Lokimotive Engineer

Hey hey hey, you guys! ^_^; Yeah, it's been a while, but I have finally got a new story for ya! :) Yep, so, this is an Avengers fanfic, haha. I have never actually watched the Avengers, although I've watched both Thor and Iron Man so I might be horribly wrong and off about some things, but please bear with me, hehe! ^_^;

Yeah, this will be a FrostIron story! :3 I really really REALLY love the pairing of FrostIron at the moment, so get ready for this one! :D Haha, it'll be slightly cutesy, probably, I'm guessing, and also there will be no hardcore smut in here, because I'm not really into writing that kind of stuff anymore... but, still, I'm sure that it'll be absolutely great! :D

I know a little bit about train operations, but not actually too much. XD Let's just pretend that Canadian Pacific (herein known as CP, or CP Rail) runs in the area around New York City, yeah? Yeah. Good.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this Marvelous universe! (I'm pretty sure I just ripped that sentence off of somebody else... hehe! XD)

"Aww, hell! Why do we have to be the one driving the dangerous goods train?" A loud, irritated voice broke through Loki's concentration, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes?" he asked, bringing his head up sharply to meet the eyes of the short conductor with the scruffy brown hair whom he was scheduled to be working with today. Being a relatively new locomotive engineer in the area meant he hadn't met this particular conductor yet, although the fact that he was just out of training probably didn't exactly help. "What is wrong with that?"

"Just..." The conductor couldn't hide his frustration. "We'll probably be under slow orders!"

"Yes. What about it?" Loki was trying his best to hide his frustration at this conductor who obviously hadn't bothered to learn that driving a train was sometimes slow, tedious, and stressful and dangerous work, as it would be today. Having been a locomotive engineer for two years already meant that he had worked dangerous trains many times. He himself didn't mind it, patient as he was.

"Well, it's SLOW!" the conductor burst out. Loki just sighed.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" he asked stiffly.

"Well..." The conductor shrunk under Loki's withering glare. "No..."

"Good." Loki turned to cast a careless glance away from his papers and towards the lead locomotive of the train they'd be driving. CP 8813. He grinned. This locomotive had a great horn and it was one of his favourites. Despite the fact that it was extremely rare to see the same engine more than once within a period of a few years, in just two years he had already driven it twice. It was nice to see that he'd get the chance to do so again.

"This locomotive sucks," the conductor muttered suddenly under his breath, but Loki caught the remark anyway and sharply turned his head towards the conductor.

"Well, I don't think so," he retorted sharply, trying to keep his cool although the other man was currently irritating him to no end. Loki strongly wished at the moment that he could just magic some sense into the man, but that could possibly draw SHIELD's attention to him and he most certainly didn't want that.

His hand automatically reached into his right front pocket and he unconsciously fingered the small gold locket at the bottom. At the moment, it stored the majority of his magic so that it was accessible to him should he ever need it—although he certainly no longer planned to use it for malicious purposes—and it had an anti-tracing spell on it that protected him from SHIELD and even Heimdall.

He jerked his thoughts back to the present as he added, "And I quite like the horn. Now, go and inspect your train and I'll be waiting for you inside the cab."

He shrugged his leather black jacket higher up on his shoulders and zipped it up as he walked towards the engine, and then he grabbed the railings flanking the stairs as he pulled himself up onto the small walkway running along 8813's side. He walked slowly along the side of the engine and then headed into the cab when he had ensured that the conductor was, indeed, doing his job. Once he was inside, he sat down in his seat on the right side of the cab and let out a small, irritated huff. He checked his iPhone for the time, and then checked the papers once again.

11:45 AM, the on-screen clock read. He frowned. They had been supposed to leave the yard at 11:30, which was approximately fifteen minutes earlier. Trains often ran late, but he usually rather preferred to be on time.

His scowl only deepened as he thought, No doubt the conductor is trying his best to make my life difficult.

The conductor appeared five or ten minutes later, Loki wasn't really sure, and threw himself down into his seat with a sigh. Loki eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you quite done inspecting the train?" he wanted to know.

"Yes." The conductor glowered. "What's it to you?"

"Are the air brakes hooked up?"

That gave the conductor pause. "Oh. No."

Inwardly, Loki screamed, You're so incompetent and you could have us both killed! But all he did was snap, "Well, go hook them up, then! And do it properly!" Something in his tone must have scared the conductor, who went scrambling out of his seat and apparently couldn't get out of the cab fast enough.

Loki just frowned, his eyes narrowing, and let out a sharp, audible puff of air through his nose. The conductor was merely out of training. He couldn't help it. He couldn't…

Yeah, that was a lie.

Just as Loki was wondering how this conductor ever got out of training if he couldn't even properly remember how to hook up the air brakes without help, the conductor came quietly back into the cab and lowered himself slowly back down into his seat, glowering over the console at Loki.

When Loki spoke, he was surprised to find his voice much, in a way, gentler than he thought it could be at this moment.

"Come on. Let's go." He couldn't help the way his voice sounded resigned, sort of; he couldn't help the way that he almost sounded weak.

Weak meant forgiving. Accepting. Acting like the conductor wasn't a total idiot for acting like such a stupid moron who only wanted the easy, fast jobs and couldn't even remember to hook up the air brakes when there were lives on the line.

But there was really no place for that here, he reminded himself resignedly, letting out a silent sigh as he pushed on the throttle and looked forward and the train started to move.

Tony Stark was drinking.

Well, not much. But Pepper didn't really approve of him drinking when he was supposed to be signing papers.

"Will you please put that down?" the pretty blonde-haired woman asked him, sounding slightly impatient.

"What?" Although it had only been five seconds, he had already gotten lost in his thoughts and it took him a moment to remember where he was. Pepper's eyes narrowing at him gave him the mental jolt he needed. "Ohh, right, the drink. Yeah…" He set the half-full glass down carefully on the table and cleared his throat. "Now. What else did you need me to sign?"

Pepper wordlessly handed him a piece of paper, which he quickly read over and then scrawled his signature onto at the bottom.

This continued on for a short time, and when he was finally free he quickly escaped to his lab and busied himself with working on the latest improvements for the Iron Man suit.

"I wonder how Loki's doing," he allowed himself to wonder idly as he worked. His mind had wandered while he worked, and now he had turned to thinking about the destruction that the black-haired god had caused a few years earlier. He never actually bothered to remember how long ago it was; that wasn't to say that he had gotten over it, but there were other, more important things in his life to worry about now and he simply couldn't be fussed to worry about things that had happened years prior.

And that was when JARVIS dropped the bombshell on him.

"At the mention of his name, I ran some scans, sir, and Loki is currently here on Earth. In fact, he is not too far from here and currently works as a train operator and locomotive engineer for Canadian Pacific under the name of Loki 'Lukas' Markson."

Tony just choked. On the air.

"What?!"

Thanks for reading, m'dears! :3 It is much appreciated, hehe! ^_^; Now, then... :P

Please, review? :) I would absolutely love to know what you think about this! Thanks! :)

Can you guess how JARVIS figured out that Loki was here on Earth? ;)