TALES FROM FALLEN WARRIORS ─ marvel

I. The Serum Dealer

Chapter One
Steve

"You got eyes on him?" I ask my earpiece, scanning the crowd of sweaty people in flashy outfits dancing to Sam Smith's cover of 'I Feel Love'.

"Nothing on the second floor," Lee replies. "He must be down there. You don't sense anything?"

"Not with all of the sweat, alcohol, and cologne. It's like a shapeshifter's worst nightmare in here." I complain, getting a particular whiff of Axe body spray as I pass by someone grinding up against their dance partner. The smell makes me choke down a gag. I hate that stuff.

"I'm sorry, babe. But the sooner we find this guy the sooner we can leave and you can breathe happily again."

"Maybe our informant was wrong. Or maybe we got the wrong club..." I trail off, once again scanning the floor.

Lee and I have been trying to track down a man named Simon Rowell, a serum dealer. He's one of many that we've had the misfortune of coming across the past few years. Serums pay a lot of money to those with wealth and a lust for power, so people like Rowell steal formulas and serums and sell them. This obviously isn't good, so we've been sent to this club to find him, where he apparently does his business dealings. Our informant is one of Rowell's workers, he gave us the tip in exchange for protection for himself and his family. We agreed, so here we are.

But maybe it was a trap...

Just as I start to consider this as a possibility, I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of Rowell. I turn towards the spot I saw him, finding him heading towards a booth in the back of the room, two handsome, sweaty, clearly drunk men by his side, laughing at something Rowell said. He looks just like he does in the pictures I've seen. Tall, white, permed brown hair that falls to his shoulders, a neatly trimmed goatee, and he's wearing a navy blue suit that screams wealth and power, just like this club.

My gaze falls onto the men by Rowell's side. It's good that he likes to have fun while he does business. It means his guard will be down. Easier for us to catch him.

"Babe, I got eyes on Rowell. Get down here."

"On my way. Don't start having fun without me."

I give a dramatic gasp. "I would never."

Lee makes it to me a minute or two later. His shoulder length hair is styled in a half up-half down bun, he's wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt that's rolled up at the sleeves, and he's wearing shiny new dress shoes. I'm wearing something similar, except my shirt isn't a dress shirt, it's a black polo shirt. In order to get into this club we needed to dress nice, it's part of the dress code. And while Avengers don't have to abide by dress codes, we needed to blend in in order to get to Rowell without causing suspicion. That's why our suits aren't activated and my shield isn't at my arm and is instead waiting back on our ship.

My fiancé, man do I love calling him that, grins at me as he eyes the booth Rowell is at. "You ready to go say hello?"

I grin back. I love how excited he looks, how he excited he always looks on mission. I love that he enjoys this job as much as I do, that he's as much of an adrenaline junkie as I am at this point. "I think it would be rude not to."

Together we approach Rowell's booth, and when the serum dealer's eyes fall onto us, he grins, eyeing us up and down. "You fellas looking to buy...or are you here for some fun?"

Eww. This guy is not only a criminal, but he's old enough to be our father. I don't hide my disgust. "Neither. We're here to arrest you, and to kick your ass if you don't cooperate."