Devils Don't Fly

“So we really do have a time machine, don’t we?” I ask a couple days later as I walk into SHIELD, prepared for my mission. Fury doesn’t say anything and Hill just rolls her eyes. “But seriously if we had this technology for awhile, why couldn’t we have put it to good use?”

“Like what?” Hill asks.

A just shrug, “I don’t know. Maybe we could have gone back in time and saved JFK or Martin Luther King Jr or something.”

“That would have messed up the timeline and you know it.” Fury informs me, “you’re well aware of the Butterfly Effect; seeing as though you study it.”

“And saving those people might have actually helped this country.” I counter, “but we’ll never know will we? We could be living in a better world if they survived. But no, SHIELD doesn’t want to mess with a timeline and change history. But they’re perfectly fine with sending an agent back in time to watch over Howard fucking Stark just to keep Iron Man alive.”

“You were the one that suggested the idea.” Fury points out, earning an eye roll from me. “You’re going back on your plan?”

“I may have thought of the idea but you were the ones already sending people back in time to watch over Tony, need I remind you?”

“Speaking of Stark, does he know of this mission?” Hill asks.

“What is he, my keeper?” I snap. “Just because I have a very volatile relationship with him doesn’t mean he has to know all my plans.”

“So it’s safe to say he doesn’t know.”

“We’re dealing with a time machine, Hill, I’ll be gone and back before he realizes I even left.”

**

“Don’t I look like such a dame?” I sarcastically mutter as I look at myself in the mirror.

“You’ve got to look the part, Marx.” Hill says as she walks in the room. I just glare at her in the mirror, a smirk appearing on her lips. “Captain Rogers helped us pick stuff out.”

“So my look is put together by Captain America?’ I chuckle humorlessly, “couldn’t put him to use other than being my costume designer?”

“You have to fit in or the whole mission will be a bust.” She informs me, sternly.

“So what’s my story?” I ask, “how am I going to get close enough to Stark without throwing off red flags? The man’s not stupid; he’s a fucking genius.”

“We have everything worked out, Marx,” Hill informs me, “all you have to do is sit back and watch from a distance. You might not even have to socialize with him.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” A smirk tugs on my lips.

“I figured having one Stark in your life would be enough,” Fury states as he comes into the room.

“How nice of you.” I roll my eyes, backing away from the mirror. “How am I suppose to just sit back and watch? He’s going to notice a girl following him.”

“You’re going to be his assistant, so Hill was wrong. You’re going to have to socialize with him, but not much,” Fury explains.” We’re also shipping you back to the 40’s; a year after Captain Rogers’s accident.”

“And right around the time when SHIELD was in the starting process,” I add.

“Exactly. Any more questions?”

“When do we start?” I smirk.

**

I find myself in an upscale bar in the middle of 1940’s New York. I scan the room, looking at all the businessmen sipping on their scotch and talking to the pretty young waitress that’s shamelessly flirting with them. None of them are the businessman I want but it doesn’t take me long to spot Howard Stark.

A smirk tugs on my lips as I walk over to the bar, gracefully slipping onto the barstool next to him. He pays no attention to me as he downs the rest of his bourbon before ordering another. By the looks of it, I can tell this wasn’t his first.

“You know, Mister Stark, a man only gets this drunk when he wants to kiss a girl or kill a man,” I inform him, gaining his attention, “so which is it?”

He doesn’t say anything, only giving me a lopsided smile as the bartender puts his drink down in front of him. A frown appears on my lips, remembering the stories Tony told me of his childhood. “Drinking isn’t going to bring him back you know?” I ask, “it’ll only numb the pain.”

“Who do you think you are?” He slurs, glaring at me with whiskey colored eyes.

“I’m your new assistant, Mister Stark.” I reply, “I’m Marie and I’m here to make sure you get home in one piece, got that?” He just scoffs before downing another glass of alcohol; ordering another to take its place. “I advise you to stop the drinking, nothing good will come out of hangover the next morning.”

“You’re my assistant, doesn’t mean I have to listen to a word you say.” He mutters, earning an eye roll from me.

“Nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm, they say,” I scoff before slipping off my barstool earning a look from Howard. “I highly suggest you come with me willingly Mister Stark; or things will get ugly and fast. See, I’m not your average girl or assistant..”

He sighs in defeat, no energy to argue with me. As he slips out of stool, he looks his foot which sends him towards me; falling on top of me as my back hits hard against the ground.

In that moment, our eyes meet. And in that moment, I knew I was done for...