Melting His Icy Heart
Chapter 3
When Andrea came back to the world she realized she was in the living room of Stark Tower.
"How the hell…?"
"I found you injured and brought you with me."
"You healed me…thank you."
Loki nodded to her and moved closer, little by little. She watched him, eyeing the scepter with clear hatred. Loki sighed softly and placed one hand against her cheek, his eyes flickering between blue and green.
"Loki…please…get rid of it…We can stop this Loki…together."
"It's too late for that little one. The Tesseract has been activated and the portal will open soon."
Loki looked out the window and walked out onto the walkway outside. Andrea tried to follow but got dizzy and stayed put. Her injury had been healed but her mind hadn't quite caught up to that fact yet. She heard the tell-tale sound of her brother arriving on his platform and looked up at him with pleading eyes. He knew what she was asking, for him to not harm Loki. Loki stalked back into the tower, eyeing Tony carefully.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."
"Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you."
"You should have left your armor on for that."
"Yeah, seen a bit of mileage…and you've got the uh, glowstick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"
"Stalling me won't change anything."
"No, no, no, threatening. No drink you sure? I'm having one."
"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers."
Loki gave him a slightly confused look and he rolled his eyes in response.
"That's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing."
"Yes…I've met them."
Loki looked amused and unconcerned.
"Yeah. Takes us a while to get any traction I'll give you that one, but, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the Demi-god."
Andrea raised an eyebrow at Loki's disgusted reaction to the mention of Thor, clearly not happy with his family right now.
"A super soldier, living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins and you…big fella…you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
"That was the plan."
Loki looked amused and Andrea leveled him with the kind of look a mother might give to a misbehaving child making him wince slightly and focus back on Tony. Tony noted that reaction with curiosity, filing it away for later use.
"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a Hulk."
"Oh I thought the beast had wandered off."
"Don't call him that. He's not a mindless animal. He can think and feel just like everyone else."
Loki glanced at a clearly angry Andrea and stepped away from her, just in time to miss the pillow thrown at his head. He looked from it to her with a shocked expression that almost made Tony laugh out loud, but he had to remain stern and unaffected.
"You're missing the point, there's no throne. There's no version of this where you come out on top."
Andrea snorted softly and burrowed her head in a pillow to stifle her sudden laughter. Tony and Loki both looked at her and she giggled again.
"That sounded a bit wrong Tony."
Her brother pouted at her while Loki smirked, giving her a rather seductive look that made her shiver.
"I am always on top little one…make no mistake of that."
Tony snapped his fingers to get Loki's attention back on him, earning two glares for his efforts.
"Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."
Andrea watched as Loki stalked towards her brother looking rather murderous. She felt her breath seize in her throat as he pointed the staff at her brother's chest as it glowed.
"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?"
A clinking sound was heard when the staff hit Tony's chest and failed to work. Loki tried again with the same result. Andrea breathed a sigh of relief until Tony opened his big mouth.
"This usually works."
"Well performance issues you know…not uncommon…1 out of 5…"
Loki grabbed him by the throat, cutting off his words and making Andrea run over as he tossed Tony to the ground.
"Jarvis…anytime now."
Andrea pulled at his arm when Loki grabbed Tony by the throat again.
"You will all fall before me."
"Deploy."
Loki lifted Tony up by his throat and Andrea tried to get through to him, but the staff was glowing and she realized he was lost to it's thrall.
"Loki please…let him go."
He threw Tony through the window and Andrea screamed for her brother, racing towards the window only to have a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her back against his chest. His low voice in her ear made her shiver but she was angry with him.
"I will not let you go little one. You are mine now."
"You just threw my brother out of a window! Do you realize how high up we are? We're not like you. We can't survive a fall that."
She turned and slapped him with every ounce of strength she had in her body, making his head snap to the side before turning to look at her again. She saw his eyes narrow at her and lifted her chin higher in defiance.
"What? You gonna throw me out there too? Go ahead if it'll make you feel better about yourself."
Loki wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her into a fierce kiss, his mouth dominating hers completely and leaving her breathless.
"I would never harm you. Never."
Iron Man flew up to hover outside of the window before he could say anything further and Loki gently pushed Andrea out of the way.
"And there's one other person you pissed off…his name was Phil."
Andrea frowned in confusion, the only Phil she knew of was Agent Coulson but that didn't make any sense to her. Loki lifted the staff again but Tony was faster, blasting him in the chest with a laser and swooping in to grab his sister. They looked up as the portal opened and creatures began flying through it. Tony flew down to the ground and gently let her down, pointing her to where the others would be meeting up before heading off to try and stop the alien army swarming in through the portal. Andrea joined up with Steve, Natasha, and a guy she didn't yet know who was apparently one hell of a shot with a bow and arrow.
"Who's this then?"
"This is Hawkeye. Hawkeye, meet Andrea Stark."
The man's eyebrow's raised and he huffed a soft chuckle before ruffling her hair.
"At least she seems to be less annoying than Tony Stark."
"That'd be my big brother…just so you know."
Her eyes showed mischief and humor, which seemed to be mirrored by the man.
"Name's Clint. Feel free to use it."
Andrea laughed until the aliens made their way down to where they were and started attacking them. She realized Clint was trying to protect her and shook her head at him.
"I can protect myself Clint…trust me. Ask Natasha if you don't believe me."
He looked at Natasha who shrugged and went back to killing. Andrea felt the flames crawling across her skin and started throwing fire balls at any alien that got too close. Thor showed up, zapping a number of them in the process, and they finally had a moment to breathe. When Bruce showed up on a motorcycle she grinned at him and let the flames die out for a bit.
"Hey Bruce…you ok?"
He nodded as she ran up and hugged him, shocking the others and making him laugh softly.
"You're cute…possibly insane…but cute."
She just grinned again as Steve told Tony that Banner had arrived.
"Great. Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
They all exchanged confused looks until Tony rounded a building with an enormous whale-like creature on his tail.
"I, I don't see how that's a party."
Andrea nodded in agreement but the men seemed eager to start fighting it, especially Thor.
"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret Cap'n…I'm always angry."
She watched him walk towards the thing and shift into Hulk before smashing a massive green fist into its head. When the other end started to come over onto them Tony blasted it to pieces. Steve used his shield to protect Natasha and Andrea felt Thor covering her as debris rained down on them. They all stood back to back in a circle as the Chitauri screeched at them, and Hulk roared back. Natasha looked up first and noticed several more of the whale-like creatures coming through the portal.
"Guys…"
They all looked up at the slight hesitation in her voice, Tony being the next to speak.
"Call it Captain."
"Alright listen up. Until we can close that portal our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything, call out patterns and strays. Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Wanna give me a lift?"
"Right. Better clench up Legolas."
Andrea rolled her eyes at Tony. At least she had a decent nickname compared to the others. Tony took off, lifting Clint by his vest and dropping him on his perch.
"Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up."
Thor began twirling his hammer, whipping up a strong wind that blew Natasha and Andrea's hair around.
"The three of us, we stay on the ground, keep the fighting here…and Hulk…smash."
Hulk gave a wicked grin before leaping up to start taking out the aliens. Andrea watched in awe as Thor turned a skyscraper into a giant lightning rod before zapping aliens left and right, and taking out one of the whale things as it was coming in.
"Now that…is a useful skill."
The fighting went on, all of them becoming separated until Andrea came face-to-face with Loki again. He lifted her off of the ground and onto his flying chariot as her fists pummeled his chest in her anger. He let her hit him for a few moments before gently taking hold of her wrists.
"Enough…I do not wish to fight with you little one."
"You should have thought about that before you tried to kill my brother and unleash this…"
She waved an arm to show the destruction of her city, her home.
She noticed Hulk ahead and heard Clint's voice in her ear, warning her he was aiming for Loki with an explosive arrow. She waited until Loki caught the arrow and then she jumped, being caught by the Hulk as he leapt onto the tower, right after Loki was blasted into it. Hulk set her down gently and went to charge at Loki until the god screamed at him.
"Enough! You are all of you beneath me. I am a god you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by…"
He was cut off as Hulk grabbed him by one leg and started slamming him into the floor as Andrea watched on in mild amusement. She knew it wasn't enough to kill him but it would sure hurt for a while.
"Puny god."
Andrea burst into a fit of giggles as Loki let out a long squeaky groan. Hulk came over and lifted her gently before leaping out of the window and back down to the ground, setting her down carefully before leaping off again. She looked at Steve as Thor landed nearby. They heard Natasha's voice in their ears saying she could close the portal.
"Do it."
"No wait."
"Stark, these things are still coming."
"I've got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute…and I know just where to put it."
"Stark, you know that's a one way trip…"
Andrea felt her heart leap into her throat as she watched Tony fly overhead and up the side of the tower into the portal. She knew the bomb had to have hit a control ship of some kind because all the creatures suddenly lost control and shut down.
"Close it."
Andrea's head whipped around to face Steve and she yelled at him, screaming and crying before moving to attack him. Thor grabbed her around her waist and held her back while Steve gave her a guilty and apologetic look.
"Son of a gun."
Andrea looked up to see Tony had come back through at the last moment, only to freeze up as she realized he wasn't flying but rather falling.
"He's not slowing down."
Thor started twirling his hammer, intending to go catch Tony, only to have Hulk beat him to it. The big green leapt up from one building, catching Tony in one arm, and landed on the side of another building as he slid down a bit. He leapt off again and landed on his back before dropping a limp Iron Man off to one side. Andrea ran to her brother's side, ignoring everything else around her as Thor flipped him over and ripped the face-plate off.
"Tony? Come one Tony wake up now."
She realized he wasn't breathing and felt tears streaming down her face. Thor's big warm hand on one shoulder and Steve's on the other did nothing to comfort her.
"You promised you'd never leave me Damnit. Don't you dare break that promise Tony."
Hulk roared in what Andrea felt was a mix of anger and sorrow both, but it was enough to jumpstart Tony's heart and he gasped for air.
"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me…"
Andrea threw herself over Tony's chest, crying softly in a myriad of emotions all at once. Thor and Steve both looked relieved as Steve sat back on a piece of rubble.
"We won."
Tony's arms came around Andrea, though not as tightly as either of them would have liked due to him being in a bit of pain.
"Alright yay. Alright good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried Shawarma?"
Steve chuckled in amusement at both Tony's comment and Andrea's reaction to it.
"Really Tony? You died and the first thing you think of is food?"
"There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it."
"We're not finished yet."
Andrea groaned softly at Thor's words, knowing he was referring to Loki.
"And then Shawarma after?"
"Thor…what will happen to Loki after you take him back home? None of this was his fault. He was being controlled. Yes he's angry, and hurt, and feeling betrayed by those he saw as his family…mainly your father I think as he seems to still have affection for you even though he's burying it. That titan, and the Tesseract…they fed on those emotions and enhanced them so much that Loki had no chance of fighting it. He gave hints when he was away from that staff…if we'd have all been paying more attention we might have figured things out sooner."
Thor gave her a sad but determined look.
"I will make sure the Allfather knows all of this, but I can make no guarantees as to what will happen."
They all headed to the tower and snuck up behind Loki as a group. He was clearly pained as he was trying to crawl his way up a set of stairs. He seemed to realize they were there and turned to face them, seeing Clint's arrow in his face.
"If it's all the same to you…I'll have that drink now."
All eyes turned to Tony who just shrugged at them. Andrea pushed Clint's arrow to one side and knelt in front of Loki.
"Look at me Loki."
His expression softened as he looked at her, one hand coming up to touch her face.
"I never wanted any of this to happen…"
"I know Loki. You are not to blame for this. Loki…you need to make peace with your family. Thor cares for you as his brother, regardless of your birth."
Loki looked over at Thor and sighed softly.
"I know…he's always done so…and defended me when no one else would."
Thor beamed at him until Loki pulled Andrea into a soft, almost tender kiss, while Tony gagged in the background.
"Aww come on man…not where I can see it…"
Andrea laughed softly and stood as Thor helped Loki up. Later they were all back in normal clothing and Loki was in chains. Fury had insisted on putting a muzzle on Loki which pissed Andrea off royally. As they got to the location the two gods would be leaving from she reached out and removed the offending thing, earning a grateful smile in return. Thor and Loki each held one end of the container holding the Tesseract, but before Thor could turn the handle Andrea stopped him. She stood up on her toes, leaning against Loki to whisper something in his ear before giving him a short kiss. His eyes flared as he watched her step back and lick her lips, his eyes held a promise that they were not done yet…not by a long shot. Thor turned the handle and the two vanished in bright beams of blue light.
