An Elemental Manipulation

Chapter Four

It's been a month since I've started working here. Steve and I have been on another date that went lovely. We went to a nice restaurant, there was white wine, roses on the table. Steve ordered a nice medium rare steak with mashed potatoes and coleslaw on the side. I don't know how he can eat so much and never gain an ounce. I ordered a small dinner salad with blue cheese dressing and light croutons, extra olives. As the waiters came to our table to server our food Steve looked up at me, smiled and said,

"So after this date, I was thinking this could make us an official couple and we could start telling the others."

"I thought we already were, I mean we're always together and always going out. I'm sure we've made it pretty obvious to the others that we were together" I chuckled thinking about how the others are going to react. Speaking of people, I thought. What's Loki going to think about this? We've been becoming friends for the last couple of days. Everyone seems to think that Loki is some bad guy that doesn't deserve anyone, but the truth is, he's not a bad guy. You just have to let him come to you and talk, he can be pretty harsh at times though.

"I know we've been making it obvious, but some people are oblivious to all the signs"

I laugh at how serious he thinks he is, we share the night and finish our dinner. As we are finishing up, the waiter brings us our check and Steve takes it and we stand up and walk to the counter to pay. While Steve is paying for our dinner I turn to look out the big double doors, it's frosty outside and getting colder. I feel a hand on the small of my back and look up to see Steve, "Are you ready to go back for the night?"

I smile and nod and we walk out to the car, Steve opens and closes my door for me. I watch him walk around the front of the car to his side. He gets in and starts the car and we sit in silence for about 10 minutes till we get to the compound. Steve parks out front so there's not much of a walk from the car to the doors. I get out and we walk into the compound where everyone is sitting in the lounge. When we walk in, everyone smiles at us and welcomes us back in. I go to where Nat and Wanda are sitting and sit down with them. Nat and Wanda look at each other and laugh.

"What?!" I say without thinking about my tone.

Wanda laughs and says, "So, are you two official yet?"

"I don't know, he said something about us over dinner but I thought that we were already official, and that it was already pretty obvious."

I can hear Steve in the background talking about the dinner, and Tony asks him the same question that Wanda and Nat asked me. We're all having a good time when Fury walks into the room and goes straight to Steve, he whispers something in his ear and then looks at Tony with a concerned look on his face.

Tony and Steve nod at each other, Steve leaves the room while Tony turns to look at all of us. He twiddles with his hands for a moment before looking back up,

"There's been an unexpected mission that we have to prepare for at once. We leave in the morning and only a select few will be staying. Harley, Loki, Natasha and Bucky. You four will be staying here at the compound while the rest of us get ready."

"What?! I was brought here to do a job and now you're trying to stop me from doing it? I'm going, I don't care."

Steve is back in the room now and says "Harley! You have to stay here this time, this mission is dangerous and I.. I mean we don't want you to get hurt on this one."

"He's right, you know. You can't go on this mission with us." Tony walks up to Steve and lets him know that they have to leave in the morning and to prepare tonight.

Steve looks at me one more time before he leaves me and the rest of us in the room. What am I supposed to do here while they're all gone working on a mission? What if Steve dies? No, I can't think like that. I'll just practice training while they're all gone, it'll take my mind off of everything that's been going on.

I leave the room before anyone can ask anymore questions and walk up the stairs to my bedroom. I make it to the door when I feel someone watching me, I turn to my left to find Steve walking towards me. He looks upset, I don't want to ask questions or talk about the mission so I just open my door and leave it cracked for him to come in. When he walks in I'm in the bathroom changing into my pajamas. I brush my teeth and hair before I walk back out to see him sitting on the foot of my bed.

He looks up and shakes his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that he was going to keep you here, but at least you have people that'll keep you company while the rest of us are gone."

"I don't want to be left here though, if it's a dangerous mission then you guys need me and everyone else. You need my powers to help you.."

"Har, you never told us about what you can do with your powers, so how are we able to put you onto a mission when we know nothing about you?"

"I don't just tell people about my powers because my own powers scare me but they could be of use for this mission. Trust me, Steve."

Steve just looks at me while I stand there, like I just said something in a different language. He stands up, gives me a long hug and leaves the room. I sat down on my bed and looked at my phone, it's late and I knew that I needed to recharge before I trained tomorrow while everyone was gone. I put on some soft music and slowly fall asleep.

He's standing there in his uniform, he's outside, we're outside. I know this because I can smell the cold, crisp air. It smells as if it's about to snow. I hear a loud boom and realize that Steve is gone, I can hear screaming from somewhere but can't find where it's coming from. I hear footsteps coming from behind me, it's Steve again. He looks like he's been fighting, he's in the middle of a mission. There's blood running down his face but he continues to fight. I look around again when I hear another boom and then someone yelling, "TONY!! Watch out!!". That sounded like Thor's voice but I couldn't find them. I see a bright light and then an explosion.....

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