Summary: When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC
Warnings: Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)
Started: 6/6/12
Challenge: If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!
"Normal speech"
"Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"
Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words.
Chapter One
'Like The Sun We Will Live To Rise'
*A forest somewhere in Canada*
The forest was quiet. No, it was completely silent. No wind blew, no leaves rustled. Not even the birds dared make a sound. They knew a dangerous predator was in their midst. Something new. Something alien.
The man in question stumbled through the forest, although he wasn't really and truly a man. He appeared human enough, if a little tall. He stood at a good six foot, and he was lean and willowy. It was clear he had not eaten in quite a while, as every one of his ribs was visible. His skin was tan and littered with shiny silver scars. This showed off by the fact he was wearing nothing but a torn pair of shorts. His hair was long; it reached all the way down to the middle of his thighs, and had been tied loosely in a ponytail with a blue shred of fabric about halfway down his back. The majority of the hair was a pale shade of black, but from his waist downwards it was dyed a blood red.
He was dusty and travel worn, and his ruby red eyes had a haunted appearance to them. The forest around him seemed to hold its breath as the man trekked through it, wary of the great power he held, locked away beneath the surface.
For this was the great Lakshmi, master of illusion, shape shifter, and genius. He was known for his cold indifference, and great skill with the mind. He could bring people back from the farthest brink of insanity, or toss them so far into its waters they would never be the same again. He created his illusions with his mind and ensnared all five of your senses to make you believe they were real. His illusions were the stuff of demons nightmares, or the most kindly angel's dreams.
But now he was injured, and even if he would never admit it, scared. He had been tossed from his home world as it was torn apart by war. He was a Kaame. Or now, more aptly, the Kaame. The last of his kind.
He had fallen through space. So far, so cold. The he had crashed, burning… burning. He had landed on a far off planet called earth. He had been travelling alone for thousands of years, and now it seemed he had reached the end of the line. His only option was to hang around on earth for a couple of millennia until the native species created deep space travel he could use. If there was no higher life form species on this planet he was well and truly fucked.
That was his predicament now. He was lost on an unknown world with no home to return to.
What was he to do now?
He could try and leave this planet, but where would he leave to? His ship had been ripped apart as it entered atmosphere, so even if he wanted to leave he couldn't. But even if he could his planet was lost, and he was tired of being nomadic. He wanted to live his life a little, instead of spending it trying to get away from the planet he landed on.
His musings were interrupted as there was a rustle in front of him, and a young wolf cub tumbled out of the bracken. It sneezed in a rather cute way and bumbled to its feet, shaking bracken fronds off its fur. It yipped angrily at the bush, clearly scolding it in its own puppy type way for tripping it, then turned and froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
The Kaame looked at the wolf, and the wolf looked at the Kaame. Neither had seen anything like each other before. They were both gripped by curiosity, and clearly hunger.
The young cub was just as skinny as the man. He had bright green eyes and jet-black fur. A loner, as he held no scent of a mother's milk. Abandoned. Lakshmi felt a twinge of pity for the creature. He knew the feeling of being abandoned by your family early on. Strange the first creature he met on this new planet was one he could relate to.
"What are you, little one?" the man asked, kneeling down to pick up the young cub. The wolf showed no fear. He was clearly too young to know a threat when he saw one. He smiled his wolfy smile and licked the man's hands in greeting. Lakshmi blinked, and licked the top of the wolf's head it what he hoped was the correct form of greeting. Evidently it was, as the puppy gave a happy yip and wagged its tail.
"Greetings Strange One. I am wolf. You are not," the cub said simply. The Kaame was amused at the young cubs black and white view on the world, much like the children of his own species before they learnt of the different shades of grey between the two extremes. His voice held no quiver of fear, even as the Kaame stood up to full height with the cub still held at arm's length in his hands. It continued to wag its tail as it hug limply in the man's arms, trusting him completely as he stared at him with bright eyes. Lakshmi felt his heart warm to the brave little thing momentarily before his shook his head and hardened his heart lest he grow attached to the ball of fluff.
"I am a Kaame, little one. I am not of this world," the puppy cocked his head. Curiosity lit the emerald eyes. It had clearly not expected him to understand, let alone reply to him. He wondered briefly why. Did he look similar to a native species here that led to some sort of automatic assumption?
"Name is Anubis," the puppy barked. The Kaame considered him. He had the broken language of one still young, but he was interesting. He had tiny claws and teeth, so he must be a hunter of sorts, but why was the young thing alone?
"I am Lakshmi. Where is your mother, little one?" the wolf's eyes filled with sadness. These creatures were clearly pack animals. Not unlike the Kaame. This cub clearly feared solitude, seeking comfort in the arms of a Kaame showed this.
"No family. I stay with you?" again, Lakshmi was surprised at the cub's boldness. He showed no fear as he watched the man's face contort in confusion. Lakshmi couldn't understand why anything would willingly want to be near him. He had been labelled as a freak from an early age, but clearly this little cub couldn't care less as he gazed up at him hopefully.
"No," the man said finally, placing the cub on the ground once more. The puppy looked up at him with wide eyes. The cold-hearted Kaame felt his heart warm slightly. "If you can keep up, you can come," Lakshmi said finally. Anubis gave a small happy yip and ran to the man's heel. Lakshmi frowned down at the funny creature. It was all fluff and wide eyes. What was it for? He began to stumble on once more through the darkening forest. "Where are we?" Lakshmi asked finally, as they stumbled off into the gathering twilight.
"Earth. Canada, Lakshmi."
*Five Years Later, Small Flat in New York*
Sunlight filtered in through the grimy window glass onto Lakshmi's face. The man grunted and rolled over, burying his face into the fur of Anubis. The wolf smelt of musky earth and dried blood. It was a familiar and comforting smell, if not a pleasant one.
The puppy had grown since they met, and had mutated after a bite at Lakshmi and a mouthful of his blood. His fur was still jet black, but his underbelly, throat and under his tail and wings was blood red, and he had red markings on his face; a red circle around the left eye and a crescent moon under the right. He was the size of a small horse now and powerfully built. Most unusual of all was the large deer-like antlers and wings he had grown. The wings were lay across his sides, and the antlers had weighed his head down on one side during the night, so they were currently resting on the floor.
The wolf in question gave a light growl as he felt his master's face tickle his chest fur, and smacked him with the corner of a wing. The loud smack reverberated around the dingy flat and Lakshmi was thrown off the boxes he'd arranged to form a bed with a resounding thud onto the dusty floor.
"Mrph! Watch it 'Nubis," Lakshmi mumbled as he attempted to disentangle himself from the grimy rag he had been sleeping under. Not exactly five stars, but it was enough to keep the warm in. Well, it kept the draft off him at any rate.
"Stop ticklin' me," Anubis retorted with a sleep-hazed tongue. Neither were particular morning people and this was normal morning interaction, actually, they were quite talkative this morning. Lakshmi stood up, and proceed to hobble across the room to boil the kettle. He was a zombie like this until he had buried himself in his ritual coffee. He had gained a taste for the human beverage after searching for something to make his morning less of a personal hell before his brain engaged.
Anubis gave a loud canine yawn and stretched out languidly, brushing his tail across the dirty floor, sending a small cloud of dust floating lazily into the air. He sneezed the dust away, and used a powerful beat of his wings to blow it away.
The small New York apartment these two shared wasn't exactly high end. It was situated in an area of legally questionable activities, and it was sparsely furnished. The bed was nothing more than a few rags and blankets atop some wooden crates that had been left by the previous, and the whole kitchen was a kettle, a few chipped mugs, an old set of plates and bowls, a small electric portable hob, and a battered old fridge lay out on two grimy wooden worktops. The whole place was filthy. Cobwebs hung thick from the ceiling, and many of the windows were missing, cracked, or so dirty you couldn't see out of them anyway. Not that the neighbourhood was something you'd particularly want to look at anyway.
The only personal belongings in the room were huge patches of paper on the walls. One was a huge map of the city, covered in different coloured dots and arrows. The other was different newspaper articles pinned up. It looked like something you would expect to see in a police station, or a detective agency.
Not a single picture hung in the flat. There was nothing to suggest anyway actually lived here at all, and that was how Lakshmi liked it. If he needed to, he could just leave, and no one would have even known he'd been there.
But Lakshmi didn't expect anything much higher end anyway. He had to keep a low profile, as he was an alien and his companion was a demon wolf the size of a horse. Not exactly the most conspicuous of couplings.
He left the kettle to boil and shuffled to the bathroom. He quickly ran a brush through his hair and splashed cold water on his face. His hair was still long, but it was much less wild than it had been before. It was now soft and feathery, and neatly tied back. It was still tied with that old bit of blue fabric, but it was at least clean. He tied the fabric hair band a little more securely around the hair at the centre of his back and tucked a few loose strands behind his ears.
His blood red eyes looked back at him out of the cracked bathroom window, and he repressed a sigh. The stress of these past few years had added years to his young face. This was weird because he was immortal, and didn't age. Appearance wise, he looked in his prime; about mid twenties. He had a narrow, pointed face and straight nose. He looked generally unfriendly, as his face hadn't cracked a smile in years, and he glared at nearly everyone he met to dissuade approach.
He heard the unmistakeable click of the kettle as it finished boiling, and shuffled into the kitchen.
Anubis had already got him a mug and filled it with his desired amount of coffee, knowing he would throw a fit after fumbling blindly around in the cupboard with his brain only half active. And that was being generous.
"Thanks buddy," Lakshmi mumbled, pouring water from the kettle into his mug. The demon wolf nodded and scratched his ear with his back leg.
"Welcome. You're insufferable in the morning unless you have some coffee down your neck," Lakshmi couldn't hear him as he readily inhaled his coffee. Anubis rolled his leaf green eyes and padded across the room. He took a quick glance at the large map, and appeared to remember something. He dipped a claw in a small pot of yellow paint and added another dot of the map.
Taking a step back, he viewed his handiwork and once more attempted to source a pattern. Each dot was a killing. The different colours represented the species of the killed. Humans, dogs, cats, aliens. The only link they could find between any of them was the way they'd been killed. They had all been mauled to death by something huge. They'd been tracking the damn thing for months, yet always seemed to be a few minutes late to catch the killer.
Sighing, Anubis headed to the window and put his paws on the windowsill and looked out at the New York skyline. He looked blearily down at the pavement in search of something interesting or unusual he could occupy his day with. That's when he saw the government agents coming into the building.
"Erm, Lakshmi?" he asked. Lakshmi raised his head blearily and made a hum of assent. But Anubis was interrupted by a knock on the door. The Kaame stood up with coffee cup in hand and plodded over to the door. An illusion was formed before he got to the door, and a ginger haired short man opened the door with a whining golden Labrador at his heel.
"Yeah?" Lakshmi grunted. The man was tall, one eye and black skin, dressed in a long leather coat. The man looked him up and down.
"Lakshmi?" he asked. Lakshmi managed to hide his surprise and maintain his illusion, although Anubis could see he was startled. Anubis gave a low whine and Lakshmi nudged him with a foot. The glare he was shot clearly said; shut it.
"Er, no mate, I think you 'ave the wrong 'ouse. Name's 'Arvey," Lakshmi had covered his own rather posh accent with a thick and broad accent. The one eyed man scowled.
"Don't play games with us Lakshmi. We can use as much force as we deem necessary," the man had a knowing glint in his eye that mad the fur on Anubis's neck stand on end. "As you don't actually exist, do you?" Lakshmi scowled and dropped his illusion. Suddenly a long haired man and a demon wolf were at the door.
"Fine. Come in," he stepped to one side and allowed the man to enter. A second man entered after him. He wore a purple shirt and a pair of pale brown trousers. He was fiddling with a pair of glasses in his hands, and was looking at Anubis with wonder in his eyes.
"Are you sure we should let them in?" Anubis asked nervously, shuffling from one paw to the other under the careful scrutiny of the other man.
"Sure, why not? If they do cause a stir, it's not as though they'll ever leave," Lakshmi shrugged, already making himself another coffee.
"You are still in your pyjamas you know," he was indeed still in nothing more than a pair of simple drawstring trousers, revealing a well-muscled and severely scarred chest that had filled out well since first arriving on earth. Lakshmi scowled at his stupidity and quickly donned an illusion of complete dress. It was nothing more than a pair of jeans and a red tee, but at least he wasn't visibly half naked in the presence of two strange men.
"Fascinating," the man wearing the purple shirt muttered, starting to walk curiously around the demon wolf. "You can speak its language?" he asked turning to look at Lakshmi. He had science geek written all over him, and Lakshmi decided he didn't particularly hate this man, and by his standards, that was equivalent to liking him.
"Errr, yeah, I suppose. I've never had any problem understanding any of earth's Leara. Humans just don't listen well enough,"
"Leara?" the man asked, running a finger along a claw the length of his forearm.
"Oh, er, animals," Lakshmi quickly explained. "I'm Lakshmi by the way," he added. "And this is Anubis," he pointed at the wolf who was getting quite concerned at the scientist.
"Is this man alright in the head?" he asked, raising a paw as the scientist looked in-between his toes. The one eyed man chose this moment to intervene.
"Well I'm Director Nick Fury, and this is Bruce Banner," Lakshmi nodded vaguely, pouring himself another cup of coffee, not bothering to offer the other two men one. He didn't even know them, so he figured, why bother? Anubis gave a loud yelp as Bruce accidently prodded a sensitive part of his foot and flared his wings. He lowered his head and brandished his antlers at Bruce, warning him back.
"Would you call your guy off my friend?" Lakshmi said finally. It was rather creepy watching his closest and only companion being touched like this. Bruce backed off and stood next to Fury and Anubis relaxed, moving to sit next to Lakshmi by the kitchen worktop.
"We have come to offer you a job," Nick said finally, carefully watching the both for a reaction. Lakshmi saw him glance at where the map was. Luckily, Lakshmi had already covered it all with a very thick illusion. Only dusty wall was visible. "I'm sure you witnessed the actions of the Avengers last year," Lakshmi sniffed.
"Not particularly. We were traveling in Australia. I don't do the big city thing often," he looked around his grubby apartment in distaste. He was only here because the heat was up after traveling around so much. Humans tended to notice some of these things eventually, usually only where money was concerned, and this of course was the reason he was in bother. He used illusioned money to get around, but eventually humans noticed when it vanished from the till once he was out of range, and he knew he had to lay low and live legitly for a few months. Fury smirked.
"I figured as much. Your money trail is the only way to track you. Where ever money mysteriously vanishes is usually where you've been. We even had a case of it vanishing out of someone's hand. Gone out of thin air they said," behind Lakshmi's illusion, he blushed ever so slightly. Whoops. Anubis sniggered and Lakshmi swatted him on the shoulder.
"So what do you want me for?" he asked finally, sighing with resignation.
"We need more members for our team, in case anything goes wrong again. We also want to ally with neighbouring planets. We have Asgard on our side, but it's not enough," Lakshmi huffed.
"Never did like the Asgardians. Too uptight and unfriendly," he gave a long drawn out sigh and relented. "Very well, I need a job anyway," a few bits of rafters fell out of the ceiling and onto the floor.
"I can see that." Bruce said wryly. Lakshmi raised an eyebrow and set his coffee cup down.
"What's the pay?" he asked slyly. He didn't care about money in the slightest, but it would be nice to have some just in case. Fury smirked at him.
"Your pay depends on what you do. You get paid when you work. I do believe that's fair," Lakshmi shrugged. Sounded fair enough. He wasn't bothered about getting paid for doing nothing, so being paid only when he worked was a fair deal.
"Well then, I better pack," he pushed himself off the worktop and stretched. "And get dressed." He added as an afterthought. Anubis just sniggered at him.
Authors Note
So, this is the first chapter of my latest fic. I've written ahead a lot with this, so it shouldn't grind to a halt like my last one sorta did, and I'm much faster at typing so I should hurry my ass along and update much quicker. I'm aiming for an update every monday, so it gives me a week to write it out and edit the chap do it's wonderful for your viewing pleasure. You have to remember I do have a life (Even if it's a shit one) so the updates might not run like clockwork but there will be an upload a week for definite. Please review to feed my muse. (If I get LOTS of reviews I might update early... hint hint, nudge nudge)