Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Party time

Mid-January, there was a fancy dress party at the Met, a fundraiser to help small businesses that had been negatively impacted by the alien incursion. The powers behind it--Bruce included--thought to make these in the form of very low-interest loans, since we could be pretty much assured that it would happen again. The loans were to be made to the worst-off businesses who had been doing well before and keep them going until customers picked up again. Some would go under, but the hope was that we could rescue more. 

A lot of the heavy-hitter superheroes were attending, in costume, to talk with the guests and keep them focused on the problem. Steve, Superman, Wonder Woman,  some of the more charming and recognizable X-men, and Thor were coming. Tony had been given a choice and had elected to show up as Iron Man. He was still bringing his checkbook, though. There wasn't much difference between him and his alter ego, anyway, just whether or not he was in the suit. Bruce was coming at himself, not that anybody had really expected Batman to show up. The other Avengers were looking forward to the night off.

I'd found a Charles James dress at an auction I'd gone to with Pepper. It had a dark gray velvet bodice with architectural sleeves and buttons up the front and a silver silk satin skirt, held out by the almost-panniers that the designer had used a lot.  With it, I had made a choker,  an extravagance of pearls and diamonds, pink garnets, and amethysts at the center and complimentary amethyst and diamond earrings. The big seller these days in the city in formal dresses were the slip-type that I'd worn to the opening of my store, and this would certainly stand out. Plus it was warmer than a silk slip. Loki loved it and told me how to style my hair and what makeup to wear. Then he found me stylists to take care of it. He was going incognito.

Pepper and I went together, her husband was out of town. She was wearing an Alexander McQueen gown from the latest collection. It was kind of wearing her, but she loved it, and we chatted happily as we were driven to the event at the museum. My skirt required careful handling, so we'd gotten a limosine, and Pepper had a little steamer to ease the wrinkles from sitting. There were a few intrepid photographers outside, but nobody minded as we hurried inside. It was bitter cold and we only had elegant, not so warm stoles. The rest of the press was inside, where reporters asked what we were wearing and  took our pictures. Once inside, we accepted champagne from a waiter and mingled, Pepper introducing me to people I didn't know. I spoke briefly with Loki, who was attracting a group of admirers. We'd been there almost an hour, listening to music from a string quartet and talking, when finally Bruce got up in front of a microphone. He spoke briefly about our purpose this evening, and introduced the honored guests, the superheroes. This was interesting and novel, and there was a lot of genuine applause as the well-known heroes stepped out in costume.  They all spoke briefly, ending with Iron Man and Captain America, who sort of tag-teamed their speech, tugging at heartstrings (Steve) and going for laughs (Tony).  Then Tony waved a check, handing it to Bruce, and urged us to be generous. When other members of the committee approached us, I pulled out a check with a sizeable donation.

"It was clever of Bruce to collect checks tonight," Pepper murmured as she passed over a check of her own.

"Get the money fast, before anybody has the opportunity to cheap out," I said quietly, and we laughed. The heroes were circulating through the crowd, and Steve made his way over to me quickly, giving me a careful kiss to avoid smudging my makeup. I gave him a fast pep talk, and he squared his broad shoulders and plunged into the crowd. All the heroes made a point of coming over to greet me, which was really nice. This time I got to introduce Pepper to the ones she didn't know.  Once they'd made the rounds and the checks were being totalled, they were encouraged to relax and have fun as well. They didn't lack for people to talk to. Tony disappeared briefly and came back in a tuxedo. Bruce  announced that we'd raised over five million dollars tonight, and there was a round of applause. Pepper had turned away to speak with some friends when he came over to me.  He was tacturn and humorless as usual, although his date more than made up for it. I suppressed my laughter as I greeted Selina, beautiful in vintage Valentino and an exquisite strand of Tahitian pearls. She touched my collar gently and complimented my dress. Pepper turned back and was introduced to Selina, then we were joined by Tony and Constance (I tried to keep a pleasant expression on my face.) There was some chatting, then I turned at a hand on my waist. Steve. I seized my opportunities and murmured an excuse before taking his arm and guiding him away. The lobby was deserted, just at present.