Cold Enemies, Warm Romances

Chapter Twenty-Six ~DoT~

Saleen stepped off the ramp and smiled remembering her time here before her mom's death. Tony landed next to the jet and his suit opened up and he stepped out then it shifted into a briefcase. "When'd you get all fancy with the suits, hm?"

Tony smirked. "Oh this old thing. I've had it for ages. One of my personal favorites, travel sized fun."

Saleen smirked and held back a laugh but she did roll her eyes. "Alright everyone, time to see where I grew up." The group kinda split up in their own little groups Steve and Coulson, Bruce and Saleen, Tony and Skye, then May was all by her lonesome. Saleen looked back at Steve. "So Steve do you feel at home?"

"A little bit, yeah." Steve answered and Saleen smiled. Before they walked up to the entrance of Fort Hood. Two Military Police Officers tried to stop the group but Steve stepped forward. "I am Captain Steven Rogers, this is Saleen Harper, Dr. Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Agent May, Agent Coulson and Skye, we're with SHIELD. We need to speak to whomever is in charge."

The soldiers saluted before one spoke. "Right this way, sir." The officer lead them into the base and through several buildings before arriving in what looked to be kinda like an office building. Saleen glanced around looking for some familiar faces when she saw her parent's CO. She was glad the officer had stopped right in front of him.

"Corporal Smith, good to see you again." Saleen greeted.

"That's Sergeant Major Smith to you, Harper." He joked and she laughed. "Good to see you to Saleen. It's been what 12 years since I saw you last. How's your dad?"

"I haven't seen him in a couple years but last time I talked to him, he was doing great." Saleen answered. "Now Sergeant Major, We're here because of a national and possibly international threat."

His face turned serious. "What can we do to help?"

"We need to see all surveillance videos for the past 48 hours or so." Saleen answered and he nodded.

"Right away Ma'am. Is there anything else we can do for SHIELD?" Smith asked. She glanced at Steve and the others and let anyone else talk.

"How many people have access to the base?" Agent Coulson asked.

The Sergeant Major looked like he was thinking then he answered. "Thousands but mostly Military personnel and their families."

"Miss Harper, Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark can you follow me?" Saleen turned to see a brunette female in uniform. Saleen glanced at her nametag and noticed the badges on her arm.

"What for Private McGrath?" Bruce asked.

She looked shy but answered, "So you can study the surveillance tapes." Bruce nodded and glanced at the two others. Tony just smirked and tossed what looked like a blueberry in his mouth, causing Saleek to roll her eyes. She had heard the story of him eating blueberries while he was tracking Loki. She had asked Bruce to tell her everything from the last battle against Loki. She wanted to know what to expect just in case they couldn't stop him. She gave Bruce and Tony a look before she nodded to the Private and they were led out of the room while the remaining group sat and questioned Sergeant Major Smith.

They were about half an hour in when Tony suddenly paused his screen and rewinded it a couple frames. "I found Reindeer Games." He leaned back in his chair eating another blueberry. Saleen and Bruce glanced over his shoulders to see for themselves , sure enough, Loki walked past the camera a triumphant smirk on his face. Saleen noticed how instead of his normal attire he wore a black suit, with a gold and green sort of scarf and a staff that looked a lot like his scepter.

"Where is he headed?" Bruce asked.

Tony was the first to reply, "Looks like he was heading towards the houses."

Saleen nodded and pulled over her own keyboard and started typing. She isolated a camera a little farther down the road. "Here he is again." Then she pulled up three more camera's on her screen. "He's in all of these, at the exact same moment. He's even got that same look on his face. He's sitting there and smirking on every camera from here to the..."

She paused. "From the street I grew up on. He's trying to get our attention... why though?"

"He plays games. He enjoys getting into your head. That's what he does. He's probably just trying make you feel like everyone you know and love is in danger but what he doesn't know is that if he touches anyone of them then he'll have all of us coming after him." Bruce answered. "Last time he tried Divide and Conquer, of course that didn't work, so now he's trying something new."

Tony groaned a bit. "Sometimes I wish he'd just learn that he'll never win." Bruce nodded and then someone knocked on the door frame behind them.

"You guys are taking forever, need some help?" Skye asked as Saleen opened the door. "It's been like 45 minutes and we haven't heard a word from you guys."

Skye sat in the seat next to Tony's spot and he tilted his bag of blueberries towards her, "Blueberry?"

She shrugged taking one, and popping it in her mouth. "So did you find anything?"

"Yeah. We found him, problem is that he is on almost a dozen cameras at the exact same time." Saleen answered.

"Maybe he used some of that Asgardian mojo I've heard, seen, and read so much about." Skye offered.

"Possibly," Bruce stated, "but why?"

"Dunno, but everyone else is antsy and we've talked to tons of Military Personnel, so time to compare notes." Skye answered grabbing another blueberry from Tony and eating it. Saleen groaned jokingly as she got up. Skye, Tony, and Bruce all stood up as well. "They're this way."

She lead them to the rest of them. "What's the news?" Steve asked them as soon as they reached the same room everyone else was at.

"Loki was here alright. He showed up on 10 different cameras all at the same exact second." Tony answered.

"He's trying to leave us a message but we haven't figured out what it means." Bruce continued.

"Loki was smirking, and he had a look in his eyes that basically said that he believes he already won." Saleen finished. "What did you guys find out?"

"No one remembers seeing him except for one person," Phil started, "He says that he remembers a strange man walking down the road where a suit and he had a golden cane with a glowing blue top."

"Sounds like what we saw on the cameras." Saleen stated. She glanced at May who stood with her arms crossed and was quite as ever.

"Let's head back maybe Jessie and the others have something new." Steve spoke up and everyone gave various forms of okay. Then they headed back to the jet. Saleen stood outside with Bruce and Tony as she watched Tony's suit transform. It fascinated her, how he was able to build a suit that turned into a briefcase.

Once it finished he left the mask up. "Don't crash, Stark." She said with a smirk.

"Ah, now where's the fun in that?" He complained and she chuckled. Bruce just rolled his eyes a bit. "I'll meet you guys at the tower."

Saleen and Bruce were about to walk up the ramp, talking about the spray Saleen had created when Tony's robotic voice called out. "Guys... We have a problem."

A/N: Hey-o! Sorry for not updating in forever I honestly forgot it was my turn to update. I had told Writersblock039 that I would have it up by last week but I sprained my ankle pretty badly during gym and when ever I tried to write anything I always seemed to have writers block but as you can see it's sorta gone now. I hope you enjoy the chapter and have a fantastic day!

~Abby :) <3