A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, they mean a lot to me, mainly because they let me know that someone is enjoying the work that I put into this storyline, and it helps me write. This is my first attempt at an Avengers fic, so please be patient with me. I love reviews, so hit me up! Once again, I own nothing except for my OCs.
*June 3, 2006*
"Darren! Wait up!" My big brother turned and scowled at his best friend, Davis McGinley. I ran like a maniac trying to catch up to the two twenty-year-olds. There was no way in hell that they were leaving me out tonight.
"Tee, you know Mom doesn't want you out." Darren put on his best over-protective-big-brother-face on." It's dangerous out here at night. "
"This is no time for a young lady to be out and about, Lainee." Davis chimed in, looking at me in disapproval. His use of my special nickname was meant to try and butter me up, get me to go back inside and let them do their manly things outside. It only served to further piss me off.
"Darren Micheal Brayden Jackson! The only reason you don't want me out here is because you think I don't know what really goes on behind the hay barn. I know you two have been smoking weed back there, I'm not stupid. You stop laughing at me Davis Justin McGinley; you aren't any more innocent than he is."
Davis looked at me sheepishly, "How long have ya known, Lainee?"
"I knew what you were up to before y'all even enlisted." Both of their faces paled. "Stop looking at me like that, Mom and Dad don't know any different than what y'all have been telling them for the last three years." I rolled my dark blue eyes at them, "I may still be a 'child' in their eyes, but I'm sixteen for Christ's sake. As long as you guys aren't doing anything dangerous, your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks Tee, you're a life saver." Darren's sincere smile made me swallow the smart ass remark that was dying to roll of my tongue.
"No prob, Dee." I patted my brother on his right shoulder, sending him a sweet smile.
Davis looked between the two of us, then pulled Darren off to the side. They whispered quietly for a few moments before Darren turned back to me.
"Davis and me talked it over. Do ya still wanna hang out with us tonight?"
A huge smile spread across my face.
"Of course I do." I glanced between the two of them. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, dark curls flying in every direction. "What's the game plan, boys?"
"You don't worry your pretty little head about that, we'll take care of ya, Lainee. We won't let nothin' happen to ya, I promise."
If only Davis could have kept his promise.
*Late August, 2012*
After my business lunch with Steve, I returned to Stark Tower, hell-bent on finishing my day so I could go home and properly analyze what had happened between Loki and I. It's been a long time since I felt that hopelessly powerless.
Tony was waiting for me when I stepped out of the elevator.
"Hi Tony. Is there something I can help you with?" I looked at him in slight confusion.
Tony raised an eyebrow at me.
"Tony, seriously, I have work to do, what do you want?" He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for what he was about to say.
"Has anyone told you the full story of the Chitauri Invasion yet?"
"No…what's that got to do with anythin'?" I eyed Tony suspiciously.
"Do you know who started the Chitauri Invasion?" My brow furrowed.
"The Chitauri?"
"You don't watch the news very often, do you?" Tony smirked at me. I twisted my mouth into an unattractive frown, fed up with the game he was playing. My nerves were already shot thanks to the local God of Mischief. I pushed Tony lightly on the shoulder, quickly walking towards my desk.
"Tony! What the hell are ya playing at? Just spit it out already. What's on your mind?"
"Loki was behind the entire thing. He's the reason the Chitauri invaded. Didn't you know that?" I stopped dead in my tracks, my entire body going rigid.
"What?" I turned to look at Tony incredulously.
"You heard me. Loki allowed the Chitauri to invade Earth, opened up a pretty little portal so they could come down here and tear some shit up."
"And you're letting him stay here?!"
My shriek of disapproval startled Tony. My hands started to shake horribly, and I felt a familiar tightening in my chest.
He could have killed me.
I flopped down in my desk chair, pinching the bridge of my nose with my left hand. I took a shaky breath before glancing back up at Tony.
"Why is he here?" My voice sounded weak to my own ears.
"From what Point Break tells me, he's not allowed back on Asgard until Odin deems him fit to return to their society. Something about him needing to see the error of his ways, and his transgressions against the 'Midgardians'."
"You didn't answer my question, Tony. Why is he here?"
"What was I supposed to tell Thor?' No, your psychotic brother can't stay here because my secretary won't like it?' Teeghan, he looked like someone had ran over his puppy in front of him when he came in here. I couldn't just turn him away."
"Yes, you could have. Loki gives me the creeps, Tony. He could hurt someone here."
By someone, I mean me, Tony.
"Look, he's only here for a little while, and you won't even have to see him, because you're not going to the 42nd floor while he's here."
Great plan, Tony, great plan.
A heavy sigh of annoyance passed through my lips. Even my thoughts were sarcastically bitchy.
"You do realize that I'm needed by Steve for technological help at least once a day, right?"
"It's about high time Capscicle starts taking care of himself, Quinnie."
"Tony, it's not that simple and you and I both know it. For Christ's sake! The man is seventy years behind the rest of us!"
"And we'll be helping him by doling out a little bit of tough love."
"Tony! That's not tough love, that's cruel." I reached across my desk to slap Tony on the arm, hard.
"Whatever you want to call it, you're not going down to the 42nd floor, and that's final." Tony stared down his nose at me.
"Like hell it is."
"I'm not kidding Teeghan, stay away from Loki and the 42nd floor while he's here. The guy is off his rocker and he's dangerous. He could seriously hurt you, he killed eighty people in two days and wasn't even remotely sorry about it." Tony paced in front of my desk, eyeing me warily.
The blood rushed from my face, and I was suddenly feeling very faint. All the possibilities of how my encounter with Loki could have ended started flashing through my brain. Things definitely could have gone much differently.
What the hell have I done to get on this guy's radar?
"Listen to me Quinnie. Loki is a master of deception, and he doesn't care if he hurts someone. Especially a mortal. You don't know what he's capable of, even without his voice."
"What?" My brow furrowed deeper in confusion.
"Odin wanted to completely disarm Loki. He wanted him so powerless that he has to stay with Thor and learn his lesson. What good is a liesmith without a voice? He can't lie to anyone if he doesn't have the voice to lie with, right?"
"So this Odin guy took away Loki's voice to punish him?"
"In addition to his magic. So now, we have a grumpy Demi God with no way of expressing himself stuck in the tower. At least the guy can't cast any voodoo on us while he's here."
"Wait, what? What do you mean magic?"
I'm so going to be getting premature wrinkles from frowning this much.
"You know,…magic!" Tony flapped his hands around wildly, making vague gestures that included finger wiggling and frantic hand spasms.
I couldn't help the smile that cracked across my face.
"You are officially a total nerd. Magic isn't hand gestures and spirit fingers, Tony."
"It got you to smile, didn't it? Look, I don't want to seem like I'm preaching to you or anything, but, just stay out of Loki's way, ok? We wouldn't want anything to happen to you, would we?"
"No, we wouldn't. You have my word. I won't go near him." I sighed exasperatedly.
"Good girl."
"I'm still helping Steve."
Tony rolled his eyes at me before turning and strolling into his office.
….make me see….
I shuffled into the swanky flat I rented, exhausted to the core, flipping on the living room lights as I shut and locked the door. I checked my watch and groaned at the time, 10:13 p.m.
After my little heart-to-heart with Tony, the figurative shit hit the fan. Analeigh, the resident bitch from publicity, had come storming into the penthouse with three interns nipping at her heels. She looked beyond frazzled, her dark hair falling gracelessly out of what was supposed to be an elegant French twist, with a mountain of paperwork threatening to fall from her arms. She all but glared at me before laying(throwing) her paperwork at me. For some reason, Analeigh had never liked me, at one point in time having told me to my face that I was a moronic redneck who didn't know what the fuck I was doing and that she couldn't wait for me to get fired. Needless to say, we had never really gotten along after that little incident.
"Teeghan, no one told me that Mary has been out sick, so I wasn't aware your paperwork hasn't been getting delivered. This is all the press requests from the past couple days, they're all asking for a peek at Mr. Stark's newest designs or a one-on one-interview with Mr. Billionaire himself. " She rolled her green eyes at me, not giving a flying fuck that she was pulling a complete bitch move towards me.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I fixed Analeigh with a deadpan stare that would have made Tony proud. I wasn't angry(lies, I was pissed the fuck off) per say, just frustrated(seething), that she hadn't noticed this little flub until there was a mountain of paperwork waiting to be filled out.
"Listen, this stuff has to be turned in by closing time. I would stay up here and help, but I got my own shit to fill out downstairs." The bitch didn't even have the decency to look remotely sorry about all the shit she had just dropped unceremoniously on my desk.
"Whatever, can you spare one of your interns? Just for a couple of hours." I looked up just in time to see her roll those pretty jade green liar's eyes before she fixed a fake smile on her bitch-whore face.
"You know what? Forget I asked, I'm sure you'll be screwing one of them in the bathroom before you leave tonight, so you can keep your damn interns." I couldn't help the snarky, bitchy comment that flew out of my mouth. The three male interns looked at each other sheepishly before pointedly avoiding eye contact with each other and me.
"Fuck you Teeghan."
"Right back at you, you skanky bitch."
Analeigh turned on her heel and stormed towards the elevator, her interns following at her heels like lost puppies. I flipped her the bird and threw myself into the paperwork on my desk.
It had taken me hours to complete those stupid forms. My head pounded to a beat that would have made any dubstep fan proud, and my eyesight was blurring slightly around the edges when I stepped into the elevator that night. The stainless steel doors closed in perfect unison with my eyes, and I wobbled slightly, more than a little tired.
"To the lobby, Miss Jackson?"
"Please and thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S."
I started my descent down, rubbing gently at my forehead, trying to ease away some of the tension that had started building behind my left eye. Opening my eyes, I caught the reflection of a green eyed god in the door and lost my fuckin' mind. Spinning wildly, I raised my fists, ready to lay one on the creepy fucker, to find myself alone in the elevator. The deafening silence was broken only by the sound of my labored breathing. I jerked my head from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of the green eyed god.
I'm going fuckin' bonkers. I brought both hands up to my temples and rubbed at my temples, then moved to the base of my neck.
"Are you alright, Miss Jackson?"
"Yeah, just tired. It's makin' me see things that aren't there."
"Alright Miss Jackson, enjoy your weekend." The doors in front of me slid open soundlessly, and I walked almost bonelessly towards the glass doors in the lobby. I smiled tiredly at the night guard, Ricky, sending him a small wave of goodbye, and continued my journey outside. As I was walking up to the large glass doors, I saw Loki walking roughly ten yards behind me in the glass. I took in a panicked breath, wrenching myself around to face Ricky again. Again, no Loki.
"Everything alright ma'am?"
I placed a hand over my racing heart.
"Yea, it's all good. Was there someone here a second ago? Heading outside maybe?"
Ricky looked at me quizzically, before slowly shaking his head.
"No ma'am, in fact, you're the only person who has come down in the last hour." His concerned look said everything I needed to hear. I was having vivid hallucinations, most likely brought on by exhaustion and paranoia.
I took in a shuddering breath, and then pushed the lobby doors open, intent on making it back to my flat before I had another panic attack.
I shuffled out of my shoes, kicking them out of the walkway, not looking to see where they landed. A soft jingling sound alerted me that Gracie was headed my way. The gangly little thing rubbed herself over my legs, purring and arching into me, apparently very happy to see me.
"How's my Gracie Baby doin' tonight, huh? How's my Gracie Baby?" I stooped down to pet the Devon Rex kitten, gently scratching behind her over-sized ears. I had fallen in love with the awkwardly shaped kittens in my early teens, and had decided to buy one as a graduation present to myself.
Gracie's ears flattened on top of her head and she let out a furious hiss. My heart fluttered, and the kitten let out a growl. She was glaring at something over my shoulder, and I spun to see what she was pissed about. Nothing behind me.
"What's your problem, little miss?"
She hissed at me huffily, then slinked off underneath the couch, and I felt the paranoia creeping up on me again.
Relax Teeghan, there is no way in hell that that creepy mother fucker could have followed you home. Just friggin' breathe.
I scampered into my bedroom, stripping off my clothes as I went. All I wanted to do was take a nice, long, hot shower, get in my comfy pajamas, and go to sleep. I was in the process of shimmying out of my slacks when I felt the sensation of being watched again.
Calm the fuck down Jackson, you're just tired and you have one hell of an imagination.
I shrugged out of my lacy, purple undergarments, and padded barefoot into the master bathroom, then stepped into the corner shower unit, adjusting the temperature knobs until the water was just the right mix of hot and cold. I had just finished washing the conditioner out of my hair when my head was roughly pushed forwards, my hair falling in wet waves on either of my shoulders. A hand traveled down to the nape of my neck and traced the healed over scar located there, which was enough to end my frantic struggling. I drew in a ragged breath and suddenly, my head was back under the spray of the showerhead and there were no hands on my body. A strangled sob tore through my throat, and I slid down the shower wall, body shaking and trembling.
"Please just leave me alone, please." I whispered brokenly. I closed my eyes, curling in on myself tightly. The resonating boom of a hand meeting the glass shower door told me Loki's answer.
He would not be leaving me alone.
