A/N: Hello! Welcome to the story! Whether it be your first time reading one of my stories or you've read them all (doubtful) I welcome you to my newest fic. If you have read some of my other stories then you are probably wondering what in the nine realms I'm doing writing another story instead of updating one of my other ones. Well, the thing is new ideas come easily, the hard part is finishing them out. Never fear, my other stories will be finished eventually, but I came up with this idea, wanted to get started on it, and there you have it. I hope you enjoy! :)
The airport was filled with a hustle and bustle that greatly disturbed the sole occupant of Waiting Area B. The young woman disliked any noise above eighty decibels and the crowded building was certainly above one hundred with it's crowds, machines, and background noise of planes taking off. She would have covered her ears, but she considered it frightfully rude to do so in public and so refrained from the action.
Her watch kept the time with a steady ticking and when she glanced down at it she was displeased to find that her escort was running behind schedule. Blast whatever people said about "fashionably late", it was rude to keep others waiting on your own behalf. The young woman did not abide rudeness of any sort, but that was to be expected in her line of work. Teachers of etiquette were creatures to be feared and ever since this particular instructor had gained her position she had reveled in politeness and batted away any misbehavior like a world class cricket player.
There was a shuffling of feet, barely audible above the airport noises, coming in the woman's direction. She knew who it was without looking and rose to her feet. Forcing a warm smile despite this person's incivility and tardy arrival time, the woman offered her hand to the man before her. He wore all black leather, including over his missing eye. His head was as bald as the aerial American mascot and his goatee glistened with sweat, but a small grin was present as he shook her hand.
"Ms. Keeves?" He asked.
"Yes, Director Fury, I presume?" She replied, noticing he had a suitably firm hand shake.
"The one and only. Thank you for coming all this way. How was your flight?" He picked up her bag and began leading her to the airport exit. She briskly trotted alongside him.
"Not so bad as last time I visited the States, though there was a bit of delay due to some alien technology hanging about and causing interference." In truth the flight had been a wretched affair, but it would have been impolite to gripe about her own problems so she let the matter fall.
"Sorry about that, getting the whole mess cleaned up is taking a bit more time than we at SHIELD would like, but we are only human." Fury took her to a black SUV with an eagle logo on it and opened the back door for her.
"From what I've heard, not all of your people are human." She couldn't help but snort a little.
"True, but I highly doubt any of our Avengers would stoop to cleaning up the city - even if they helped make the mess." The director laughed and tossed her luggage into the trunk of the vehicle. She climbed into the back seat of the car and straightened her pencil skirt and pristine blouse.
"Have you got any questions before we head to the base?" Fury asked her as he fastened his seatbelt in the driver's chair.
"To be frank, I've quite a few questions about this whole ordeal. For starters, why on earth would a spy agency need an etiquette teacher from London? I can't imagine your agents need training in how to properly set a table or behave at formal events." She smirked slightly, impolite as it was.
"Actually, some of our people do have to know that kind of thing for undercover operations," Fury commented, "But we have our own people for that. The reason we hired you, Ms. Keeves, was because we wanted the best of the best in teaching manners."
"Whatever for?"
"Have you ever heard of the phrase 'adding insult to injury'?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Well, by hiring you for this particular job we'll be doing just that."
"And to whom will we be doing this?"
"Loki of Asgard."
"I beg your pardon? Isn't that the man… alien… person, who initiated the Battle of New York last week?"
"It is. The king of Asgard decided that as punishment for these actions Loki will be staying on Earth to do community service and learn more about us."
"And I am to do what exactly?"
"In order to learn more about us we thought it might be good if he learned how to properly behave himself. You are going to give him manners lessons." Fury grinned smugly.
"I'm sorry, but that sounds utterly mad. If you have the beast in a cage why would you want to poke it with a stick?"
"Insult to injury."
"I don't mean to insult you, but is everyone at SHIELD as daft as you are, director?"
Fury chuckled. "I like you Keeves."
"The entire purpose for my being here is to irritate that madman with lessons in how to properly behave so that you can make him feel lowly? I don't see the logical benefit."
"Maybe it isn't logical, but Stark is paying your salary so I don't really care."
"Unbelievable."
"Are you going to go through with it or not? I can always take you back to the airport if it's outside your comfort zone."
She thought for a moment, biting her lip nervously. This certainly crossed outside of her comfort zone, in fact it missed it by miles. However, she was always one to challenge herself - not to mention she would get the chance to tell this Loki how the people of Earth felt about his attempted take over. Her dear American pen pal had been wounded greatly in the battle and Ms. Keeves felt it her duty as a human to do everything in her power to make the would-be-king miserable. And on top of those benefits she would also be paid a hefty sum for her services.
"I'll do it. If for nothing else than to be able to spit in Loki's food for all that he's done."
Fury smiled again and repeated his earlier sentiment. "I like you Keeves."
Loki paced irritably in his cell. Odin had declared that he would be staying on Midgard as punishment, rather than rotting in some prison on Asgard. The All-Father's reasoning being that Loki had committed crimes on Midgard and so he would serve his sentence on the little realm.
Now he was stuck in a SHIELD base for eighteen hours of the day, with the other six spent cleaning up the rumble from the Chitauri invasion. The only people who he ever saw were the Avengers and various idiotic SHIELD agents. On top of all that his magical abilities had been dampened by an Asgardian device Thor picked up. He could only use magic inside his cell and should he try and use it to escape an agent would turn off his powers completely via a cuff he was forced to wear on his wrist. Life on Earth was making him rather moody and when he got moody people suffered.
In the past two days he had thrown two "tantrums", as Fury called them, and frightened every agent in the room as well as those who watched him through the surveillance equipment. Of course he made sure to conceal all of his outbursts with an egotistical facade and a sinister laugh, but inside he was writhing with boredom and irritation. He needed to think of a way out of here.
As he paced in his cell - which was nearly identical to his cell on the Helicarrier, minus the button that could send him crashing thousands of feet to his death - he heard the click of the door opening and Thor waltzed in.
"Brother!" The blond greeted, "It is time for your community service!"
"I know, Thor, I can read a clock." Loki seethed as the cell door opened and handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists.
"Fury says that he is bringing a special guest to meet you later, so you have something to look forward to when you've finished fixing up the city."
Loki raised an eyebrow but made no comment. Visitors were rare for the trickster god and he wondered who this person could be… and what their motive was for visiting him.
As Thor lead him through the front lobby of the SHIELD base to the car that would take him to his work detail, Fury passed through with a woman in tow. The director showed no interest as Loki passed by them, but the woman studied him carefully - Loki studied her back.
She was short, only a few inches over five feet, and quite plump. She looked out of place amongst the stick thin agents around her. Her features were pleasant, but not stunningly beautiful, simply average. Her hair was either an incredibly light brown or a very dark blonde and was pulled back into a plain knot at the back of her head. She was dressed practically with a plain skirt, shirt, jacket, and flat shoes. Her mouth was twisted into a scowl of disgust when she saw him.
Sensing someone who despised him and his actions, Loki smirked at her. She crossed her arms, gave him one more dirty look, and followed Director Fury through the lobby. Loki watched her go, certain that she was his "special visitor", but what in the nine realms was her purpose for being here?
A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to follow/review (I wouldn't ask you to favorite so early on in the story, but if you want to you certainly may). See you soon!