Smooth as a snake, she lingered in the shadows of the extravagant party. The clothes she wore could represent the skin of a black mamba, the black dress came down to her knees and showed every curve, the black gloves she wore went up to her elbows, and the glossy solid black 7 inch heels stood out against pale skin.
Her hair, dark and black, a blood red strand of hair near her ear stood out to send a message, all put up in a braided bun. Electric blue eyes scanned the area for the person of choice, Red lips curved into a smirk to cover the grimace, seeing her quarry with a small group of people, namely one of them, Tony Stark.
Though with resentment, the deep wanting to throttle Stark, was pushed down, and she put down her glass of champagne to start walking to the group, though not engaging in the conversation.
Her heels made no sound, as she made her way to where she will stand, stopping to stand behind Tony. Catching the attention of her quarry, Dr. Jason Bates; an expert child's doctor, but the man held darker secrets.
The blond, pudgy man soon caught sight of the woman, eyes filled with recognition and fear. He excused himself and rushed to leave, leaving his glass of champagne on a table.
The woman pursued, but she felt as if she was being followed. Yet, her determination to finish what she started was stronger than the feeling.
She walked smoothly through the crowd, keeping her quarry in sight. Jason tried to make it to his car, but she sent out a projection of herself, causing the man to turn a different way.
Soon, she cornered him against a wall, two projections on either side keeping a close watch, but soon they disappeared, and the man stood proud, knowing this is the end.
"I am not surprised you found me, Griffin's girl." Jason spoke, unafraid, but it started to waver as she came close, standing right in front of him. "I don't know why you ran, you were the best warrior, we could've given you everything, the Boss Man gave you whatever you wanted."
"No, he never gave me freedom." She replied, her voice was an iceberg. "I see, no, he never gave that to anyone."
"He gave it to you and his other lackeys, you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted."
"We don't have powers, we are not special, we are not like you, we are disposable, you, on the other hand, are not."
"But we are human." She retorted, the ice cracking. She closed the distance in mere seconds and was in front of Jason. "This is the end of our conversation, I see, and only one of us is walking away, I'm guessing."
"You are smart, for a child kidnapper." She spoke, the cracks now fixed, the iceberg whole again.
Jason stood straight, looking at the woman in the eye, and the woman grimaced. She then kicked at his knee with full force, the sickening crack rang out.
The doctor screamed in pain, falling to his knees, "you don't deserve to die while standing." the woman spoke, squatting down to his level, before her arm turned to gold and transparent, along with the glove. "Not for what you destroyed in those children."
"What did I destroy? Enlighten me." The doctor growled, huffing and gritting his teeth in pain. "Hope." The woman replied, then her arm disappeared into the doctor's throat, his head tilting upwards as the woman stood.
For once since their conversation started, fear entered Dr. Bates eyes as he started to choke. The woman crushed his trachea and held on, the doctor started to gargle, struggling against her. But, the woman sighed, truthfully not liking the feeling of a slow killing.
She took out a dagger and stabbed the doctor in the heart and he died shortly after. The woman pulled her gloves off and tossed everything on top of the dead man.
The woman spun on her heel as she heard the patter of footsteps come behind her. She recognized him immediately, the God of Mischief stood before her. It was obvious he attended the party, as he wore a suit and tie, and his hair slicked back.
Though, Loki's eyes flashed with slight recognition, knowing that he had seen this woman before. It went away quickly as he regarded her for a few moments, "why did you kill him?"
"Were you not the one watching?" The woman replied smoothly with a smile, the ice had melted, replaced with a voice of fine wine and musical. Loki looked at her for another moment, trying to figure the woman out. "Who are you?" Loki whispered in a demanding tone. The woman smirked, "The Black Snake." She whispered back, and then she turned to a honey gold, though also transparent, then disappeared.
Loki stood there for a few moments, completely rattled by the woman with powers. Though, he turned to see Thor, who looked at him with a questionable glace. "Loki..."
"It wasn't me this time, it was a woman." Loki replied in defense, throwing his hands up in surrender. At the answer Loki gave, Thor, looked confused, "A woman?"
"Yes, brother, a woman, I know you've seen them, though I highly doubt you've seen one like her."
"What do you mean by that?" Thor replied with a huff, annoyed by Loki's sarcasm at the moment. "Ah, she identified herself as 'The Black Snake', and she has powers, though I'm not sure to what extent." Loki stated, walking over to the man and looking down to him. "Though I did listen in, it sounded like he deserved it, the woman killed him because he was kidnapping children for something."
"And you didn't step in?"
"I felt like if I did protect this man, I would've ended up seeing more of the woman's powers, maybe some that I didn't want to know, and again, it sounded like he deserved it."
"And you were not able to capture her?"
"She disappeared, Thor, she first turned transparent, then disappeared, there is no way we can find her right now."
"Well, if anything, now Stark wants a meeting of what happened, a couple heard the mans screams and became terrified, they warned the whole party, everyone is leaving." Thor sighed, running a hand through his hair. Sure enough, when Loki looked behind Thor, people were walking out to their cars and calling their chauffeurs.
Loki nodded once, "Well, I know what happened, shall we go inside?"
"Yes, we should, let's go, brother." Thor replied, turning to start heading to the doors, and Loki followed a step behind, deep in thought.
Loki felt as if he saw the woman before, believed he did. His eyes suddenly widened in remembrance, "Thor...I remember something." Loki gasped, stopping Thor at the empty doorway. "What is it Loki?"
"The woman, I remember her from a long time ago, her name is Adrina."
Adrina pulled the braids out of her hair, now in a wild mess. She blew the red strand out of her face and sat down on the bed of the motel. A meow came from under the bed, and a black cat crawled out from under the bed.
The cat looked up to Adria with two big green eyes and wore a small necklace, it's fur hiding a trinket.
"Still keeping safe the Stone, Viola?" Adria cooed, picking up the cat and setting Viola on her lap. She reached for the necklace and the cat rolled onto her back. The string held both the tag and a small gem, it was a black fire opal, a rainbow of colors, but the colors inside moved around ever-so-slightly.
Adria's face went solemn, holding the gem between two fingers on the string it was tied to. "It's my fault for finding this." Adria whispered, tears welling up. Viola purred, then leaped up so that a paw was on both shoulders. Adria sighed at the cat's accusatory look; her ears back and searching eyes.
"Not you, Viola, I don't regret you, I regret the stone." Adria chuckled sadly, and Viola nuzzled her head under Adria's. "Ok, OK, I'll stop being mopey." Adria chuckled, and Viola backed off, sitting back on Adria's lap.
"Well, the night is young, want to go explore it?" Adria questioned, knowing full and well Viola's answer, but couldn't help but smile as she nodded, then jumped off Adria's lap.
She changed into a grey sweater under an army green suede jacket with a light grey hood, blue jeans, and knee-high black combat boots.
Adria pushed her magic into Viola, making her disappear, "still there?" Adria chuckled, feeling the cat brush her leg, "let's go, then." And then they were off.
"Loki, you're in charge of finding this Adira, since you know the most out of all of us." Tony stated, and Loki looked at him wide-eyed. "I'm still slowly remembering things! And I'm telling them to you as I remember, why must I do it alone? I'm surprised you trust me."
"Me too, why should he do it alone?" Pepper questioned, and Stark shrugged. "Well, the girl has powers, I thought it would be his expertise, and if it makes you feel better, Thor, keep an eye on him."
"Why me?"
"Because you're brothers! Loki, can you just find the woman and bring her to the Avengers facility? That is all I ask of you."
"Fine, I'll find her." Loki huffed reluctantly, earning a sigh from Stark. "Thank you, now let's just head back to the facility, the party is ruined."
"What about the man's body?" Vision questioned, stopping Tony from walking. "Ah, him, yes, we really don't need it, do we? Dr. Bates will be taken care of, don't worry, I have people coming to take care of him."
"Well, while you go back to the facility, I'm going to start looking for the woman, I have a feeling she quite hasn't gone into hiding just yet." Loki stated, putting his hands behind his back and turned to walk away.
Everyone started to disperse, but Thor took a step behind Loki, "you don't have to follow me, I am actually going to start searching for The Black Snake." Loki commented, and then Thor started to walk next to him. "It's not that, you said you are starting to slowly remember things?"
"Yes, like, apparently I was practice for her sorcery, she can block memories till someone sees something or hears that triggers the memory back, or, at least that is what Adria told me that night in Germany before the party."
"I'm surprised you didn't tell her to go away that night."
"I admit, I was actually intrigued by her, at least, when she started talking about magic, now looking back, I'm impressed, it wasn't till I saw her I had no recollection of her being there, nor of our conversation, I thought I stood there and waited the whole time."
"My guess is, if you find her, be careful if she is powerful enough to alter your memories, who knows what she can do."
"Of course, I'll be careful, promise, I'll see you back at the Avengers Facility, Thor."
"Good, I'll see you back at the facility later then, Loki." Thor told his farewell before turning to walk the opposite way of Loki.
Loki smiled, then used his powers to change his clothes to a dark gray shirt under a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, and black boots. He made his way to the poorer parts of New York, with a determination to find Adrina Griffin.