No Matter How You Say It
~To Fall So Far
Although he was gracious to be rid of those retched chains, he could not help but wonder if he really had gotten the short end of the stick…
As he followed the steps of the guards escorting him, he searched the crowd for his brother. Where had that dim witted prince wandered off to, surely he would not miss the chance to see his beloved 'half-brother' banished and powerless; sent to the reaches of Midgard.
"Loki, brother," a booming voice reined over the crowd's incessant banter, "How are you fairing through all this?" Thor enquired; seeming to care more than his adopted brother would like to believe. With a stern glare, Loki searched his brother's eyes for a sign of remorse, that he would miss the younger prince. Having found no such emotions, he replied with a lack of eye contact, "How do I fair? How do you think I fair BROTHER!? You think me weak enough as to whimper and beg for forgiveness? I will do no such thing you imbecile!"
For a moment Loki regretted taking such a tone whilst in restraints, Thor glaring at him with an undeniable look of pure insult. This, however, passed quickly as they arrived at the All-father's feet. Loki immediately bowed his head, as pitiful as he appeared submitting to the power of the All-father, he did not need anger him any further than his past endeavours had.
"Loki, my son," the All-father spoke in a calm, but powerful, booming voice, "You have well paid your dues in the prisons of Asgard, but I am not convinced you have seen the error to your ways, nor are you willing to yield such devious plotting against the realms…" The All-father paused, moving his gaze from Loki to the golden, glistening ground before him and back to his eldest son's gaze. Thor met his father's gaze, momentarily, before looking at his own feet, peering ever so slightly in the direction of the younger prince; a look of regret engulfing his features.
"I have decided… You are to be banished, from Asgard, to the realm of which you were so set on destroying. Midgard will serve you well in your rehabilitation and until you regain the full lengths of your magic, you will be unable to communicate in any form with Asgard or any other realm."
Loki's gaze snapped up to the All-father, surprise and angst evident in his usually well hidden eyes. He glared at Thor, who seemed to cringe at the very look he had been given.
"My magic? You would send me to the wretches of Midgard without any means of power? How shall I recover my magic then?" He began to fret, which became apparent to his brother as he approached the kneeling prince. Thor reached out to comfort his brother, but was brushed off by an increasingly enraged Loki.
The All-father simply stared blankly at Loki, and then turned on his heel to lead the guards and his forsaken son away. Thor followed idly, in close pursuit of his brother, fearing he would never be forgiven for allowing such a horrible fate on him.
They arrived at an entrance; hidden in darkness, aside from the faint glow that seemed to emit from Odin's very being. Loki snickered to himself. Of course his father was encased in a golden glow of greatness; he did stand for all that was pure and good. This thought made Loki snort absurdly, causing Thor to peer down at him in query.
"Brother," he whispered in an unusually soft hum, "what do you ponder on at such a time that would amuse you so?"
He looked across at his brother, now in direct line with his eyes. Loki sought not to reply, but rather to humour his brother with an unintelligible look. This worried Thor slightly; however, he had not the chance to question any further as the All-father had begun to speak over them.
"Today, Asgard loses one of its princes," he announced to the small crowd. "But he will not be lost forever…We send him to the mortal realm in hope he will return to us, changed and without the evil that corrupts his mind."
A faint murmur hushed over the group of Asgardians, causing an uneasy look to plant itself on Loki's face. He stared up to his father with sadness evident in the very emerald of his iris. Whether Odin had noticed this or not, he did not speak of it; instead, he looked to Heimdall, who nodded in return. Loki felt a burst of power pulsate throughout his body, lifting him into the air. The tunnel brightened in a fixture of multiple coloured lights, and the prince was gone…
The streets were lit up by the lights of cars, buildings and lamp posts. Lea was amazed at how alive the city could get during such hours of the night. New York had always been an energetic place to live and breathe, but she sometimes missed the peace and calm of the countryside.
'You are, a cinema, I could watch you forever,' her charming remix ringtone began to chime from the pocket in her jeans.
"Yo, what's up Fraya, how's the job going?" she asked mockingly, with an almost sinister grin appearing on her face as she answered with her Bluetooth earpiece.
"Oh you know the job went ok…it's just…well… Nothing really… Umm, if you wanna like, stay out tonight after your little showcase thingy. You know go to one of those… Interesting after parties, I totally get that, and you don't have to worry about coming home. It's fine. I will entertain myself, aha…" Fraya seemed to be leading to something, but what, Lea did not really care.
"Right, well I shall be coming home, so you won't have to entertain yourself my dear. And do remember to have fun with your job. Bye bye." Lea mocked her friend once again and hung up.
As she approached the showcase she began to ponder whether she should indeed return home tonight. Looking up at the increasingly crowded stadium with the word 'Stark Industries' lighting up the sky, she decided tonight would definitely be a long night for them all.
After setting up some of her larger designs, Lea began to work through her assortment of smaller innovations. Absorbed in her work, she had missed the tall and slender figure peering over her shoulder to the technology of which she had been fiddling. She glanced up seeing the shadow towering over her strands of inventions and designs.
"Do you really think Stark would appreciate your tinkering with his, 'stuff'?" the stranger queried, still standing over the young inventor. Lea stood immediately, turning to face the insult aimed at her by the stranger.
"I don't know who you are, or why you're standing over me like 'god-all-mighty', but this work right here… This. Is. Mine! Not Tony, freaking, Starks!" Lea was quickly becoming more and more opposed to this name-less man.
He simply looked at her with a face of humour, feeding the rage she failed to contain. Opening her mouth to challenge him with a remark of wit, they were interrupted by an, all-too-familiar voice.
"Lea, my talented little rival, how ARE you doing? Heard you weren't gonna show actually. But here you are. Here. At this very show case, putting your case on show and such," the man always had a way of putting things that made Lea both insulted and amused.
"Ah, Tony, I see you are as challenged by my talent as always. Do you honestly have nothing better to do than fuss over rivals, or is it just my work that intrigues you so?" she had gotten unusually used to Tony's childish rivalry, but had continued to humour him with such a response.
He did nothing, just smiled and shifted his gaze from the young woman to the bountiful supply of new tech behind her. As he made his way over to the stand, he continued the conversation,
"Oh you always say that, but I'm the one with the successful supply of clean energy powering my tower. Oh and did I mention, I have a tower, with my name on it?"
"Last I saw your tower said 'A', not Stark. And you seem to forget about my equally as successful business, with my equally as tall tower. Not to mention, MY tower also has a minimal negative effect on the environment," she was enjoying out smarting the man whose intellect was supposed to exceed all others.
As entertained as she was watching the other inventor ponder possible comebacks, she noticed the expression on the third parties face. He looked both amused and slightly anxious. It seemed Tony had realised he did not hold all of the younger inventor's attention, causing him to follow her line of sight. His eyes widened and a look of pure horror washed over his face.
"You have got to be kidding me!" he stormed forward, pulling Lea behind him in an almost defensive stance. She was taken aback by the action and frankly, quite startled by the reaction the tall man before them had provided.
"What are you doing here!? I thought you were imprisoned on Asgard! How did you escape from Thor, you were basically chained to him!?" Tony Stark let a tone of serious curiosity flood his words.
"Wait, what?" Lea questioned, worried as to the direction the conversation was heading.
"Bah! I served my time in chains, now I am banished to this accursed realm until," the stranger stopped, not wanting to continue his sentence.
"Until what?" Tony was quite curious by this point.
Not replying, the stranger stood in silence, staring at his feet. Lea took this opportunity to speak,
"What ARE you on about Tony? Asgard, chains, imprisonment? What exactly am I missing here?" She began, almost to yell at the two men, sharing a glare between them.
They looked towards one another, then back to the young woman. Tony had a sudden look of regret and peered to the side, away from Lea and the other figure, who stepped towards her.
"I am Loki, prince of Asgard, the realm of the gods," he seemed keen to continue, but was interrupted.
"Right, yeah, I gathered that. You don't exactly look the part for Thor, the god of thunder. But...umm…," she began to become frustrated with the confusion.
"Listen all you need to know is that standing before you is a very powerful, very dangerous man. In fact, he is the one who almost destroyed New York with the whole invasion thing, or did you miss that?" Tony had blurted out.
"So you're the bastard who took out half my top floor with your flying beast thing!? I had countless amounts of inventions and designs in that particular wing! You… bu… SON OF A BITCH!"
Loki stared at the girl with shock and awe. No one had ever spoken to him like THAT before. He hadn't expected such a reaction. But no one would speak of his mother like that. No one would speak of HIM like that!
"You foolish mortal, how dare you refer to my mother with such a tone! I will not tolerate your insolence!"
"Foolish? Mortal? Who exactly do you think you are talking to because I am not foolish neither am I… You have no right to call me so!" Lea quickly changed her train of thought mid-sentence.
Both the men watched as a fire began to burn in Lea's eyes. Loki snickered, smiling at Lea, then turning to Tony and raising an eye brow, while maintaining the smile.
"You have an interesting choice of friends Stark, I wonder if you might enjoy surrounding yourself with those of a much lower intelligence than your own, just to make yourself feel smarter," he smiled more gleefully now, looking back towards Lea before he began to walk off.
"Hmm, I pray you my godly friend, ponder this," she paused, a devious grin appearing on her own face, "Doth thou even lift?"
Loki stopped in his tracks, confusion spread across his face. He turned his head, allowing a peripheral image of the two mortals behind him. Lea offered a knowing grin before she and Tony headed towards the main stage of the showcase. Loki continued to exit the grounds, his mind running over the conversation he had just had. Who was she..?
"Oh hey Pepper, could you be a darl and pack up my comrades stand of endless inventions," Tony Stark gave his loyal secretary yet another order, which she followed reluctantly.
"You really should stop introducing me to all your crazy gods and superheroes. It is boring and tedious and that's yet another bunch of myths I have to read up on in order to keep up with your whinging and whining," Lea was tired and she really just wanted to go home.
The giant stage spread for almost the entire width of the stadium; lights lining both the top and bottom of the structure. Lea and Tony sat in the front row of seats and pointed their attention to the young woman standing on the stage. She was wearing an office type dress, stiletto heels and had her hair tied back tightly. Lea rolled her head back on the head rest, exhausted and in utter boredom, awaiting the first set of 'inventions' to be presented. When Tony let out an obnoxious 'Ha' Lea turned her head, still leaning back, to the puzzling man.
"Of course they start with the worst to build up to the best," Tony directed a hand to focus on the first inventor for the night.
"You've got to be joking… What is he doing OUT OF PRISON!?" Lea shot a look of distraught at her comrade and back to the inventor currently show-boating on stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, but mostly ladies," the sad little man winked at the crowd.
"Oh God," Lea held her hands to her face, sitting in a slouch in her chair.
"He really knows how to introduce himself, I'll give him that," Tony chimed in response to Lea's disappointed glare at the man on stage.
"Why does he have to be here? I already have my hands full with you around to taunt me," another look of disappointment flooded Lea's face.
"Did you just admit I'm handful? So I do get to you, Hazar!" The man seemed pleased with himself. Lea shook her head.
As the showcase finally drew to an end, the announcer kept the crowd seated for an extra minute or so to declare the presence of an honoured guest. Lea watched as the overly-proud inventor next to her began to stand, awaiting his name to be called over the microphone. Lea just rolled her eyes, leaning her head in her left hand and sighed.
"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we can some very special inventions on show. Please welcome to the stage, Tony Stark," he started towards the stage, "and Lea Tanen-Emble."
Lea's eyes grew wide. Tony froze on the spot, taking in what had just been said. He turned to Lea, seeing her slowly rise from the seat next to his own. Her eyes suddenly snapped to him, appearing to have lessened in size. As they made their way up to the stage a Dubstep remix of ACDC's most classic hits began to play; the bass causing the very ground to shake.
"Son of a bitch…" Lea mumbled reaching the microphone a second after Tony. For a majority of what seemed to be an hour long speech Lea let her mind think to itself, not paying any attention to her surroundings. However, when it finally came to the end of Tony's rant, it was her turn to step up. Her mind suddenly blanked; she had no clue what to say. Luckily, before she had the chance to make a fool of herself, the fireworks started.
As everyone turned and stared in amusement, Lea took her leave. Sneaking through the exit backstage and making sure she collected her box of inventions, she escaped to her car.
She placed her stuff on the back seat and hoped behind the wheel. The engine started with a powerful rev. She grinned; this was why she loved her car. With her foot on the accelerator, she sped off to her apartment. Lea took the scenic road, driving by the waterside and one of the many parks.
She turned up the radio; clocks started to stream from the speakers. Wind rushing through her hair, as there was no top to the vehicle.
"You-uuu-uu arr-ee," she began to sing to herself. "You-uu, are."
When she finally arrived at her destination, she drove up the spiralling path within the building, that lead to the garage. The doors closed behind her as she passed through the hallway from the elevator, into the lounge/dining room.
A look of query masked her face as she noticed her comrade. She was positioned on the largest lounge, hands running through her own hair. As she noticed Lea, looking at her with worry and confusion, she smiled.
"How was your invention convention," she snorted at her own word play.
Lea also let out a comical sigh, "Yeah good, good."
They both looked to their feet, knowing tonight had been more than a normal night.
"… How was the job?" Lea offered her friend a look of interest.
Fraya paused, "Easy, I mean I could have done it myself, you know, but…" She paused again, "It was fine until I met the point man."
Lea looked up to her friend, now sitting on the lounge beside her. She shared the distraught expression Fraya did, only with more worry than before…