Heartless

Chapter 82

"Monica," I faintly heard someone say. "Monica, come on, open the door."

My eyes were still closed and I was barely conscious. I wasn't able to speak or even move.

"FRIDAY, open the door," the person said.

"Is it an emergency?" The AI asked.

"The cameras are all off. We don't know what's going on. Tony!"

"FRIDAY, open the door," I heard Tony say. I heard the door open and a few people rush in.

"Monica?" Someone kneeled down next to me and put their cold fingers against my neck. "She's alive, just asleep."

"Then why didn't she wake up?"

"I don't know, maybe she had another information overload?"

"She didn't pack at all. She must've been out for a few hours." I felt cold water rush over my skin and I jolted awake.

"What the fuck?" I said, my teeth chattering. I saw Bucky sitting next to me, Tony with an empty bucket, and Kate and Steve going through my closet and packing for me. Tony threw a towel at my face.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Overload," I shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Steve asked me.

"Look, Grandpa, I'm fine. I'm not a three year old."

"Grandpa?"

"Deal with it."

- - -

We were on the plane, headed to a business convention in Tulsa. Kate and I were already looking to see if the convention would be offering free wifi.

"Alright, people, remember, we're looking for Mark Warren," Steve said. "He's kind to strangers, so we need to play on that. He feels the need to help people all the time. We need to get information out of him. Monica, of course, can just look him in the eyes and get what we need, but we need to make him feel like he's giving the information up. So, Kate, you and Mon are on Good Cop/Bad Cop duty." Kate and I smiled at each other. "Tony, Vision, you two are on guard duty. Peter, Pietro, if he DOES escape, you are in charge of catching him. Buck, Clint, you'll be hidden in the rafters. If he gets hostile, snipe him." Clint and Bucky high-fived. "Nat and I will be on the floor. Banner, Thor, and Rhodey are in the jet waiting for us. Sam is on the roof in case we need an emergency extraction."

"Alright. Let's go," I said to Kate, pulling her towards the convention. "Let's look for free stuff."

We wandered around for a while, hopping from stand to stand. We found a stand offering free t-shirts so we each got one.

"Got Business?" Kate groaned, reading the shirt. "Ugh, cringe."

"Found him," Nat said over the comms. "We're moving in."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Your ten o'clock," Steve said. Kate and I turned around and saw the grey-haired man we were looking for. We looked at each other and nodded. Nat and Steve were already walking towards him, so we moved in as well.

"Hello, there, Darlin'" I said to him when he noticed me. "My friends and I seem to be a bit lost. Our car ran out of gas because someone," I shot a glare at Steve, "wouldn't stop for gas. Do you know of any place that might help our situation?"

"Oh, I can help," Warren said. "I have a spare gas can in my truck." I smiled to my teammates as we followed the man outside. Steve pulled the cuffs out of his pockets and quickly slapped them on Warren. "what the-"

"Mark Warren, you have been taken into custody by the Avengers. Ka- Erm, Hyper Shadow, get the bag," Steve said.

"Sure, Captain." Katherine grabbed the potato sack and threw it over the man's head. "Now what?"

- - -

We got Warren into a spare conference room and Nat tied him to the chair. Katherine ripped the bag off his head. Steve nodded to Nat and the two left the room.

"Well, Mr. Warren, we can make this easy, or we can do it the fun way," Katherine said, cracking her knuckles. "Please let me do it the fun way."

I was sitting in a chair, looking at the man. He had his jaw clenched and he was glaring at Kate. I looked at his eyes and breathed slowly as the information we needed flooded my brain.

"Where is the warehouse?" Kate asked, slamming her hands on the table.

"I'd never tell you." He spit at Katherine's feet.

"Ugh." She sidestepped away. "Tell me!" She pulled a knife from her belt. "Or I use this."

"Whoa! Okay, okay!" I said, pulling Kate back, silently hoping he wouldn't call her bluff. "Why don't you go get a drink, cool off a bit?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Yeah, okay." She winked at me as she replaced her knife and walked out the door.

"What is this, a good cop/ bad cop ploy?" Warren questioned. I got two glasses and poured the whiskey Steve provided into them. I slid one across the table to him after sticking a coffee stir in it. He eyed it with suspicion.

"It's not poisoned," I said in a honeyed voice, taking a swig of mine. "Unless you don't drink alcohol at all?" He sighed and sipped his drink out of the tiny straw. "Now, I know Shadow can be a bit... harsh."

Warren laughed dryly. "You can say that again. She's a bit unhinged."

"Aren't we all, Mark?"

"Yeah, but she seemed clinically insane."

I bit back a retort. "More whiskey?" I asked, refilling his glass.

"Thank you?" He said, sipping his drink. "I'm still not telling you anything."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Mm-hmm." He drained his glass. "You're just trying to soften me up so that when the bad cop," he said with finger quotes, "comes back, I'll spill."

I laughed. "You couldn't be further from the truth, Bud."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because I'm the bad cop," I said, and, in one fluid motion, had my knives out and held up to his throat, digging in slightly. He gasped for air. "One, apologize for insulting my best friend. Two, thank you. We have all the information we need." I pulled back and smiled at the crimson trail I left. "Goodbye, Mr. Warren," I said as Clint fired a tranquilizer dart at him from the rafters.