Bethany Miller was a typical woman, if there was such a thing, she liked watching romantic comedies, she enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a night out with the girls. She also enjoyed activities that a typical woman might not enjoy, such as, computer programming and hacking. Her boyfriend, Pete, fancied himself the modern-day Robin Hood and he accomplished this by hacking into corporate bank accounts and donating large sums of money to random charities. Beth was his Maiden Marion. Or at least, that's what he called her. Truthfully, she was the better hacker and at the moment, they were arguing about just that.
"Are you serious, Pete? If it wasn't for me, you would've been arrested years ago." Beth said as she sipped her mocha. Pete just rolled his eyes, he was too preoccupied trying to hack into Stark Industries to come up with a good comeback.
He groaned in frustration as he was blocked by another security feature.
"Ugh, this security system is impossible to break through," he breathed in exasperation.
Beth handed him her coffee and slid his laptop in front of her.
"Watch and learn, Grasshopper." She smirked as she rested her fingers on the keyboard.
Beth swiftly began to streak passed the Stark Industries firewalls.
"When jiggling the handle fails, sometimes you gotta break a window." she said plugging away on the keyboard.
Pete smiled as they began to pour through the company finances, "I'll admit you're good."
Beth smirked, but then she noticed something interesting. Her program tapped into something that wasn't Stark Industries wallet.
"Well hello..." she said as she opened a folder.
Meanwhile, at Stark Industries, Jarvis just informed Tony Stark of the breach in security.
"Sir, there appears to be a security breach in our system," the AI said.
This peaked Tony's interest.
"You mean someone got by you?"
"Yes, sir. They have managed to get by most of my firewalls and I'm afraid to say they have just gained access to some files pertaining to the Avengers Initiative."
Tony pulled up his holographic computer screens, "now, we can't have that."
"At least make it a challenge for me," Beth chuckled as someone began to try to block her access.
Pete was starting to get antsy, "come on, Beth. Let's go."
"Just a second..." Beth said to him. Whoever was on the other side was proving to be a challenge and she liked a challenge.
Suddenly, the laptop snapped shut.
"Hey!"
Pete shoved it back in his bag.
"It's time to go."
She grabbed her coat off the back of the back of the chair and followed him out of the coffee shop.
"What was that?!" Beth asked as he got into his car. She opened the passenger side door and glared at him.
"You almost destroyed everything I've worked so hard for." he said turning over the key.
"You've worked so hard for? YOU'VE WORKED FOR?! I'VE BEEN THERE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME-!"
"If it wasn't for you, I would have never gotten the idea to use the charity accounts for my own benefit."
Beth blinked as she registered what he had just told her.
"Y-you're benefit?"
Pete scoffed, "you really think I would have hacked into all of those corporations if there wasn't some gain to me?"
"I can't believe you..." She hissed as she shut the car door, "I never want to see you again."
She watched Pete drive off without another word. Beth pulled out her phone and dialed her friend's number.
"Hey, Jessica... Pete and I just broke up."
In another realm, Loki was brooding over another of his brother's triumphs. Soon, he would inherit the throne from their father. He watched as Thor and his band of warrior friends celebrated there most recent victory. It positively made him sick. Loki scowled as he slunk through the shadows past their jubilation. He wished to leave this place that only served to mock him. The God of Mischief smirked, and he knew just where he wanted to leave to.
As soon as Bethany had told her friend of her break up, Jessica had called together all of their girlfriends to have a night on the town. Beth was sitting on her bed as Jessica searched through her closet for an outfit that Beth could borrow for the fun night of clubbing she had in store for them.
"I don't know Jessica, I think it's a little soon to put me on the rebound trail." Beth sighed.
Jessica reappeared with an armful of dresses.
"Nonsense, the scummier the guy, the sooner the rebound and I'm sorry but Pete was as scummy as they come, Beth. Here try this one on."
Mary and Lydia nodded in agreement from their spot on Jessica's dresser. Mary was filing her nails as Lydia reapplied her lip gloss.
Beth rolled her eyes as she took the skimpy garment. She slid herself into the dress and modeled it for her friends who nodded approvingly.
"I don't know about finding a rebound though..." she said as she slipped on some heels.
"Oh, we'll find one." Lydia said brushing out her hair.
Mary nodded, "we ready to go ladies?"
Jessica smiled smiled as she reemerged from her closet in a tight little number as well.
"Move out!"
Hours later at one of the clubs the girls were dancing at, Jessica spotted a guy eyeing Beth from across the room.
"Hey, hottie at 3 o'clock is checking you out." she said in her ear.
Beth turned away from the bar to look at who she was talking about. How could she miss him? She could see him standing in solitude with his back against the wall watching her and her friends with interest. She couldn't help but feel that this tall man in sleek black clothes seemed out of place in this loud, bustling club. He looked as though he belonged in an expensive gentleman's club or fashion magazine.
"If you don't go talk to him, I will," Mary said devouring the man with her eyes.
Lydia and Beth both shook there heads.
"She should let him approach her," Lydia said giggling as she sipped her drink.
Beth just felt like going home as her friends flounced away to the dance floor.
Suddenly, Beth felt someone leaning heavily against her. She looked over and saw a very drunk man eyeing her.
"How about I buy you a drink?" he slurred.
She rolled her eyes, "Not interested."
He grabbed her arm as she made a move to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't be like that." He said.
She wrinkled her nose as he breathed on her. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and walked out of the club. To her dismay, he followed her.
"Where you goin'?" He asked stumbling after her.
"I told you, I'm not interested."
He draped his arm over her shoulders and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "that's okay because I'm interested enough for the both of us."
As she scoffed and rolled her eyes, a voice came from behind them.
"I do believe the lady said she wasn't interested."
Beth turned and saw that it was the man she and her friends saw from across the club. He held himself with an aristocratic air as he looked condescendingly at the other man and placed a hand on her lower back.
The smaller man cursed, "Hey what's the big idea, man? I saw her first!"
The second man smirked, "au-contraire, but I do believe it twas I who saw her first. Now leave before I do something to you that we'll both regret."
Whether it was the confident way the man next to her spoke or that the drunker man realized she wasn't worth the time, the man retreated back into the deafening club.
Beth sighed a sigh of relief as she turned to the man next to her, "thanks for that."
The man smiled charmingly as he bowed his head, "it was pleasure, milady."
Beth felt her cheeks redden from his over politeness.
"Seriously, I can't thank you enough."
He smirked as she realized his hand was still resting on the small of her back.
"I'm sure we can come up with something..."
Before she knew it, Beth and this mystery man were back at her apartment, peeling off each other's clothes and groping their way to her bedroom as they also locked lips with one another. When they reached the bed, she pulled him down on top of her as the last of both of their clothes fell to the floor.
For the next hour she was in ecstasy like she had never known. This man knew every little thing to do to get her going and eventually they climaxed together both out of breath. She lay on his chest for a moment before rolling off of him. She looked over at his face and in the dim light she could just barely make out a smile playing across his lips. She sighed and closed her eyes not noticing her mystery guest getting up and showing himself out moments later. His bright green eyes solidifying her resting figure in his memory forever.
The next morning, Beth rolled over to discover the man from the night before was gone. She knew it was probably better this way, but she at least wished she could have given him her number, he did after all give her the best sex she had ever experienced.
She rolled out of bed and went to the shower.
As she got out, she heard someone ring the doorbell. She quickly got dressed and ran to the door.
"Who is it?"
"Tony Stark," a suave voice replied from the other side.
She felt her belly flip as she looked through the peephole and saw that it was indeed the famous Tony Stark. She opened the door and gave him her sweetest smile.
"Tony Stark, for what do I owe the pleasure?"
Tony Stark entered her apartment with a confident air as if he owned the place.
"Yesterday I tracked down a certain Peter Hibbert... I had reason to believe that he had hacked into Stark Industries."
Beth closed her front door and smiled at the billionaire.
"Pete's always been one to get into trouble. I'm not sure how this pertains to me. We recently broke up."
Stark smirked, "well then imagine my surprise when he says that it was you who hacked into my company from a local coffee shop. I had a little look at the shop's security footage and low and behold he was telling the truth."
Beth hung her head, "Are you going to turn me in?"
"Actually, I was going to offer you a job."
She looked up at him.
"I took the liberty of looking in to you. You seem like a good kid, top of your class at NYU, there's nothing on your permanent record, and your hacking skills even gave me a run for my money."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark," she said hardly believing what was happening.
Stark held out his card, which she took still stunned, "I understand that my offer is something that you probably want to think about. Just know the pay is fair and you'll be able to work from just about anywhere."
"I'll definitely think about it, Mr. Stark..." Beth said following him back to her front door.
"I'll be in touch."
Beth closed the door behind him and then looked at his business card.
"I'm sure you will," she said lowly.
Leave it to Pete to throw her under the bus, but it looks like beneath the bus wasn't so bad. Now she had to figure out if she wanted to take the job, which she didn't fail to notice that Stark didn't tell her any details about the job, but she could only imagine that it had to do with her hacking skills.
Two months later, Beth Miller was fully on the Stark Industries payroll as Stark's "assistant." Really, she was helping him hack into a military organization called "S.H.E.I.L.D." She didn't quite understand, but Stark explained it as they were "borrowing" information that someone named Fury would eventually share, but he wanted to know sooner.
"Hey buttercup, how's it going?" Stark (or as Beth was beginning to get use to call him, Tony) said as he came into his penthouse from the balcony after one of his "outings." He smiled at her as he slipped on his blazer.
She smiled back, she was beginning to enjoy Stark's snarky humor.
"Well Tony, I perfected your decryption program."
Stark frowned as he fiddled with one of his cufflinks, "how do you prefect something that's already perfect?"
Beth sighed as she saw Pepper walk into the room, "I just helped it be less detectable. Hi Pepper."
"Hi Beth," Pepper said sweetly and then turned to Tony as she added, "I was unaware Tony was having you come in today."
"It's fine, I really don't mind the overtime. Time and a half right? Oh..."
The two turned to Beth in concern as she placed her hand on her belly.
"You okay there buttercup? Not coming down with something right? Because that would be very unfortunate if you got me sick." Tony said which lead to him getting smacked by Pepper.
"No, no, I'm fine..." Beth said getting up and walking to the nearest bathroom, "must be that chicken I ate..."
"Yeah... Jarvis do a full scan on Beth please." Tony said as they heard Beth throw up.
"Yes sir." the AI said.
After a moment, Beth re-emerge from the bathroom, "Seriously it's not contagious. Just some bad chicken."
"I really want to believe that, Buttercup," Tony said pointing at her, "but I'll only believe it when Jarvis says so. Jarvis?"
"Well, Miss Bethany is right about one thing. She isn't contagious."
"But?"
Tony, Pepper and Beth all said in unison.
"Miss Bethany appears to be experiencing heightened levels of progesterone and hCG from her syncytiotroblasts."
"Meaning?" Beth said looking rather annoyed.
"You're pregnant," Pepper said amazed.
Stark looked at her with raised Eyebrows. Pepper shrugged, "what? I took some Biology in college."
"You've got to be kidding me." Beth groaned.
"Congrats?" Tony said awkwardly, "Whose the lucky guy?"
Beth sunk in a chair, "I'd like to know the same thing..."
Tony winced, "Oh..."
Pepper shot him a dirty look before looking back at Beth, "why don't you take the rest of the day off Beth?"
Beth nodded.
"Yeah..."
Meanwhile, Thor was meeting with Heimdall on the rainbow bridge.
"What is it Heimdall?"
"I have news of Loki that I believe will interest you," said the guardian of the bifrost.
"You have found Loki? You mean he is not dead?" Thor said in disbelief, "where is he?"
"I spotted him in Midgard. It appears he has made allies with the Chitauri."
Thor gripped Mjolnir tighter.
"I must get to Earth."
Beth stood nervously in the women's clinic. She looked down at the pamphlet. She knew this was the right thing for her to do. There was no way she could raise a child, let alone alone.
"Bethany Miller?" Beth turned to see a nurse holding her chart, "we're ready for you."
Beth began to follow the nurse into a sterile room where she saw the doctor was already waiting for her. He smiled warmly at her.
Something made Beth stop in the doorway, she rested her hand on her stomach.
"Please, have a seat Miss Miller," the doctor said kindly.
"Umm..." Beth took a slight step back, for the first time she actually felt it move, "I'm sorry, I can't do this. Sorry..."
She rushed out of the clinic. Beth hailed a taxi and jumped in.
"Where to, lady?"
"Stark Tower."
When Beth returned to Stark Tower she passed a man in suit coming out of the elevator. Beth could tell he was some sort of federal agent.
He nodded at her in acknowledgement.
"Miss Miller."
She looked at him surprised, "I'm sorry, have we met?"
He held out his hand, "Agent Coulson. I work for S.H.E.I.L.D. I believe your boss Mr. Stark hired you to steal our secrets."
"Oh... Yeah..." Beth said sheepishly as the elevator doors opened. She backed into the elevator and hit the button for her floor, "nice meeting you Agent."
When she stepped out of the elevator, she looked at Tony and Pepper who were sipping champagne, "I assume you already know who I had the pleasure of meeting downstairs."
Beth stopped smiling when she saw their serious expressions.
"What's wrong?"
"You remember the Avengers Initiative, right Beth?" Tony said pulling up his holographic screens. Beth looked at them and saw footage people on the screens. She recognized a few as the green monster known as "the Hulk" and the Asgardian called Thor who recently was in New Mexico. Then there were a few others that she didn't recognize apart from what she read in some of the files she skimmed through during her hacking sessions.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Apparently S.H.E.I.L.D. wants me to join them to help fight some joker who thinks he's better than us." Tony said flicking another image on his screens.
Beth looked at the photo and when she saw who it was she gasped. She sunk into a nearby chair with one hand on her mouth the other on her belly. It was him.
"His name is Loki, he's another Asgardian like Thor." Tony looked over at her as she stared at his face, "I take it you know him."
She nodded.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I wanted you to help hunt him down with your skills. Have into all the surveillance footage you can. I need to read up on as much as I can on this Tesseract."
Beth looked at another screen showing a glowing blue cube.
"I'll find him. Do you want me to hack into S.H.E.I.L.D. for this as well?" Beth said opening her laptop.
Tony went over to the bar and poured himself a stronger drink than champagne.
"Do whatever you got to do. Let's find this son of a bitch."
As she began to pluck away on her keyboard, Pepper came over to her side.
"Are you sure you're OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What made you think otherwise?" Beth said as she felt her throat contract slightly.
"Well, you seemed deeply affected by seeing Loki's photo..."
Beth stopped typing briefly as she looked over at Tony, whom she could tell was listening as he looked at his screens.
"That's him." Beth said softly as a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it vigorously away as she began to pull up various camera footage from around the globe.
"That's the father of my baby."
"I thought you were getting an abortion?" Pepper whispered.
Beth shook her head, "I changed my mind."
"And now?"
"This is as much my child as it is his. I've made my decision and I'm going to stick by it."
Pepper looked at her solemnly before getting up and leaving. Beth ignored the look she was receiving from Tony as she poured over the different security footage on her screen.
Hours later she looked up at Tony who looked like he was studying something intensely.
"Tony," he looked over at her, "I found Loki. He's in Berlin."
He shut down all of his screens with just one flick of his wrist and began walking for the elevator. She got up and followed him.
At the door, he turned and looked at her.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.
"I'm going with you," Beth said seriously.
"I need you here and besides I don't think where I'm going is a place for ladies sporting baby bumps, buttercup."
She put her hand to her abdomen and looked at him earnestly. Tony rested his hand on hr shoulder.
"We'll get him, okay? Use my computer to keep tabs with me and watch my back from here."
"Okay..." Beth said with a half smile.
Tony gave him her infamous Stark smirk as he stepped into the elevator.
"Oh, and tell Pepper I said to have a safe flight."
Beth smiled as she watched the doors close. She walked over to the sofa and activated Stark's holographic computer screens.
As she saw the Iron Man suit rocket away she cracked her knuckles and said, "okay, Jarvis, let's get to work."