Name: Guardian of the Night

Author: Lady Valmar

Fanfiction: Avengers

Genre: Angst. Drama. Action!

Rating: Mature

Pairings: While there is light pairing between Captain America and the villain, this is a mostly Gen fanfiction.

Summary: While the Avengers are still on off time, Tony Stark takes Steve Rogers to a modern day club. They meet a strange woman who turns out to be more than she seems. They stumble upon a war that has been going on for centuries and end up involving the entire team. Will they save the world in time? And how can they trust that this woman is on the good guys side?

Warnings: I don't own the DC Universe or the Avengers. I am happy to say Joss Whedon did an amazing job on the Avengers film and I'm more than glad to give credit to Stan Lee and all the people it took to make our super heroes possible! I just own this story idea and the original characters. So please don't take my ideas, characters, plots or designs. While I welcome advice, please do not bash me for my portrayals. If you see something that might be off let me know.

... .LV. ...

Guardian of the Night

By Lady Valmar

.A.

Acid Nation (Club)

"Come on," Tony Stark said, waving his hand with a smirk at Steve. "You gotta live a little. You were what stuck in ice for like 60-70 years? You have no idea how much you have missed. Besides Pepper will kill me if I don't start acting like a "team player"."

Captain America was dressed awkwardly in a black suit. He frowned at Tony as they made their way through the front of the line. "I don't know about this. Team player...more like team's comedy relief!"

Tony ignored the comment and waved his id at the guard before smiling. "Tony Stark," He said before they let him in.

Captain America stood at the door looking past the guard. He wasn't sure he wanted to really get out there. He'd been good at the whole save the world thing and do his duty but he'd had a life once and it was gone now. He wasn't ready to go out there and "get em" as Tony kept saying.

Suddenly Tony reappeared and grabbed his shoulder. "Come on, what are you acting shy suddenly?"

Captain America grimaced as he followed Tony inside. "No," He said defiantly. "I just am not sure I'm ready for..." His voice trailed off and as he saw the disco ball and flashing lights. He wasn't sure what that music was, he was hearing but it had a decent beat.

"We sure didn't have music like this back in my day."

"I know. You'll get use to it come on. Let me buy you a drink. We're off duty remember?" Tony said cheekily before guiding them over to the bar.

Steve blinked as his eyes adjusted to the darkened room with flashing colored lights, loud music and many people dancing, eating and drinking. "This is what you do? When your not working on your electricity and stuff?"

Tony smirked as he waved a 100 dollar bill at the bartender. "Two scotches please on the rocks and keep them coming."

"I can't get drunk remember Tony."

"I know. Well you see Steve...Its come to my attention that the reason why you guys don't really enjoy my company is because you haven't seen me in my element."

Steve rolled his eyes slightly. "I've seen you in your element. You saved Earth by tossing that nuke into that portal. You did good but this isn't..." He opened his hands wide towards the dancing and room, when he couldn't think of what to say he just dropped his hands and sighed. "I don't know why I bother."

"Like I said you will get use to it. Now come on let's mingle," Tony said, smirking as he shoved a glass of the scotch into Steve's hand. "Just enjoy the taste if nothing else."

What Tony didn't say was that the nuke had challenged his thinking. He'd always been about taking care of himself. His father hadn't really been apart of his life because he'd been deeply devoted to his job and work. Tony didn't want to become that distant man he'd felt his father had become towards the end. Tony had stopped his company's production of weaponry but it wasn't so much about him, it was about his company's reputation. He did care about people but only so much as it benefited him.

After the nuke...he started thinking about his relationship with Pepper and his dad. He also started thinking about how he'd be working with these strange freaks probably again. So being crude and not getting to know them wouldn't work. He didn't have to be a team player...but just knowing the people he was working with would help him...and make him feel less like he wasn't informed.

Paperwork only did so much. The team work so far had could have gone better but it didn't explain what motivated them to continue to work with him. So he thought by knowing them perhaps he could work on that empathy thing Pepper had been talking to him about. Honestly he found some of Pepper's concepts confusing but he figured everything had a purpose so he was open to trying to somewhat get along. Surely knowing his team members a little better would help with the whole team thing.

Tony smiled as he approached an old friend he'd met while at one of the many parties he'd been to. "Jack, whats up my man?"

The two of them slapped hands before Jack chuckled. "So the great man returns. The innovator of the century! What brings you to Acid Nation?"

"Oh I'm just showing my friend what the night life is like out here. So how you been doing?"

Steve eyed Jack before he nodded when he was noticed by the man. Jack was a slightly more portly fellow in a brown suit. He had a goatee and silver frames with free floating lenses. In his hand was a glass of something close to what he thought was Scotch and the man had red cheeks as he'd obviously been drinking for a bit.

Steve listened as they chatted but he felt so out of place. This wasn't what he thought his whole life would lead towards. When he'd taken that serum he hadn't known what to expect but he'd hoped it would change his life for the better. After losing Bucky he'd been so depressed and being able to fight back against Hydra had given him purpose.

Now he just felt out of place. The recent realization and the aftermath of being told he'd traveled basically 70 years into the future had given him a major shock. Yea he had had time to adjust to the situation before he'd been thrust into this whole Avengers thing but he still wasn't sure where his life was going.

He sighed before taking a taste of the Scotch. It really was a shame he couldn't get drunk, he thought, because he'd be drinking up a storm now if he could. He gulped another drink before he let his eyes wander. Maybe Tony was right, somehow, he had to learn to adapt to this new world and time. His eyes traversed the dancers before he found his eyes landing on something shining under the lights. He realized it was a refraction of a jewelry, a necklace.

He finally realized after staring at it and wondering why he was looking at it in the first place, that it was a woman he was staring at. She was in the far back corner, dancing on her own. She didn't appear to be fazed by the sights or sounds in this...club.

Her whole body was twisting and turning up and down. The dancing reminded him more of something a primitive tribesman would do. That's when he felt someone elbow him in his ribcage, he jumped until he realized it was Tony.

"You should go talk to her," Tony said, gulping some more of his scotch. His friend was currently engaged in a conversation with the woman who'd just walked up.

Steve looked over at Tony. "And say what...I don't even know what a 21st century woman wants."

Tony looked confused. "Are you kidding me? Women like charm, they like class and they like confidence. I don't see any problem with you talking to her like you would a woman in your era, old man. So go!" He gave Steve a little shove as he turned back to Jack, who was watching Steve.

"Sorry about that. My friend is just a little shy," Tony said with a laugh after he'd motioned with his fingers shy in quotations mark.

"Oh god Tony, its so good to see you. So enough about stock market fluctuations. So how's the company been?"

"Good! You know we had that minor set back but we're doing better."

"I know I heard. I still can't believe that was you I was seeing on the news. Not that you haven't been on the news before but that was just..."

"Epic?" Tony said smirking. "I know I was pretty impressed myself.

.A.

Steve walked over slowly moving through the crowd until he was near the woman. She had long wavy brown hair and a tight black dress on. Her shoes were black and she had on a diamond like necklace with earrings to match.

As the song switched to something different, she left the dance floor going towards the bar. He followed at a distance before he finally found his opening. She had stopped to sit at a bar stool in the corner.

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" He said, feeling rather light headed as the music hit a particularly loud pounding note.

She turned and blinked her dark brown eyes at him. "Uh yes?"

"I couldn't help noticing you were dancing alone?" He fell forward slightly before he righted himself. Someone had bumped him.

She looked down, "Yes, I come here to dance not usually pick up dance partners. I was having a bad night you see and I thought some dancing in a familiar club would help."

Steve saw the bar stool next to her suddenly become available. He hesitated a moment before he slipped in. "Bad night?"

The bartender approached and asked what kind of drink she wanted. She replied. "Whatever your good Tequila is. Straight. No ice. "

"Sir anything for you? A refill?"

Steve looked down at the Scotch he wasn't drinking anymore. "No thanks." It wasn't like he could get drunk anyways. What was the point?

The woman leaned on her hand. "So what's your name?"

He sat the glass on the bar. "Steve Rogers. And what is your name?"

"Orla Peters," She said before offering her hand.

He shook it and grabbed his drink back up to take a small sip. Guess it was better than the awkward feeling in his stomach right now. "So you didn't answer my question."

Her eyebrow quirked. "Oh...well the bad night has to do with nightmares. Those are more to do with too much horror films than anything to be really concerned about. So what do you do Mr. Rogers?"

He coughed. "Well I..." How the hell was he going to answer her? He didn't even know what to say. "I work for the military."

She smiled as she took another gulp of her tequila that just been sat down in front of her. "I suspected by your mannerism. I'm an curator of an art gallery. Its owned by my associates and I just basically maintain it."

"So like paintings?" He asked.

"Well mostly paintings. Its nothing that has any real age to it. We have mostly modern art pieces. A few ceramics. We sell some of it and others have just been hanging on the shelf for awhile."

"Sounds interesting."

"It sometimes is but mostly I find myself wandering the art gallery while waiting for potential customers. In fact I'm not surprised if we don't close soon due to the lack of income."

"Well maybe I could visit it sometime."

Orla smiled as she swallowed what was left of her tequila. "I'd like that."

They sat for a moment quietly watching the club goers and the dance floor. Finally Steve turned to her. "Would you like to dance? I mean I'm not really a dance partner but I figure dancing is better than sitting here with the man puking nearby."

Orla snorted and looked over at the man nearby. "Certainly. Please."

They made their way to the dance floor. He'd lost track of Tony but than he figured the man could take care of himself. Besides he was mingling right?

They got to the dance floor and she began to move as he stood there awkwardly unsure of what to do.

"Just relax. Pretend no one is watching." Orla whispered in his ear.

He nodded. "I don't usually dance to this type of music. I'm more...old-fashioned. Well actually I don't usually dance at all."

"Its okay just move to the beat. The point is to relax and have fun," Orla said.

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Alright. He had been doing some practicing when he'd been a wartime advertisement. He hadn't lied to Peggy that day. The memory of her made him wince internally. He just hadn't practiced with a woman, it had been a broomstick.

Suddenly Orla found herself being twirled as he did some moves that reminded her of swing. It was rough and a little sloppy but it made her laugh as she tripped. "You sir, know how to dance. Too bad I'm no good at swing."

He smiled and she moved close as the club finally had a slow song come on. She put her arms on his shoulders and he after a moment rested his hands on her hips nervously as he danced with her. "Its getting late. Isn't that your friend?" Orla looked over at the bar and nodded her in head in Stark's direction.

Steve was confused friend, helooked over in the direction she was nodding towards. "Oh!" He promptly frowned as he saw Stark waving at him.

"Wait is that..." Orla blinked. "Tony Stark!"

Steve sighed in frustration. "Yes that is Tony Stark."

Orla snorted. "What are you doing with an asshole like him?"

His confused expression made her laugh again. Unsure of how to even begin to explain why he was at the club with Tony Stark, he just laughed and looked around before he said, "Well you see..."

He didn't get to finish as Tony approached a serious expression on his face. "We've got some paperwork to file so its time to go." Tony spelled out an A with his finger in the air.

Steve frowned. "Orla...this is Tony. Tony this is Orla."

She smirked. "Yes I've heard many interesting things about you...Ironman."

.A.

Tony was taken aback for a moment before he grinned. "I'm not surprised. I did go public after all."

Orla grinned back. "Well you should take Captain America to somewhere a little more Old-Fashioned next time you get a bright idea to bring him to one of these clubs."

Tony coughed. "So how do you know so much?"

Steve blinked at her. "You knew this whole time?"

Orla shrugged. "You approached me. Besides if you meet a movie star do you think they want to be reminded every second of their status?"

He bobbed his head from side to side. "Okay...how do you know who I am?"

Orla grinned. "I read the newspaper. Just because I recognize who you are doesn't mean I know much else. I just thought I'd socialize and besides you approached me originally remember."

Tony made a face. "Well we gotta go. You know those reports. Well it was nice to meet you...Orla."

She turned to Steve. "Steve ah if you ever just want to meet up for coffee...I'd like that."

He smiled slightly. "It would be a pleasure."

.A.

Orla retreated to the restroom and closed herself in one of the stalls. Her tight black dress felt suddenly suffocating as she gasped.

You call that heroes? More like fools!

Orla coughed and thought. 'I'm not like you. Just a fractured piece of a dark being. Its a shame you know...that your stuck like this. If I could cut you out of me I would.'

Aw but then you'd miss me...Lilith'ria. Or have you forgotten what I did for you when you wanted to escape your captors on Telelimius 4?

'I know exactly what you did. But now I'm free and I don't need your input!'

Ah such a young thing. Hasty too. Do you really think he will give up looking for the only known weapon of his desire? Your the first to bind with me. Consider this a warning child.

Orla crossed her arms, frowning and thought, 'That's what I'm afraid of.'

Feeding time for you, yes?

'Yes...'

Maybe next time convince that hot Captain to accompany you back home.

"Shut up," Orla said before slamming open the restroom stall door.

A woman washing her hands suddenly turned, gasped and pressed her back into the sink hard.

"Sorry... Telemarketor." Orla stuck her hand in her purse, rummaging to make it seem like she'd just put it away.

The lady snorted. "You scared me."

Orla blinked. "Not as scared as you will be." Orla said before she rushed the woman and sunk her 4inch fangs into the woman's neck. As the paralyzing agent flooded the wound, which also would wipe the memory of this attack from her victim's mind, Orla drank deeply.

You are so vicious my dear. Try not to kill this human this time. We don't need the authorities on our tale.

'I didn't kill the last one. She will be fine...and she won't remember a thing.'

But killing is so much fun.

'You contradicted yourself. You...ectoplasmic pile of goo!'

Tisk tisk. Such violent words. You hurt me.

'I don't care.'

Orla dropped the woman to the restroom floor. "There there...she's alive and safe."

.A.