Hi everyone! I'm back with another story, this time for one of my favourite Marvel movies, Thor: Ragnarok. This will eventually be a Valkyrie x OC story, because I haven't read a single one and it's what that bicon deserves! But for now, let me introduce you to Kate, and get the ball rolling! This begins during the movie, so no lengthy prologuey nonsense.
To say you were an assistant to a magician was kind of embarrassing. But when the magician was literally magic, like orange-glowy-stuff-in-the-air magic? That was pretty neat.
To be fair, Kate couldn't technically tell any of her friends that, but it felt deeply satisfying. To her friends, the Doctor part of Doctor Strange, not to mention the cheekbones of said Doctor, were more relevant than any rabbit tricks.
It was a pretty snoozy job; transit was nothing since she lived on-site, he just kind of floated around most of the time so she hardly ever vacuumed or swept the floors, and she absolutely took advantage of his spells to keep some great food in the pantry.
He paid well, being a former doctor and all, and he was nice enough to chat to.
But, god, was Kate bored. Existentially bored.
When she was 19, fresh out of high school, she had left her friends and family behind to travel the world. Putting all her savings into a one-way ticket to Paris, she lived a romantic, gorgeous, picturesque life for about three weeks before she ran out of money and had to call her parents and beg them to buy her a ticket back.
In a way, finding a job where she could live on-site was a godsend; her parents had never really treated her like an adult since. But sorting artifacts and taking messages was not exactly fulfilling.
Kate had tried everything. She had gone on an exercise-diet craze and put on some muscle. She had cut her hair to chin length, dyed it red, dyed it back to brown immediately, had one-night stands and read Eat, Pray, Love six times.
The exhilarating, albeit childish feeling of adventure crept up on her late at night, whispering promises of something more than this.
Sitting in her bedroom in the loft, a ladder away from the rest of her world, she fiddled with a folded-up piece of paper. Her notice of resignation.
It was signed, and dated for three weeks time. A while ago, she had promised herself she would find the joy in this life, or leave. She gave herself six months. It had been over five, and nothing.
Her room was nice; she felt most herself when snuggled among cushions and blankets, earphones shoved as deeply in her ears as possible, staring up at the wooden beams filled with dust and cobwebs. Now she sat at her desk, swinging back and forth on her swivel chair. Thursday afternoons she had off unofficially, as Stephen tended to hole up in his office downstairs, researching magic, both theory and history, late into the night. Several times she had gone to get a drink in the early hours of the morning and seeing a crack of light under the door, only to see him still working away the next morning. She supposed he could just magic-away the tiredness. It was in many ways a good thing that Stephen had been unsuccessful in teaching Kate any spells; she was lazy enough as it is without an instant cure for everything.
A sloshing of water snapped her out of her own thoughts, and she swore as she rushed to the bathroom next-door. The bath, which she had previously planned to take, was now overflowing onto the patterned tile, and creeping steadily toward the old wood floor. She chucked her towel onto the tiles as she ran past and shut the tap off. The towel was drenched immediately, and she shoved her still-clothed arm into the tub and pulled the plug out. As the level slowly receded back to safety, she threw anything absorbent onto the edge of the tiles, grabbing towel after towel from the cupboard.
Crises averted, she slumped down onto the toilet seat and put her face in her hands. She let out a dramatic sigh of relief, and looked through the doorway into her bedroom. The paper was still out on her desk. Maybe if she changed the date?
After somewhat enjoying the bath, she crept downstairs to the laundry, toweling off the ends of her hair with one hand, carrying the wet mass of towels in the other. It was just after 10pm and as usual, the Doctor's office was the only light on, on the floor. The laundry was always cozy because of the central heating system pipes that all connected together on the far wall, but after a hot bath, Kate was more in the mood for some fresh air. She set the towels on for a quick spin, and made her way out to the giant circular window at the front of the second floor. Stephen's office was just down the hall, and the muffled noises of books thumping and pages rustling seemed like he was deep into work.
But then she listened a little longer and realized how rushed the noises seemed. A breakthrough, maybe? He was pretty open about the whole magic society thing, but whatever he was researching, he kept pretty quiet.
She chose to tune it out and instead turned her attention outwards onto the street. Fall was only days away, but already the city had begun to freeze up. The streetlights seemed dimmer, the few pigeons and squirrels still awake were huddling under trees whose leaves were curling up in the cold. Inside, the house never really got all that cold, but the glass fogged up in patches of breath, and her fingers left smudges in the condensation.
Kate jumped, just about banging her head on the windowpane as a door behind her slammed open. She whirled around to see Doctor Strange bounding out of his room in full getup. It was surprisingly not a rare sight to see, although usually the pendant on his chest didn't glow as brightly green as it did now.
He seemed taken aback by her presence, but barely slowed down his stride as he banged down the main stairs. He called out to her, "There's an unfamiliar magic signature two blocks from here, could be dangerous so don't wait up!"
Kate stumbled up and rushed after him. "Should I make some tea?" She stopped as he let out a frustrated huff.
"Does this seem like the occasion for tea?" He yelled out, head falling down out of view as he made it to the landing. She waited, put off, then heard his footsteps stop. "Please do," he said, quieter this time. And again he was off, slamming the heavy front door behind him.
A distant 'ding' rang out as the washing machine cycle finished.
It was not often that Kate found herself in the ground floor kitchen making tea at 1am. Occasionally Stephen would have a late-night meeting due to international time-differences, and she would bring him in a little something, but at least then she knew how things were going to be. This time, she had spent the past two hours boiling the kettle over and over, waiting for Stephen to come home again, preferably in one piece.
She had tentatively set out a third cup for this mysterious sorcerer on the off chance he or she might be friendly.
Pressing down on her eyelids until she saw starbursts, she tried to fight back the relentless yawning.
"Ah, fuck it," Kate whispered to herself, and grabbed the kettle off the stove, pouring her own cup of chamomile. Like hell she was having anything caffeinated.
Just as she leant back against the countertop and breathed in that sweet steam, a bang echoed out, causing her to jump and spill the hot liquid down her right arm. Cursing under her breath, she hurried to set the tea down and run some cold water over her arm. She listened out for signs of violence, but it was totally quiet.
Forgetting the sting on her skin, she curiously padded down the hallway, becoming suddenly aware of her fuzzy socks and Captain America pajamas (which she had bought to annoy Stephen - which they did). Unfortunately, a detour two flights up to her room was out of the question, so she just hoped this wizardly intruder didn't understand any pop culture references.
Shuffling noises in the library led her to Stephen, who was standing in front of the figure. Kate cleared her throat. "Uh, tea, anyone?"
Doctor Strange turned to face her, revealing who stood just past him. Loki.
As in, killed a bunch-load of people, ruined a bunch-load of buildings, fought a bunch-load of superheroes Loki. Definitely a bad guy.
Kate paused, and looked down at herself. Definitely a bad guy that would recognize Captain America's shield pattern on her pants. When she gained the resolve to look up again, he was grinning at her, an eyebrow raised.
Frowning, she turned to Stephen. "Do you want black tea or something herbal?" Now she lowered her voice to a whisper. "I don't give him tea, right? Like, evil people don't get hospitality. I could give him that shitty brand?" A quick glance back at the supervillain revealed he very clearly heard her.
Without waiting to hear Stephen's answer, she rushed out of the room, cheeks as bright as the red on her pajamas.
Whether crazy alien gods liked tea or not, she was still going to give him the shitty expired brand of English Breakfast tea. All the news outlets said he was super manipulative, so Kate decided she had full rights to be a dick right back.
Awkwardly balancing three hot mugs, she rushed back into the library, where she noticed for the first time the heavy enchanted cuffs Doctor Strange must have placed on him. Tea drinking would be difficult with limited mobility. The thought cheered her up, and she set them all down on the coffee table.
Stephen looked at the three mugs, one half-full from an earlier spill, and then back up at Kate. He clearly hadn't anticipated on her staying. She shrugged, and picked up her tea, settling into a lush armchair. If he wanted her to go, he'd have to outright say it. Curiosity would absolutely kill the cat, but this was an opportunity she couldn't resist.
Stephen sighed and turned to Loki. "I'll ask you again, why have you returned here?"
"To put my father in a retirement home," Loki answered smugly.
Kate let out a snort before she could stop it, and tried to hide her smile behind her hand, shoulders shaking slightly. She calmed down enough to gesture at him, go on.
He looked at her curiously at turned back to Doctor Strange. "I assure you, I have no intentions of harming your precious planet, I simply aim to provide my father with the care he needs. Asgard needs a new, vitalized ruler." He opened his arms as far as he could, and grinned. Clearly he meant himself.
Kate nodded seriously, "fair enough." Again, both men's attention drew to her. Loki, with a bemused look on his face; Stephen, certainly not amused. "Don't sympathize with the…with the villain, huh? Yeah… Sorry about that."
She quietly sipped her tea, purposefully ignoring eye contact with either one.
"Should you return immediately to Asgard," Doctor Strange carefully began, "and not return here, I won't report you to SHIELD, or the government, or anyone. You have no place here."
Without once touching his tea (understandably so), Loki finally stood up, and held his arms out. "My business here is done, Strange. I will bid you, and your…companion, farewell."
Kate scrunched up her face and drained the last of her cup. She watched silently as Stephen removed the chains and allowed Loki to vanish from sight in a split second. The glow on his pendant dimmed back down to regular levels. "He is gone," Stephen muttered, rubbing his face roughly and heading out of the library.
Kate stayed behind to clean up, only to see something odd inside one of the mugs. It was Loki's cup, still full with the tea he never drank, yet something glinted at the bottom.
She couldn't see it properly, and took the three mugs to the kitchen. After draining his out, a small lump of metal fell onto her palm. It looked somewhat like a coin, but with a narrow hole on one edge, and strange etchings all over.
Suspicious, Kate knew she couldn't keep it. It was clearly one of his tricks, but at the same time, she felt a burst of adrenaline within her. A secret, a mystery, quite possibly something from another planet. The adventure and excitement she had gone to Paris to find had now come right into her own hands.
Rinsing it off, she squeaked her fingertips on it and carefully bit down on it. Whatever it was, it was pretty solid. Could even be expensive.
"Nice," she muttered to herself, slipping it into her pajama pocket before another bout of yawning wracked her.
Please let me know what you think! Next chapter Loki will be back and so will our favorite Fabio, Thor!