The sun shone brightly through the window of the coffee shop. Loki sat inside staring into a cup of the human beverage as he waited on his brother. A loud crash sounded from across the street, coupled with gunfire and several dull explosions. He turned to see the window of the bank across the street broken and money flying everywhere. People were screaming and Loki stood up, ready to fight.
"Everybody get the fuck down!" Inside the bank a masked robber waived his sig sauer threateningly as his buddy crammed dollar bills into a bag.
"C'mon man lets get the fuck out of here before he dam cops show up."
The robber stuffing bills glared at his partner.
"We would've have more time if you had been keeping a better watch on the clerk."
"Not my fault the bitch tripped the alarm!"
His friend began to say something, but was stopped by 2000 volt jolting through his body. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he crumpled to the floor.
"Asshole." Black Widow kicked his unconscious body and looked at the second robber who had drawn his own gun and was pointing it with shaking hands at his attacker.
"Man what the fuck! You're a god dam Avenger why are you here?"
A loud crashing sound resounds throughout the building and Iron Man lands on the floor. Dust and debris fall from the banks new skylight.
"I'll pay for that."
The robber stares and looks as if he is about to pass out. Two figures appear in the doorway and the taller one speaks.
"Nadia, care to wrap this up? I'm hungry."
Black Widow looks up from the man she was cuffing.
"One, don't call me that in public. Two, if you are so hungry, take Bruce to get a sandwich and shut up."
Hawkeye rolls his eyes and gestures to Bruce to leave. They stroll outside where they are met by the Captain and Thor stepping out of an old Mercedes.
"What's going on?" Steve looks confused by the chaos and Thor had a panicked expression on his face. Clint explained the situation at the same time the cops started to pull up. After a minor argument between Tony and the cops the two robbers were loaded into he police cars. As they drove away Thor spotted Loki standing in front of the coffee shop and called to the others to join them.
"Brother. It is good to see you. How had your life been on this planet?"
Loki chuckled. "I have only been here for two weeks. I've barely settled in!"
"I wish you would stay at the tower with us."
"I can not do that. I am not an Avenger."
"Yet." Thor smiled and hugged his brother. Who raised an eyebrow at his comment.
"Ok, yeah, tearful reunion and all, I'm starving can we get a move on?" Tony had finished packing up his armor and was getting impatient.
They all walked past the coffee shop as he barista had run off. Instead they headed to an old sub shop. After they had all ordered, Thor was the first to speak.
"Loki, brother-" Loki interrupted.
"Thor, we are not brothers. Not by blood at least."
Thor chuckled. "Always one for technicalities, Loki. Very well. I shall cease to call you brother." The other Avengers exchanged glances. They didn't pretend to understand the two demigod's relationship.
"We want you to join our team." Tony stared Loki down. He wasn't one for subtleties. Loki sat back, his smile slowly melting off his face.
"Well?" Thor leaned in with a hopeful expression on his face. Nadia observed the two and how different they were.
*Thor wears his emotions on his sleeve. Loki barely shows anything.*
"I accept." Loki spoke softly but with a determination in his voice. "I only hope this can make up for my past sins."
Thor stood up, angry. "Do not join us to wash away what happened. It wasn't your fault."
"Sit down. Please." Bruce glanced up at the cooks eyeing them behind the counter. "I don't think the forecast called for a storm."
Thor sat down breathing heavily and Loki spoke cautiously.
"It is my fault-"
"It was the Chitauri."
Now it was Loki's turn to get angry.
"It doesn't make sense! Why me? Why would they have been after me for so long! You can't possibly tell me they made me ally with the ice giants."
"They subliminally controlled your synapses to have an urge to take over Asgard. The plan you formulated was your own but you weren't in full control of yourself. Like being on cocaine." Tony explained and then proceeded to cram a bite of sandwich in his mouth.
"What is cocaine?" Thor asked and Loki looked just as confused.
Toy looked to Bruce for help and he sighed and put down his hoagie.
"You know when you drink to much wine and your head feels really light and you do a bunch of stupid things!" Thor nodded empathetically. "It's like that but a lot worse.
Loki sighed and put his head in his hands. After a few minutes he sat up and raked his hand through his chin length hair.
"Yes. I will join, and I will trust that I wasn't in control. I do hope you will all accept my sincere apology-"
He was met by a groan.
"You've tried to apologize to us like, 300 times." Nadia rolled her eyes and Clint nodded.
"Seriously, dude, no hard feelings." Steve clapped him on his shoulder and Loki smiled briefly.
"Guess its settled then." Tony stood up and cracked his back. He put a 100 dollar bill on the table and Steve coughed uncomfortably.
"What?" Stark looked down at the Captain.
"I feel bad that you always pay."
Tony laughed. "Who else would? Nadia and Clint don't have money, they don't need it because Nadia seduces someone to get what she wants and Clint here just hits up Fury for cash. Brucey here just came back from a third world country where money was a banana, and what little money circulated around there he wouldn't accept on principle. You, my dear captain are being funded by the government, and the two god's money isn't good here."
Steve shrugged. "You've been so generous, especially letting us live in your tower."
"Hey, I already find you annoying. Don't add 'to polite' to my list of your traits that piss me off." This prompted a laugh from the table.
"Hey c'mon guys, get a room." Clint joked and then, glancing at his watch, he and Nadia stood up. "We have to go. Fury wants to talk to us."
The others nodded and they began to pack up. Clint an Nadia drove off in one direction, Steve, Bruce, Thor and Loki in the other. Tony opted to take his suit back.
Back at the Avengers tower, Loki sat in his room. He walked over to the floor to ceiling windows and stared out at New York. It was funny, from far away it almost looked like Asgard. Of course it wasn't gold, and there was more smoke, but the was the sun shone of the high buildings was familiar and comforting. A knock on his door snapped him out of his brooding and he strode to answer it. Opening the door he was met by a drunken Thor.
"Brother!" He roared and stumbled into Loki's room. "I had the most wonderful time!" He sat down hard on the bed and flopped onto his back with a contented smile on his face. Loki sat down on the side of the bed with a sigh and Thor turned on his side to face him.
"Did you know there is this wonderful human drink named vodka." He hiccuped and Loki sighed again. "It feels as I liquid fire is in me!"
"Thor, we talked about this earlier today! Human drink impair your judgement worse than Asgardian ones."
Thor laughed and then Was silent. The silence grew longer until Thor shattered it with a snore. He had fallen into a vodka induced stupor. Shrugging into his coat, Loki left the tower and his brother behind to head downtown. He wandered around the city with no particular destination in mind, until he heard a familiar voice. He found the source of it to be a corner store with a tv display in the window. On the news was Director Fury making a public announcement. Loki's picture was in the corner.
"- have your doubts about him, but according to investigations he was not in full control of his mind a that time. He is now residing with the Avengers and will be working alongside them. Please, place your trust in him. If you can't, at least trust the Avengers. This is Director Fury, signing off."
Loki stared. That must have been what Nadia and Clint were doing with him. He shrugged and continued to walk.
*place your trust in him.* How could they. He frowned. As horrible as he felt about his past, something was nagging at him. Something he couldn't understand was clawing at the back of his mind. He made his was back to the tower in the early morning and started to make himself breakfast. The others slowly came down, one by one, until Thor was the only one still sleeping.
"Morning Loki." Nadia smiled. She had been the nicest to him by far. The others were kind to him but she seemed to go beyond politeness. "You look like crap."
"Thanks." He mumbled sarcastically and flipped over his omelette.
"You should sleep more." She said, a concerned tone taking over her voice.
He chuckled and turned to face her. "Frost Giants don't need sleep."
She smiled a little. "You're only half Frost Giant thanks to your dad's magic. So you still need sleep."
"I'll give it a shot." She seemed satisfied by this answer and turned to see Thor stride down the hall ito the kitchen.
"Good morning teammates." He smiled broadly and Tony groaned.
"How can you out drink me and still be this happy? Fuck gods." Tony was nursing a hangover from the drinking contest he had lost last night. Before Thor could respond, an alarm began to sound.
"Jarvis?" Tony was already heading for his weapons room.
"It seems we have an intruder. They have taken out all of my camera systems but tripped the security alarm when trying to break into my mainframe. I would proceed with caut-" Jarvis' voice is cut off and another takes its place.
"Hello Avengers. Roof. Now." There is a crackling noise and then nothing. Tony is gone and the others pause for only a second before jumping into action. Thor summons his hammer and is the first to fly to the roof. Hawkeye grabbed his bow from his room and races up the stairwell with Nadia in hot pursuit, loading her guns. Steve grabs his shield and the new morph suit adheres to his body using smart nano technology in mere seconds. Bruce races off to the lab to attempt to fix the security breach.
Loki grabs his scepter and his armor shimmers into place. With a flick of his wrist he teleports up into the roof to find a battle already in process. A small masked figure is nimbly leaping across the rooftop while the Avengers try and fail to catch them. Captain America throws his shield but they catch it and use it to deflect the arrows Hawkeye sent their way. They flipped up over Black Widows head and then twisted to avoid the kick aimed at them. They grabbed her leg and sent her flying into Iron Man. His stabilizers struggled to compensate for the extra weight and velocity, sending the two of them spinning. They threw Captain Americas shield at Hawkeye, knocking him into the wall and out cold. Black Widow had recovered and launched herself at the attacker throwing kicks and punches faster than any human could keep up with. Surprisingly not only did the masked attacker keep up with her, hey managed to throw a brutal right cross coupled with a roundhouse kick to her side. A sickening crunch was heard and she didn't move. Captain America came swinging at them and they simply ducked and then spun, extending their leg so his feet were knocked out from under him. Grabbing a stray arrow they jammed it into his chest. Activating the arrow sent volts of electricity coursing through his body and his yell was silenced by the attacker using his shield as a bludgeoning tool on his head. They turned to find Iron Man leveling his hand pulsed at them.
"End of the road." His suit made a wording noise and then shut down.
A burst of laughter came from the small figure.
"Thank god for viruses. idiot. I hacked into your mainframe and you keeps your suit connected to it." They utilized another of Hawkeyes arrows to finish him off. Loki raised his scepter to finish them until a bolt of lightning struck inches from where they stood.
"You fight with valor, small one, but I do not appreciate you hurting my friends."
"Ah yes, the god. I was wondering when you would show up. And you brought frankensteins monster. good." Thor was unsmiling as he glanced at Bruce who stood next to him. He stepped foreword and gripped his hammer.
"Surrender now."
"Where's the fun in that?" Their voice was being changed somehow. It sounded metallic and gritty.
Thor took another step and raised his hammer. Black clouds gathered in swirls around him.
"By Oden's power I-" A gunshot rang out and Thor's eyes widened. He clutched at his chest where blood began to flow. 3 more shots rang out before he dropped to the ground, and 2 more were pumped into his unmoving torso. Loki ran to Thor's side and searched his face for signs of life. He as breathing, albeit shallowly. A weak pulse beat in his neck, but Loki had hope. He heard a grunt and a thud and when he looked up, Bruce was passed out on the ground and the attacker was standing above him holding a syringe.
"That, was enough morphine to knock out... Well to knock out the Hulk. There isn't really a better metaphor than that."
Loki stood up, his body coursing with adrenaline and anger. Before he could say a word, they had knelt at his feet.
"My lord." They murmured and removed their mask. The first thing Loki noticed was their hair. It was short and a color hovering in between blonde and brown. It had streaks of lighter and darker colors in it. They raised their face for a moment and Loki realized with a jolt that it was a girl. Her green eyes bore into his and he didn't speak for a long time. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. She was wearing a black uniform with enough metal and padding to disguise her gender. She had two pistols, on on each hip, and various other weapons she never bothered to use. He stood there breathing heavily and then spoke.
"Who are you?" He had a million questions but none he could put into words.
"Kyra, sir. Codename Ivory."
"Why are you here?" He asked. "Stand up." She immediately complied, but didn't make eye contact.
"I'm here to rescue you." She shuffled her steel toe combat boots and for all the world looked like a scolded school girl. "From the Avengers, sir."
"Rescue me?" He was taken aback. He had no idea who this girl was and she was rescuing him from a nonexistent threat.
"Yes sir." Her eyes flickered up for a brief moment and then back down to her shoes.
"Those people you just gunned down are my friends." He snarled.
She kept backwards and ran towards Thor. Pulling a syringe from her pocket she injected him with its contents and then pulled a knife and a pair of tongs. She fished out the bullets and then pulled out a vial of dark black liquid, which she poured into his wounds and hen his mouth. Next she turned to Captain America who she injected with a small amount from a syringe and made him drink from the bottle of black liquid. She repeated this process for everyone and then walked back over to Loki and stood beside him, slightly behind him. One by one the Avengers woke up and struggled to their feet. Thor coughed and sat up groaning. As soon as he saw Kyra standing by Loki he lunged at her and knocked her off her feet and into the ground. She didn't struggle and made no attempt to stop him.
"Thor, wait!" Loki shouted, and stepped towards them.
"He attacked us, Loki!"
"She saved your life!"
He paused. "She?"
"She's a girl."
Thor examined her but didn't let her go. The other Avengers walked over to see what was happening. Loki explained what happened.
Tony stared at him.
"So this crazy chick breaks into my mainframe beats the crap out of all of us-"
"Not me. She just drugged me." Bruce cut in.
"- and then she says she was trying to rescue you. When she finds out you don't need rescuing and that we're the good guys she gives us more drugs and now here we are."
"Yes." Loki examined her. She seemed to be totally calm and her face was open and alert.
"She's a kid!" Hawkeye growled and rubbed his chest.
"I'm eighteen." She spoke and everyone jumped. Thor tightened his grip on her arms and stood up, still keeping a firm hold on her.
"My name is Kyra. Codename Ivory. I was raised in a lab. I don't know where. I've been jumping around from team to team. X-Men, Thieves Guild, Brotherhood. I even dated the Human Torch for a while and was an unofficial member of the Fantastic Four. I've trained with Deadpool, Stick and other masters of hand to hand combat. Not to mention the fact I've been injected with enough mutant cocktails I'm practically radioactive."
She was met with silence. Iron Man approached her.
"Put your hands behind your back. I'm going to cuff you." He raised a pair of glowing metal handcuffs and she glared at him.
"I don't take orders from you, metal man."
Thor stiffened. Strangely, she smiled.
"You're going to break my arm if you tighten your hand anymore. I can feel it."
He relaxed his grip the tiniest amount. "You feel no pain."
"No. I do feel pain. I just deal with it."
Loki spoke up. "Ivory before you get hurt. Your hands please."
She relaxed and moved her hand so they grasped each other behind her back. Her forearms remained in Thor's grip. Iron Man secured her hands and the metal cuffs lit up. Glowing lines extended up her arms and wrapped around her torso. Thor let go and she fell onto the ground. She sat up on her knees and met the teams glare with a blank expression.
"What brought you here?" Nadia asked.
"Loki." She glanced in his direction as did the team. "I saw him on TV and I knew he wouldn't win. I also knew I needed to help him. I assumed you had taken him back to Asgard but when I saw the news report last night I came here to find him. To rescue him."
"We weren't keeping him hostage." Clint shot back.
"I don't know that. I assumed you had blackmailed him or bribed him into submission. I wanted to help."
"You wanted to help him take over earth?" Thor growled.
"I wanted to help him do whatever he wanted. The end goal was not important. Only him. Now that I know he's on your side I want to help him." She spoke boldly and Loki shifted uncomfortably.
"Shall we continue this indoors?" Tony asked. The others nodded. Thor made a move to grab Ivor but she stood up and backflipped away.
"I can walk." She strode through the door and down the stairs into the tower. When the others reached her she was standing in the main area.
Loki sat on the couch and Ivory moved to stand behind him.
"What are we going to do with her?" Bruce sighed. Tony poured himself a drink and sat down next to Loki. Thor stood across the room next to Clint. Nadia sat down at the bar and Bruce joined her.
"I could... Look after her." Loki tentatively spoke.
"Are you insane? You know not what you do." Thor barked.
"She won't hurt me."
"You don't know that."
Loki stood up and walked around the couch to Ivory. He took his scepter and pried off the cuffs. They fell to the floor with a clang and she rubbed her wrists.
"I'll prove it." He grabbed her by her neck and tossed her across the room. She crashed through the wall and lay there for a moment before picking herself up. Loki teleported over to her and kicked her back into the main area. Mid-flight he teleported again and punched per up and over. She crashed into the bottles at the back of the bar and glass went everywhere. The team was dead silent. She stood up and shook herself off. Her face was covered in cuts and bruises and her uniform was in shreds. The Kevlar vest was showing though the outer fabric and her weapons belt was gone. By the way she clutched her side broken ribs were likely and she was bleeding the most from a gash in the back of her head. In less than a minute he had injured her near fatally for a normal person. She staggered back toward him and knelt at his feet, saying nothing.
"Loki stop." Steve took a step towards him but the look he got from Loki stopped him in his tracks.
He grabbed her neck again and raised her to his eyes level.
"I am going to kill you. I thought that I might keep you as a pet but I see now you are worthless. Fight back or die." His hand tightened around her throat and she clutched at his arm, but stayed relaxed.
"Broth- Loki." This time it was Thor.
"I... Can't fight... You."
He dropped her and planted one more solid kick to her ribs. She let out a hissing noise and got back up.
"FIGHT ME!" He yelled.
"No..." She staggered towards him and collapsed into a kneeling position at his feet. He stared down at her and his expression of anger vanished.
"Bruce. Please help her." He scooped her up in his arms and cradled her gently. Bruce and Clint came over. He handed Ivory to Clint and they rushed off to the infirmary.
"What the hell was that? You could have killed her!" Tony stomped over to Loki.
"Pardon me but I do not recall you attempting to stop me." Loki cut in coldly.
Tony leaned in closely and snarled. "Watch it." He stormed off to his room. Nadia stood and left for hers, with Steve close behind.
Thor stepped closer and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Be careful. This girl, she... Worries me."
"I will take cautions... Brother."
Thor smiled. "You're not my brother."
Loki chuckled darkly. "I know." With that, Thor walked off, leaving Loki standing in the middle of a disaster area with his thoughts.