice as she approached the sink to wash her hands.
"Oh thank you ma'am. I borrowed it from a friend. I usually don't come to events like these, so I didn't have anything to wear. My husband usually does the social scenes alone."
"Well it looks divine on you. I'm Erin Reynolds by the way." She extend her hand for me to shake. She was my target.
I took it and panicked, not wanting to give the name "Vixen" for it'd draw too much attention. I shook her hand without a response to which she rose a brow in waits for my name. James' voice came on my comps, "Make something up."
"I'm....uh," I started.
"Uh, 'Ava?'" James suggested. I guess he really was paying attention earlier.
"Ava! sorry, I suppose I had either too much or not enough to drink."
The kind woman laughed at my joke and asked me to join her at her table with her husband. I gladly took her up on her offer. She asked about my fake husband to where I lied again telling her he was out on a mission for his work with the military. I tried to keep it short to avoid any slip ups on my part. I got her to talk more about herself and her marriage. Her husband only approached her for photo ops, so it was easier to talk to her. With a few drinks in her she poured her heart out to me as if we were old friends. It made me feel genuinely bad for her. How can someone so kind be with someone so arrogant and inappropriate? Why couldn't she just walk away? I grew fond of her within just a couple of hours of knowing her. I advised her to leave the bastard partially because she deserved a better man and partially because I didn't want to see her fall victim to HYDRA because of her ties to her idiot husband. Eventually she gave me her phone number to contact her if I ever needed a friend to talk to. She seemed in need of friends of her own. I loved the idea, but felt guilt for knowing it wouldn't be real. We were both just pawns to HYDRA's hand.
As the night continued, we kept conversing. She introduced me to a man who was later sat at the table with us. General Goulding. He was instantly taken by me. The dress was to thank for it's form fitting top and risqué slit. He ate me up with his eyes, staring at every inch of me. It made me extremely uncomfortable but knew I could use it to my advantage. I flirted when I could and slipped him more and more drinks to achieve my goal. Guilt was no where in mind for these misogynists had it coming.
After Erin had left me alone with the General, I insinuated I wanted to go somewhere more private. He took me to the office with the safe on the third floor for "privacy". He pushed me on the desk that was in the middle of the room and began to suck on my neck. I pushed him off of me and punched him partially unconscious. I managed to pull him to the safe to scan his fingers and open it. I retrieved the item I needed and left hoping he'd be too drunk to remember anything. Walking out I patched in with James and informed him I had what we needed. He told me I could head back to the room.
I began to walk back towards the stairs, passing an open terrace. Approaching it, it revealed a beautiful night sky. Sparkling diamonds filled the deep blue ocean above with the full moon radiating through the city lights. I never got to see that in the base due to always being on lock down. I stayed there for a few minutes just taking in the view. James interrupted my serenity by informing me that SHIELD was near to retrieve the same item I had in my clutch. I needed to make a swift exit.
I started walking towards the stairs again when I caught sight of the infuriated general. He stomped towards me, ready for a harmful act. My fists were ready to swing, but remembered I couldn't be too loud or make a scene for my cover could be blown. I allowed him to corner me to a wall. I could smell the alcohol in his breath as he whispered in my ear, "I didn't hear you say no." Then tried to cover my mouth, but I instinctively removed it by twisting his wrist and kneeing him in the crotch. I walked away attempting to play hero and not kill again, but he caught a firm grip on my arm. He made a flat hand and was about to swing, when a glimmer of silver got between his hand and my face. It was James in his Winter Soldier uniform. He punched him with his other hand and dragged him to the terrace where he pushed him off the railing. The general fell to his death. I was both shaken and oddly relieved.
"I had it handled." I remarked.
We made our exit through the fire escape he had entered from in the back of the building, managing to make it back to the hotel without being spotted or followed. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. He asked if the intoxicated man had hurt me and scanned me for injuries. I told him I was fine and handed him the USB I stole. Our mission was complete, but had to lay low for the night to avoid being made by SHIELD.
I took off my heels taking note that I didn't miss having to wear those for my other job on my earth. Getting ready for another night of stakeout, I began to remove my fancy getup. The zipper of my dress got stuck. I fought with it to avoid asking James for help. It wouldn't budge. Because this wasn't my dress, I decided to ask him for help to avoid returning it damaged. I turned my back to him and pushed my hair to the front to allow him a better view of the zipper. He scrupled before placing his metal hand lightly on my back and used his other to smoothly pull down the zipper. The zipper moved slowly and effortlessly down my spine. The warmth his hand gave off caused my breath to hitch and feel goosebumps forming from how close he was. I pushed my mind to think about the danger we could be in if they found us to avoid thoughts that could compromise us. I thanked him and walked back to the bathroom to change hoping I didn't make notice of the affect he had on me.
After changing, I moved back to our post to watch the commotion we had caused. Police swarmed the place along with ambulances that were deemed useless considering that the man the soldier through off the building was dead. Even with the disturbance, we kept watch on Reynolds' movements. He was now under SHIELD's protection. An agent was never too far behind. After some time of him going in and out of the building, we spotted him and his wife exiting. He gave her a peck on the lips and escorted her to a car with yet another SHIELD agent. He remained behind, but not to deal with the loss of his associate, but to have another encounter with his mistress. They walked back into his hotel room and carried on with their lust from the night before. There was no use in keeping an eye on them when we already had what we needed. We averted our eyes away from them and started packing our things to leave first thing in the morning.
"Ava, huh?," I asked trying to not bore myself by packing in silence.
"Like the actress you were talking about."
"Well thanks for the help. It has a nice ring to it I guess," I said with a smile.
"Ava," he repeated.
"You can call me that if you want. I like it better than the name Williams gave me."
He nodded his head in agreement. I could see a faint smile on his face knowing he was helping me get in touch with my humanity as much as I was helping him get in touch with his. A few moments of silence passed as we finished packing our equipment.
"I had it handled you know. With the General. Him, I wouldn't have minded shooting," I remarked, "How did you even get there so fast?"
He shrugged, "I didn't want you to have to do that again. He was going to hurt you. He had you cornered."
"Because I let him. I couldn't exactly shoot him and cause a loud scene when there were SHIELD agents downstairs," I paused, "Thank you. I am glad you showed up. At least your way people could think he jumped or something."
His eyes remained on mine before he suggested I get some sleep. I walked over to the bed and he laid curled up on the loveseat by the TV. I laughed at the sight of his tall figure on the tiny couch. He looked at me with curious eyes and I told him to switch with me to which he denied. Such a gentlemen, I thought. Eventually I drifted off. I woke only about an hour after in thirst for a drink of water. When I sat up I noticed James standing next to the window gazing at the same starry night I was earlier. With no lights on, the moon's light illuminated the room enough to see his steel blue eyes filled with thought.
"Can't sleep?" I asked.
"No." he responded, his eyes still directed at the sky.
"Are you afraid of another nightmare?" I questioned. He moved his gaze from the sky to the ground beneath him. Sorrow was evident even in the dim glow of the moonlight. I patted the spot next to me on the bed, "Sit. Do you want to talk about it?"
He stopped to ponder the idea, then sat next to me. We sat in silence with our backs leaning on the headboard before he spoke, "They have a chain on me I can't break. I've hurt a lot of people."
"That's not on you. That's on HYDRA. They made you do those things. You're a strong super soldier. I have cool powers. Let's get out together. Let's just leave and not look back."
"It's not that simple. They'll find us. They always do. They'll use the words and bring out the soldier. They'll make me hurt you. Those words make me lose control. I won't be me anymore. I could kill you."
"You won't. I trust you. We'll make a plan then. We'll wait when the time is right, and take down the base and go after the others. Maybe SHIELD can help. Neither of us deserve this. We deserve a life. A good one."
His eyes seemed tired as much as his mind probably was. I decided to slightly change the subject to distract his mind a bit, "I'd want to travel. See the beautiful world God created. I'd want to see cities and villages and everything in-between. I didn't get to travel much on my world. Any places here that catch your eye?"
"Romania. I have a faint memory of it. I think it might have been where my family was from. I know I'm from New York, but I have images in my mind of a house on the countryside. A beautiful morning sky with lots of green around. Markets not too far from there, but just far enough to be at peace."
"That sounds really nice. That's where we'll go when we get out." I gave him a soft smile before continuing our conversations of the few recovered memories he had and the mundane adventures I had on my world. After a long night of talking we both drifted into a peaceful sleep.