"Here, Mister Stark said for you to drink this as it'll help you to loosen up and enjoy yourself." A pretty, young, silver-haired woman in a black shirt and black pants both with the Stark logo said with a smile as she handed Angela a tall glass with a bubbling drink in it. "He said it'll help to settle your nerves." Around them buzzed the babble of the big party going on at Stark Tower.
"What is it?" Angela asked as she suspiciously sniffed the glass. If anything, living on Heven had taught her caution.
The woman shrugged. "It's just vodka and orange juice to give it flavor. We call it a Screw Driver." Two men standing behind her dressed also in black with the logo SI for Stark International and who looked like they were security guards with their un-necessary sunglasses grinned and nodded.
"Tony said to relax with the drink as he wants you to be comfortable when he talks to you again about what just happened."
Angela guessed that made sense as she and Tony had not parted on the best of terms after he'd put a hand on her leg which she'd removed forcedly enough to cause him to grimace in pain. He probably wanted to apologize. Well, it wouldn't hurt to see what he wanted. It wasn't like she had anywhere she had to be at the moment as the Guardians of the Galaxy were out of the solar system on a mission which she'd turned down so she could attend Tony's party. She now wished she'd gone with them.
She sipped the drink and felt a pleasant, warm feeling going down.
"Go on." The woman encouraged. "It's even better when drunk all at once."
Angela shrugged. Why not? She'd had stranger drinks on several alien worlds. She drained it and abruptly it was like a bomb had gone off in her stomach. She reeled and caught at the window curtain for support. What had been in that drink?
She turned with an angry snarl and something shot out from the woman's hand and a coruscating radiance surrounded her, filling her with the compulsion to tear the clothes off anyone near and make love to them. The convulsions running through her body were so intense that she screamed but she still managed to draw her axe as she started towards her tormentor.
"Hit her with more of the love compulsion spell! She's throwing it off! " One of the guards shouted. The woman hit her again and again with the radiance. She hit her so many times in fact that Angela lost count before she collapsed to the floor gasping for breath.
"Hold her!" The woman commanded as she got a hypodermic needle out of her purse. "This will make her totally receptive."
The two guards grabbed Angela but that was a bad mistake as the feel of hands trying to possess her both made her want them and hate them simultaneously. Not for nothing was she the greatest warrior in Heven and even in her pain and confusion she was still a warrior. She grabbed one by the collar with one hand and threw him across the room, sending party goers scrambling and screaming. The other she sized with her other hand by his shirt front and slammed him into the wall, knocking him unconscious and smashing his sunglasses into fragments. She staggered to her feet and felt her stomach clench in pain. She was reeling and knew if she went down again that she might never get back up.
She grabbed up her axe and swung wildly, clearing a space around herself and then she turned and ran for the window. At least she tried to run; it was more like a drunk's stumbling. She saw the window was solid glass and didn't care as she hurled herself at it, wanting only to escape.
"Stop her!" Screamed the silver-haired woman who was holding the hypodermic needle in her hand. But it was too late as in an explosion of shattered glass Angela was gone, leaving only flapping curtains behind.
The guard who was still conscious reassured the onlookers. "The show's over, folks. Just go back to enjoying Mister Stark's food and drink." The babble of the party resumed as if nothing had just happened. Attendees of Stark's parties had seen a lot worse over the years.
The guard helped his groggy buddy back to his feet and turned to his silver-haired boss. "Damn, Helvitia, she was strong. She almost shook it off. I hope the boss got what he wanted."
She grinned. "Actually he was right over there in the corner watching. He was the one who ordered me to hit her ten times with the love spell. There'll be a bonus for us tonight boys as he got exactly what he wanted." They left laughing together while a figure in the shadows nodded his satisfaction. All was going better than he had planned.
Angela feeling like she could throw up at any moment dropped rapidly through the night air over New York City for several stories. The air rushed coldly by her, rippling her streaming red hair and drying the sweat pouring from her body. Finally she regained enough control to halt her fall. She noted that her body was shivering but knew it was not from the cold since she could fly through the absolute cold of outer space and never notice it.
At the moment her body was in full revolt against the evil cocktail of drugs she'd been fed and the rolling convulsions induced by the love spell. The cold air of November that surrounded her was a lot warmer than her own troubled heart which felt like it was made out of ice. People whom she'd thought were her friends who cared for her had turned out to have their own agendas for her, leaving her desperately in need of help.
She now knew that Tony Stark whom she had thought of as her friend cared only for his own interests which should've come as no surprise to her after all her adventures amongst the stars and growing up in Heven. Everyone had their own thing which mattered more than anything else to them. Tony had two things besides playing the hero Iron Man: he was a big business man and a playboy. Between those interests his heart had little chance and neither had hers.
She shuddered again as agony ripped through her guts and then she bent over as her stomach spewed into the night air. She needed help and she needed it fast and the damn Guardians were all out of the system and she'd be dead before she reached them. Where could she find help?
Then she remember Loki's offer of a couch to sleep on and that he lived here in New York. She wiped her mouth and dug the silver locket out that Loki had palmed her at their last meeting in the Tenth Realm so she could find him and his damned couch. She opened it up and it glowed and off in the distance something else glowed. She looked closer at the far off glow. There. That had to be his building as it was glowing with a green phosphorescence. She was heading there. It was Loki's damned couch or die in some back alley.
She landed with a thump on the roof, causing several nearby dogs to bark and howl. She cursed. "I can fly silently between the death pods of the ever-vigilant Ugar and here I can't be quiet enough to not disturb a pack of damn dogs."
"Which shows you how upset you are, sister dear, as your so very careful approach has every dog for blocks going insane." A familiar feminine voice remarked sarcastically.
Her head snapped up and she saw a familiar black-haired woman of good build dressed in a grey jump suit looking back at her with a slight smile on her face. She knew immediately it was Loki as she had the sword of truth Gramm held across her shoulders and was wearing on her forehead the two gold horns that some called devil horns.
"Hello, sister trickster." She said weakly as she got to her feet, feeling her stomach churning.
"And greetings to you, sister. What brings you to my humble domicile on a night that threatens to be more suited for Thor?" As if on cue lighting crawled across the sky behind her and thunder rolled.
"When last we talked you said you had a couch for me to use. I am badly in need of that couch and your help tonight." She winced as the lightning flashed again. "By Heven, how I detest lightning; it was used by that coward Thor to strike me down when strength of arm would not suffice."
Loki gestured towards the doorway behind her. "The couch is yours just as I said and support also which is what it implied. As for lightning being a coward's weapon?" She grinned. "You'll get little argument from me and a lot from our storm playing brother."
"He's not my damn brother!" She shouted. "I detest all those of Asgardian blood and would not even be here tonight if you were the same blood as that coward." She had to slap a hand to her mouth and turn away to keep from retching in Loki's face.
Loki saw this and frowned as she came forward to look more closely at her. "There is more amiss to you then a need to talk isn't there? I detect a sickness as well as dark magic hanging around you like a demon wanting to gnaw at your very soul."
Angela ground out against the convulsions. "I hope you can help me, Sister Trickster, as I am in dire need of the aid of someone who knows of both magic and the mad chemicals the Midgardians ingest at their cursed gatherings." As she finished she began to shake and Loki started to offer Angela her hand but then stopped realizing Angela would not want to lean on her as she was totally independent and had to be in desperate straits indeed to have even come here.
"I take it that you ingested some of said chemicals." Loki said with a raised eyebrow as she led the way through the doorway.
"Yes. Damn the Midgardians and damn their foul heroes like Stark to whatever place of torment that exists for such beings."
Loki nodded and gestured the lights on to reveal a comfortable living room which was well furnished with a couch by the window. "As you can see for once I did not lie, the couch is there for the taking."
Angela gratefully laid her sword against the wall along with her axe and slumped in the couch whereupon she immediately threw up spewing all over the rug and Loki.
"Sister!" Loki gestured herself and Angela clean and then knelt by Angela's side and offered her a glass of something taken from a table. "Just water." She explained. "I was about to mix a drink for a nightcap." Outside lightning flashed and once again more thunder rolled.
"I couldn't keep it down but a bowl to throw up in would be appreciated." She then proceeded to demonstrate getting more on Loki.
Loki gestured and a bowl magically appeared and caught the remaining spew. "Please. I just had these rugs dry cleaned after a visitation from the All-Mothers who were very messy with their drinks. They managed to spill the whole bowl (Loki Agent of Asgard #2)."
She frowned. "Now let's see what drugs you've ingested." She then made another gesture and a magic glow sprang up surrounding Angela.
Loki stared at the glow and then cursed with real anger. "By Hel itself, my magic shows me that you ingested what the Midgardians call a date-rape cocktail. As foul a name as ever coined for something so evil that only Mephisto, the devil himself, could love it. Come to think of it I would swear he gave them the cursed formula to stir up trouble."
"I don't give a damn what they call it. Can you make it be gone?" She turned and barfed again.
Loki nodded, gestured and abruptly Angela heavily barfed and kept barfing for almost two minutes into the bowl.
Finally, she looked up at her weakly with spittle drooling from her chin. "You damn near tore my guts out."
"But removed what I could of the devil's brew inside you. I've done what I can. Fortunately there was quite a bit that I could remove easily by magic. Unfortunately the rest has already bonded with your body chemistry. It would be very dangerous to try and remove it, especially from your brain, without doing permanent damage. I'm afraid you'll just have to let your body break it down. People here call it coming down."
Loki offered her a towel which Angela took and cleaned her mouth with before saying. "I'll give them a coming down they'll never forget when I find those dastards."
"Who?" Loki gestured and the bowl was clean and she set it on the coffee table.
"Employees of Tony Stark, the one who invited me to his party at his penthouse atop Stark Tower. I remember two men and a woman and being handed a drink with words to the effect 'that Tony wanted me to loosen up and enjoy myself', and like a fool I took it. I almost passed out and then I was attacked magically. Fortunately I was strong enough still to fight off their unwanted advances, but sadly not strong enough to kill them and so I had to flee from them and their sick attentions."
She cursed. "When I get the chance, I'll loosen all three of them up so much that their souls flee their bodies screaming in agony as I hack them into bloody shreds and then and only then will I enjoy myself."
"A sentiment I appreciate." Loki said with a snarl. "No-one but no-one does this to a sister of mine."
She gave her a weak smile. "Then I invite you to watch as I slice them apart. Retribution where I come from is made more satisfying when it's shared with one's companions as an audience."
"I find I'm liking Heven more every minute we talk." Loki said with a dark smile. She saw Angela shiver again and frowned. "Now I have to see what is with the blackness in your magic aurora."
She gestured and a phosphorescent glow sprang up around Angela. Loki manipulated her investigative spell and frowned. "I think I see who originated this spell which is one of the most complex love spells I've ever seen." Abruptly her eyes widened and she leaped to her feet. "Damn you, Mephisto! This is all your doing. Get your spell's claws out of her now!"
Abruptly the devil Mephisto with his long, reddish hair shaped into a pair of horns and with a swirling red cloak attached to his shoulders appeared floating in the air in all his devil-red glory and sulfur stench. "Who? Me?" He grinned with his eyes glowing like red-hot coals. "Well I do admit to fashioning the spell the same as I did the delightful date-rape drug but the Stark woman who purchased them from me for the usual price was the applier. Take your complaints to her for her poor application of my product."
He smiled maliciously as he looked at red-haired Angela who glared angrily back at him. Obviously he was enjoying himself immensely. "A love compulsion spell and it has been applied ten times more than it should." He shook his head. "I love fools who do not read the written warnings as they keep my hell full."
"Remove it!" Loki demanded.
Mephisto frowned. "You're in no position to command, old friend, and you have nothing I want to bargain for. Like the delightful drink she ingested it'll just have to wear off with time for if you try to tamper with it the consequences will be, shall I say, very bad for her but so very delightful for me."
"Name a price." Loki snapped as behind Mephisto Angela drew her sword and weakly got to her feet.
Mephisto smiled. "A tempting offer which I do appreciate as I am the father of all temptations." But then he sneered. "Unfortunately, as I said you have nothing to bargain with, old friend. At least nothing I want for now. We'll see about later." He turned to Angela. "And you, young lady, never try to sneak up on the Devil as he can see you coming and going without even turning his head." He vanished as with a vicious swing of her sword Angela stumbled through the spot he'd just vacated.
Loki helped her back to the couch and after she saw she was more comfortable she changed back into her male form and he grabbed the sword Gramm up. "Will you be all right for the moment?" At her nod he continued. "I'll be back shortly, sister. I have a little act to perform at Stark's to liven things up. Those three want a party? I'll give them one."
"No!" Angela staggered out of the couch towards him with her hand out. "I claim first blood right. They wronged me and I'll have my personal revenge." She abruptly sat back down on the couch. "As soon as I recover, they're dead."
Loki sighed and laid the sword aside. "You're a bad influence on me, sister. I almost performed a noble act and that's just not me." He turned back into his feminine form. "I can use a little magic to make you more comfortable if you wish."
Angela grimaced. "I'm a warrior of Heven. We ignore pain."
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Do you also ignore the healers arts by which you could return to the fray quicker?"
She sighed. "No, damn you. We do not. Use your foul spells."
Loki smiled. "The only time a healing spell is foul is when it fails." Unknown to Angela he was also adding a little spell to help her resist the compulsion spell.
She gestured and Angela seemed to relax. She leaned back in the couch. "You have my thanks."
"Which is appreciated." Loki replied. Then she frowned. "Now why did I say it that way? First, I want to do a compassionate act for my sister and now I thank her without sarcasm. What's wrong with me?"
In his supposedly inescapable prison Old Loki from the future who was striving to bring his own being into existence as the god of evil and the once and future king laughed at the glowing image. "Because you were contaminated by her barf, you fool, and it was contaminated with both the chemicals and that love spell which now affect you too. Now you and Angela will commit an irredeemable act of murderous passion between brother and sister and it will be the beginnings of my birth into glory as all Asgard and Midgard turn on you. Play on, you fool, play on."
He hugged himself. "I just love being evil me."