We drove over and the city was quite busy. I hadn't ever been out when it was nighttime much so the night life in the city was quite different when I wasn't 40 stories up. The streets were busier with the party crowds and neon lights to excite the bland streets. I however was already being helped out of the car before I could really people watch.
Bucky helped me out of the car and pulled me by hand into the building and we got into the elevator. He wore a constant smile as he looked at me every few seconds. I would catch him staring and based off of his reactions he wasn't even sorry for it.
"You promise not to be mad at me?" He asked as the elevator started to move upwards towards what I was assuming was Tony's loft.
"For what?" I asked as we launched up the dozens of floors in a matter of what seemed like seconds.
"Tony made me promise to not tell you." Bucky said looking to me with his hands in his pocket.
"Tell me what?" I asked as the doors opened.
I looked out to see nearly every SHEILD agent and Avenger I had ever met. I stood frozen as Bucky smiled to me softly. I tensed finding probably a hundred eyes on me. Tony came out and he was dressed up as well as everyone else I was looking at. I struggled to move, feeling like I was stuck in place. Loud cheers and celebration noises went off and I tried to not flinch at the over stimulating sounds.
"What's going on?" I asked pressing my back against the elevator almost frightened by seeing this many people.
"It's a party, for you." Tony said pulling me out of the elevator by my hand.
"Why?" I asked looking around and people started to clap for me. I heard the elevator doors close behind me and I looked back to see Bucky just standing behind me smiling at me.
"This is your welcome back to the Avengers party." Tony said pulling me into a hug.
"Tony you didn't have to do this." I said softly and he just looked down at me.
"You're right I didn't." He said and I saw Pepper walking up. "Go get yourself a drink from the bar and enjoy tonight."
I was mostly confused and freaked out because all of the attention was on me. I felt Bucky place hand on my back and I looked to him. I was taken back and I could tell they both saw that that. People had finally stopped clapping and cheering for me and that ever so slightly helped my nerves.
"Go on, I'll catch up with you later." Tony said and I felt Bucky pull on my arm.
"You alright?" He asked as I followed him say from the main area.
"I just feel overwhelmed." I said keeping my head low not wanting to let anyone know I was nervous.
"Relax, just have a good time tonight. I'll be here." He said wrapping his arm around my waist.
"You better not leave my side, I feel like I'm going to pass out." I said as we neared the bar area.
"I've got you." He squeezing my side.
"What can I get for you?" The bar tender asked and I froze for a moment. I hadn't ever ordered anything or even knew where to start.
"We'll take two whiskey sours." Bucky said smiling to the man.
"I don't even know this many people." I said peering over my shoulder and seeing how many people were here.
"This many people know you." He said brushing my hair behind my ear.
"This is just too much." I said shaking my head looking around.
"It's Tony, what did you expect?" He asked be rubbing my back.
"I don't know this is just so nice." I said looking to Bucky.
"You deserve it." He said pulling me into a kiss.
"There she is!" I heard and I saw Steve and Nat behind me.
Steve extended his arms out to me and brought me into a big hug. I smiled softly as he did and hugged Nat as well. I saw both of them quite dressed up and it was weird to see everyone so fancy. I wasn't too nervous to see them, I mean they were my closest friends within the Avengers.
"You look amazing." Nat said looking at me as Steve greeted Bucky.
"You can hardly talk." I said shaking my head and laughing. "I don't think I've seen anyone here dressed up like this before."
"Well we are celebrating, Tony wouldn't have it any other way. He's been planning this for weeks." She said and Bucky came and handed me the drink he had ordered. "Just wait til Christmas, guy thinks he's Saint Nicolas himself."
"Cheers." Steve said and we all clinked our drinks and I let out a soft laugh.
I had met a lot of people throughout the night. I hadn't ever met Sam Wilson, T'Challa, or Loki really. I had met Loki about 5 years ago, but it wasn't much of a meeting rather a confrontation. That and I don't remember there being many words exchanged, just a lot of bullets and yelling.
I was tense meeting new people because I had a general lack of trust for new people in general, but these all seemed to be trusted people. I had my reservations about Loki, but I tried to not make anything awkward, I had been gone for 5 years and supposed a lot had changed. I got the impression he had a sort of redemption arc so I didn't keep too much of a grudge. If he wasn't trustworthy Thor wouldn't have let him be here so freely.
Sam seemed to be a nice person. He was just a nice guy and Steve seemed to really trust him so I wasn't so hesitant to relax in his presence. Having Bucky at my side definitely helped. I felt a little better since I could be relaxed knowing Bucky was with me, but I knew I was safe here.
T'Challa was also kind but much more reserved than most. He was a sort of king from what I could tell so that made sense. He seemed to come off quite professional and straightforward, but he was at least approachable. Wakanda, where he was from, seemed to be lovely place and Bucky had spoken highly of it many many times.
I ended up relaxing from the initial shock of this party. It was so overly nice and totally sweet, but I just wasn't used to the social part of life yet. I get the impression I was fine and out going before I went missing, but I just hadn't picked up the skill the same way just yet.
Bucky was a big help. I felt much more calm when I was with him and he would do most of the talking when I didn't. I had clung to him quite a bit, but I couldn't help it. He looked amazing tonight and I was just so thankful for him. He had helped me get hear and I was frankly more in love with him than I think I realized. It was just natural to cling to his side, there wasn't many, if any, places I'd rather be.
We were sat down on a small set of chairs around a larger table. Thor and Loki had spoken to us for a long while before they were summoned by Steve. That left Bucky and I alone for just a moment and I reached out and grabbed his chin. I turned his head towards me and I pressed my lips to his and he softly pressed into me.
It was a long moment before he pulled back and I opened by eyes to see his smile. I hadn't seen him this smiley and happy in quite sometime. His hand was placed on my leg and he gave it a gentle squeeze. I had wanted to laugh at myself because seeing the way I was with him probably would have made me cringe years ago. I was never an affectionate romantic type, but with him I don't think I'd could be anymore reserved if I tried.
"I supposed we should go find Tony, I can only imagine how much he's drank tonight." Bucky said giggling with me.
"No more challenging him to drinking, you cheater." I said elbowing him as we stood up. "Let me go use the restroom first."
"Alright I'll be here." He said and I went off to the restroom.
It was down a side hall and I quickly rushed to the bathroom so I could get back out to the party. I did my business and washed my hands thoroughly before I went back out. I checked my hair and make up and other than my worn off lipstick from all the drinks I had drank I looked fine. I opened the door and collided with someone I didn't immediately recognize.
"I'm so sorry." I said quickly as I looked up to the man. He apologized as I did quickly as he stumbled over his words.
He had dark hair and a very strong face structure. I didn't recognize his face immediately, but his voice sounded so familiar. His hand had caught my arm quite firmly, but I didn't immediately think much of it. He was just trying to not knock me over. Granted it would have taken a lot more to make me fall, but I'm sure he didn't know who I was immediately as we collided.
"Sorry, I think I've had one too many tonight." He said laughing awkwardly. "Congratulations Val by the way!"
"I'm sorry have we met before?" I asked him because no one called me Val that I wasn't close with.
"I'm one of Tony's lab assistant." He said smiling largely. "The one who had to read off the words to you everyday."
"Oh wow, I don't think I've ever put a face to the voice. Uhm, nice to meet you." I said laughing at how awkward of a meeting this was. I shook his hand and I saw a weird expression on his face for half a second. "I'll let you get to it, have a nice night."
I backed up and his hands left my arm. I felt awkward, but some people just had weird social cues, not to mention I was probably one of those people. I went to go open the door leading to the hallway I was in before. I heard the sound of glass breaking an commotion going on at the party and I immediately went to go investigate, but my arm was yanked back and I felt the barrel of a gun on my back.
I froze for a moment realizing clearly something bad was happening. I needed to think quickly because clearly this was serious. I was shoved against a wall and the wind was knocked out of me. The gun was cold against my back and I didn't need to find out if it was loaded.
"Don't move." He said coldly and I exhaled.
I could feel him shaking as he held me down so clearly he was nervous. Confidence didn't really mean much when he had a gun to my back, but I needed to get it out of his hands. My friends were all out there and I couldn't just be back here not helping.
"Longing." He said and I couldn't say I was surprised.
"That won't work." I said through my teeth.
"Rusted, seventeen, daybreak." He said cold and he only pressed the gun harder against me. I could feel my chest getting heavier, but I refused to show it.
"You won't get anything from me." I said angrily.
"Furnace, nine, benign." He said and I knew I needed to get out of here.
I jerked myself around and I felt a burning sensation in my shoulder and I knew the gun had gone off. I grabbed the gun before he could react and I aimed it at him and kicked him in the chest. He went flying back and I shot him four times in the chest. I backed up for a second honestly taken back.
I hadn't done something like that in so long it took my by surprise. However, the loud noises outside in the main area took me by surprise and brought me back to reality. I booked it for the main area thankful I could run in heels. I ran out holding my gun down having no idea how many bullets were left. I knew I had one in my shoulder and a few in the mans chest. A gun like this typically had a magazine of about 12-16 rounds so I had probably a dozen or so left.
I could feel my arm on fire; but I came out to utter chaos. The glass from every table had been smashed all over the room. However, things looked to be finished. I saw about 4 or 5 bodies laid out on the floor and everyone was breathing heavily. Everyone was slowly coming up from behind chairs and podiums.
Peter was at my side before anyone else and I felt his hand on my good shoulder. I looked up at him and he looked scared shitless, but I had been more so worried. His hair was messed up and tossed around wildly. I had seen him earlier in the night, but I frankly thought he had gone home.
"You don't look so good." He said looking at my quite heavily bleeding arm.
"I'm fine, where's Tony and Bucky?" I asked in a strained voice.
"I'm right here." Tony said panting heavily as he came to my side.
He came out from behind the bar along with Pepper who looked scared. I look around the room and saw Steve and Sam looking intact as well as Nat and Banner brushing themselves off. I looked and saw Bucky walking around the corner from the other side of the venue. I relaxed instantly, but I saw Bucky start to rush towards me. They both saw my arm and I could see they were immediately worried.
"What happened?" Tony asked grabbing my bad arm I let out a cry of pain before he let go and I stepped back.
"The lab assistant, I think he was working for HYDRA." I said out loud, but I knew I sounded strained. "He tried to wake me up."
"What happened to your arm?" He asked me now realizing I was draining blood much faster than it should, rather at all.
"I got shot but I'm fine, we need to make sure there's no more." I said trying to avoid grunting in pain.
"You were shot Val we need to get you looked at." Bucky said angrily not wanting me to just leave it for a minute.
"I'm fine Bucky, are all of them gone?" I asked.
"Yeah, we got all of them." Nat said looking very pissed off.
"No, one booked it out the window." Peter said looking nervous to even speak up.
"What were they after?" Steve asked still covered in glass shards.
"I don't know they didn't really seemed focused on anything." Nat said shaking her head.
"No other levels had been breached just this one." Vision said calmly.
"They were after me." I said exhaling now not even being able to stand up right, I was relying on Peter to hold me up. "The man tried waking me up, I fought it off and shot him before he could finish."
"I thought you were in the bathroom?" Bucky asked me nearly holding me up by this point.
"I was, he followed me." I said sighing. "What went on out here was probably just a distraction for him to try and sedate me while I was alone, it was the first and only time tonight I have been alone."
"You just fought off the words this morning, why would he try again if they don't work?" Fury asked and I huffed.
"I'm not a perfect person. He got me in a stressful situation, not in a lab where I was expecting to hear those words. Maybe he was hoping to catch me off guard." I said feeling myself getting cold. "I shot him before he could even finish."
"But why is the question." Tony said rubbing his forehead.
"Indeed." Steve said with his hands on his hips.
"Listen enough talk, we need to clear the building and get her to the medical station. Peter and Bucky you take her and make sure nothing else funny goes on. Helen you go with them and get that bullet out of her shoulder and no one else is allowed in that room. Lock yourselves in." Tony said pointing to his head nurse who was also at this event. "Stay put until I lift the lock down."
She nodded and gestured for us to follow her and Bucky slowly helped me along. My legs were untouched, but the loss of blood made it hard to stay awake and exert any effort. We made it to the elevators and she pressed a few buttons and the elevator took a retinal scan before moving.
"She's bleeding a lot, do you have anything to keep pressure on that or at least to cut off circulation?" Helen asked looking to Bucky nervously.
He came off quite stolid and cold to most people. Often times others wouldn't speak to him because he came off so unapproachable. I could see she was uncomfortable talking to him especially asking him for help.
"No I don't, I'm not wearing a belt." He said shaking his head.
"Uh, I have an idea." Peter said awkwardly and he held his hand up and a web shot from his wrist and immediately I let out a cry. "Oh I'm sorry is it too tight? I didn't mean- I just wanted to help- I can try again-"
"Just a warning next time Peter." I said gritting my teeth through the pain.