Chapter 1

The familiar chiming of my infuriating alarm clock startled me out of bed at 7:00. I was a generally lazy person so any time before 8:00am was considered WAY too early for my liking. My body collided with the hard, wooden floor with a thud as I realised that I was due in work that morning. I groaned and heaved myself up to then blindly whack around the area where my clock was situated until it turned off. Successful, I dragged my sheets up back onto my bed and left them there. Stumbling over to my wardrobe, I found a handwritten note. It read:

Dear Sophie,
You promised me you'd wear the outfit I bought you for
your birthday to work one day, so I've helped you keep
your promise! I've taken all your clothes apart from the outfit
and you won't get them back until I see proof you wore that
outfit to work.
Love,
Ella - Best Friend Forever xx

P.S. Thanks for letting me sleep over last night, really appreciate
it! Xxxx xoxo

"Oh no!" Frantic, I yanked open the old doors to reveal, like the note said, nothing but the outfit I had jokingly promised to wear. "I hate you so much Ella Daines."

After much swearing and complaint, I trudged out of my bedroom in skinny jeans, galaxy converse sneakers and Stark Industries, bright pink jumper. The jumper read, "stark industries, chief weapons tech advisor" which Ella had bought me from the fan store round the corner for my birthday. I had said to her "oh yeah, stark will totally love this!" In a very sarcastic manner, and she took that to mean "yes Ella, I promise to wear this to work!" Well...that's not exactly what happened, but that's the only version of the story I will accept. The ancient wooden stools creaked as I sat down to eat my bowl of cereal, blissfully unaware my phone was buzzing like crazy because of the furious income of messages. Eventually however, I noticed and cautiously lifted my phone. A series of messages from my boss, in capitals, which meant he was peeved, said more or less, 'get your ass down here or else!' Panicked, I glanced at the clock and abandoned my breakfast on the table, just managing to grab my jacket as I sprinted out of the door. It was 8:15am. I was late, again.

Pepper Potts was waiting by the door with a concerned look on her face as I rushed through the door of Stark Tower. "Sophie. The one day you definitely didn't want to be late." I bit my lip and walked towards her. She handed me a file marked 'Top Secret' and gave me a sorrowful look. I daren't open it. "I'm not going to like this am I?" She shook her head slowly. Then, she lead me towards the lift where a man took my jacket with a smile. Pepper raised her eyebrow at my attire and just smirked. "Hey! This is vintage!" I defended, trying not to laugh. The lady sighed as the number indicating which floor we were on rapidly increased. "Sophie, this assignment may be rather delicate by your standards, and will demand your upmost loyalty and secrecy...and patience, probably. Do you get my gist?" I gulped.
"Wow. I'm really not going to like this. At all."
A bell sounded signifying we had arrived at the top floor, and the doors slid open. On the other side of them was a stunning view of the city and the familiar layout of Stark's suite, as (stupidly, in my opinion) advertised on TV. Why, I know not. Around a table, sat the heroes of New York. 'Whoa!' I thought, 'this is so cool!' The entire team of Avengers, Nick Fury and...Loki. A rage boiled up in the pit of my stomach, as I had to painfully gnaw on my lip to attempt calm. "Sophie..." Pepper warned. At seeing my distress, Loki grinned and turned his attention to the windows. 'Or not...' Angered, I hastily twisted my gaze to stark. "Sir."
"You're late."
"I know. Sorry." Silence. The question was hanging off the tip of my tongue, and nobody said anything so I just launched in. "Sir, what the hell is it you want me to do which meant I had to get here so urgently?" Tony smiled, all annoyance about my lateness gone.
"We need you to study this." He said picking up the sceptre laying in the middle of the table. "To see if there's anyway we can stop- hang on . You have opened the file right?" I shook my head.
"Not yet...I'm guessing I take this, read the file and get started on...whatever this is?" A sharp voice cut through our conversation.
"You're handing MY sceptre to a mere human for the purpose of what? Science? Really?" Thor was at a struggle at what to say to his brothers clear irritation. Naturally, as per usual, I lashed out a response. "Well, you are on earth, mate, so what do you think your 'sceptre' is gonna be given to? A dog?" That received a chuckled from more or less everyone, bar Loki, who just gave me the most terrifying glare which chilled me to the bone. Unnerved, I returned my attention to my boss. "When do I start?" I asked excitedly! I had wanted to study this since the battle of New York! There was so much potential for scientific discovery in that sceptre, and now it was in my hand! He patted me on the back and went to take his seat at the table. I was about to leave when he called over his shoulder. "Oh, and Loki's going to be in there with you since he can't be trusted anywhere else."
"What." Loki and I snapped sternly. "Since when?" Loki took the words right out of my mouth.
"Since whenever it was this was decided. Now brother, just go stay with the human out of the way for Odin's sake." Thor reprimanded.
"Sir, objection. He is NOT staying in my lab."
"Objection overruled, and technically it's er, MY lab?! So move." Defeated, I took one glance at Loki, turned on my heel and headed for the stairs. "Aren't you going to wait for your...accomplice?" Loki's ice cold voice barked. Undeterred, I called back. "Nope. Move your ass and hurry up." High pitched whistles and murmurs of amusement could be heard as Loki stalked over to the lift. Luckily, the doors opened just before he got to me and I slipped in and closed them again. The tiny box started to descend and I slumped against the wall, sceptre in hand. "Such fun."

"Stark, was it really wise giving her the sceptre, AND having Loki in there?" Coulson observed after Loki left. After New York, Coulson had deliberately being avoiding Loki ever since he arrived, so only entered Stark's suite once was sure Loki had gone.
"She'll handle it. To be honest, I rather think she'll give Loki a run for his money."
"We'll see." Thor grunted.
"Why do you say that, Tony?" Captain America continued.
"She's a bit of a handful..." Stark sighed. "And given her background she should be right at home whilst dealing with Loki's...attitude."

I pushed open the clear glass door to my laboratory with a sigh. It was impeccably clean, with all beakers and chemicals in perfect order. A Stark Industries ear piece and mic was lying on the a stainless steel table in the centre of the room. I smiled and went over, gently placing the sceptre on the stand which was also situated on the table. Once the ear piece was attached to my head, I spoke into it. "Morning JARVIS!"
"Good morning, Sophie. How can I help you today?"
"Could you run a full scan of the sceptre whilst I read the file please?"
"Of course, ma'am." A holographic screen appeared in front of my eyes, projected by the headpiece, displaying a diagram of the sceptre with various radiation levels and whatnot.
"Perfect. How long will it take?"
"Around an hour." My head fell back as I groaned.
"Ugh. Fine." I sat on the table and picked up the file, I was about to open it, when I finally realised how tidy the area was. I clicked the ear piece and connected to Stark's piece instantly. "Sir, did you tidy in here?" Frowning I inspected cupboards and tables around. "Ugh! It's too organised!"
"Don't mess it up again." He responded disdainfully. I pulled a face as he clicked off, the equivalent of hanging up on a phone. A mischievous smile played on my lips as I connected back to JARVIS. "Does it matter if the sceptre gets used during the scan?"
"I wouldn't recommend it, but theoretically it doesn't matter. Please don't do anything stupid."
"Do I ever!" Laughing I picked up the sceptre and clambered on top of the table. Surprisingly, the instrument was quite light for its' size. I hopped on each of the work surfaces and tables until I managed to get to the one right in the corner. Closing my left eye and biting my lip, I tried to shoot at the glass beakers. Nothing happened. "Oh." I kept trying, and probably looked like a total idiot thrusting the sceptre back and forth, but still nothing happened.
"Well that sucks." I swung the sceptre aimlessly, hoping it would do something, and it didn't disappoint. A blue flash of light shot from the sceptre and smashed one of the steel cabinet doors, shooting sparks everywhere! "Whoa!"
"What do you think you're doing?" A sinister, cold voice, sliced through my little happy moment. Loki's towering figure shadowed the doorway, glaring. "Heh...um...I'm er...doing scientific research?!"
"By acting like a child? Pathetic."
"Have you ever genuinely had fun? Do you even know what that word means?" He said nothing. "Clearly not. Because otherwise you might not be so arrogant and so completely ignorant. I mean seriously." My gut was telling me that this was so not going to end well. Bored, and a little depressed due to Loki's interruption, I jumped off the table and returned the sceptre to the stand. "Just stay out of my way." I mumbled. He grunted and took a seat by the door, watching my every move. The hologram that was originally in front of my face, appeared above the sceptre with a detailed diagram of it, courtesy of JARVIS. I exploded the image and took a look inside, quickly forgetting about the file I was meant to read. Suddenly appearing interested, Loki came beside me to study the image also. "What, you don't know anything about this either apart from how to use it?" I asked, genuinely curious. "No. I didn't really care, but now..." He responded, seeming almost human, natural. It was strange. "Well that makes two of us then." I'd never really realized how tall Loki was before, but standing next to him made me feel exceptionally short, even with my 5'8" height. I tucked my short hair behind my ear, it was a nervous tick. Unfortunately, I don't think that went unnoticed by Loki. It used to be longer, but I accidentally set it on fire in an experiment a few weeks ago. It wasn't my fault! The chemical reaction just kind of…exploded. My hair looked a bit silly with half of it incinerated, so I had it cut. I risked another glance at my 'associate', who was staring intently at the diagram. Regrettably, he caught my gaze again so I hurriedly turned my attention away from him and carried on what I was supposed to be doing.

The morning dragged by, what with Loki hovering around. It made me feel…not scared as such, more...absolutely terrified that he could snap me like a twig at any given moment. I was out of my depth on this assignment for sure. The last task I was set, was to investigate the remnants of the Extremus project, which was pretty basic in my opinion. Others would strongly disagree, but there you go. It was around mid-day when Stark came down to 'evaluate' my progress…in reality he was just checking everything was alright with Loki. Stark was proudly displaying the Mark 42 Suit as he sauntered down the stairs and into the lab. "Sir." I politely nodded.
"How's it coming along?" He responded curtly, eyeing the God of Mischief.
"I can't really find anything new about it. All the 'skills' we saw in New York are the only real facts I can determine, apart from that, I have no idea. I need more time to study it. It's alien Tech, sir, what do you expect? I haven't the faintest idea of what I'm dealing with."
"No you really don't, petty mortal." Loki jeered.
"Oh! So if you'd kindly like to display what you know about the sceptre besides how to use it, A.K.A nothing, we'd be much obliged." At my harsh words, Loki looked for the first time, truly taken back. Stark, trying and failing to suppress a laugh, held up his hand for a hi-five. "That was priceless." Finally feeling proud of myself, I happily handed Stark the file on everything I (well technically didn't) discover, and sighed as he turned his back and headed through the door.
"Oh and sir, where are you off to exactly? You never said."
"Er…Brooklyn." In that instant, my blood turned to ice in panic. "Rogers Avenue, I believe." Relieved, I hastily nodded. Slightly wary, but hesitant to pry, Stark left. Completely forgetting Loki was in the room, I reached for my phone which I'd left on the table. A firm, strong hand clamped around my wrist and twisted my arm backwards. Cringing, I let out a tiny squeak, barely noticeable. "How dare you challenge and insult me openly. Do you not respect your superiors? Your elders? Really, you have no sense of decency." Angered, but still in agony, I choked out a comeback.
"I respect all those who respect me, regardless of age or status. Right now, I respect you as much as a common thug. You are nothing. You crave to be followed, and honestly that's just low." I could almost see the rage burning in his eyes as he twisted my arm back further with a sickening crack. His boot collided with my stomach as I was sent flying backwards smashing the glass doors, stark had recently exited. Helpless, covered in blood and lying shrivelled against the wall, I managed a weak smile. "Dude, you should take anger management." Loki stalked over to where I lay and crouched down, forcefully cupping my cheeks in his hand. "The only thing stopping me from killing you right now, is the fact that the foolish mortals actually think they need you." With a sharp shove, he stood up and walked out of the lab like nothing ever happened.

"I hate him. So much." My anger had been taken out on the poor pillow left on my bed inside the Medical Bay. "Please stop moving. I know you're peeved, but honestly Sophie, beating up a pillow is not going to help. Besides, once I've finished this we can try and get you back to work." The doctor remarked. She was a nice lady, but strict. Nobody messed with Doctor Harris. You just didn't. She lead the team of doctors in charge of running the utter chaos known as the Medical Bay. The area was brimming with people scurrying back and forth between beds containing injured or sick patients, monitors, machines and various cabinets chock full of medicines and drugs. It always reminded me from a scene in a movie where patients would wake up in an impeccably clean white room, with no memory of how they got there or why... It also stank of disinfectant, another reason for my dislike of this place which I had had the misfortune of visiting so often.
"I was genuinely surprised when I heard you were in the Med Bay for a reason other than for testing unsafe liquids and experiments on yourself." She eyed me and flicked my ear strongly as a way of saying she wasn't impressed with the reasons I was usually here. It wasn't my fault I wasn't patient enough to wait for all the safety regulations and stuff! I just thought it would be much quicker to test on myself and save all the hassle! "I need to ring Ella. The avengers are heading to Brooklyn." Biting my lip, I ferociously thought of all the ways I could sneak up to the lab, grab my phone ring Ella and get to safety, without being noticed by Loki...
"SOPHIE!" Suddenly, I realised Doctor Harris had been calling my name for quite some time. "For heaven's sake girl! Right, now that I have your attention, why exactly are you here?"
"I insulted Loki." I stated bluntly. By the look she was giving me I assumed she wanted greater detail so I continued, with the same amount of bluntness. "So he broke my arm. Then shoved me into a wall. Then basically told me I was useless."
"Oh Sophie. When are you going to learn that there are some things that are better to be left alone?"
"When the things that are 'better left alone' learn to stay away from my planet." We didn't speak again until she'd more or less cleaned up all the cuts from the glass and put my arm in a cast. "It should stay in place, but if it doesn't just give us a shout." Thanking the doctor, I made my way back to the lift to see if this plan I'd somehow managed to come up with would actually work.