Hi guys! I am so so so so soooo sorry that this chapter took so long, but I've just been so busy. I went to a thing with my friend on Friday where we got to see Lois Lowrey, and then on Saturday my mom made us do spring cleaning, and then I've had work, and other stuff. But you don't really want to hear about my excuses, do you? No, no you don't. Don't forget to vote on my poll, I'm going to take it down soon! Oh, and I put Loki in this chapter! I hope I didn't make him to OOC...
Time to reply to reviews!
Crazy4Oreos: Awww! You are so nice! Thank you so much. I'm glad you find it amazing :)
GadgetCid: I think I'm going to have him deal with all this crazyness by having Coulson drug him...
gammawidow67: Haha, yeah, she is pretty snarky in both forms, isn't she? And yeah, I'll have to check that out when I have time. Bruce says hi, as well. :)
Em (guest): Yay! you're such a good friend! Love you!
Enterthedragon (guest): Aw, thanks!
Disclaimer: Not Stan Lee, don't own the Avengers, yada yada yada...
~CLIFF~
"Shotgun! Toby yelped as soon as she saw the car.
Brian rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "You do know it doesn't really matter, right?" He told her, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"You are so childish, Tobe." Cliff told her as he (manually) unlocked the car and climbed in on the driver's side. Toby got in next to him, and Brian sat in the back.
"We should stop by The Baker's Dozen to see if Steph and Nate are working." Brian suggested.
Cliff complied, and drove the car towards the small bakery where their two friends worked.
~STEPHANIE~
Stephanie Ryan handed the box of warm cookies to the woman in front of her, and smiled down at the young girl that was standing next to the woman.
"Here you go, Mrs. Barkley." She told her. "I hope the birthday party goes well. How old are you turning?" This last part was addressed to the little girl.
The woman nudged the girl. "She asked you a question, sweetheart. Tell her how old you're going to be."
"Gonna be five." The girl said shyly, holding up her hand, fingers splayed.
"That's great." Steph said brightly. "I hope you have fun!" She waved to them as they left the bakery. She headed into the kitchen to check on the cookies in the oven.
"Five minutes left," Nathan told her, not looking up from the book he was reading. Stephanie peered closer at the spine of the book to make out the title: Les Mîserables.
"Thanks, Nate." She said gratefully. "How do you like the book?"
Nate shrugged. "It's alright. The romance between Cosette and Marius is quite silly, though. Have you read it?"
Steph nodded. "Yeah. Although, I thought the romance wasn't that silly. I mean it is really sweet, how they fell in love at first sight."
Nate scoffed. "There's no such thing as love at first sight. You have to get to know someone to love them."
Stephanie felt her face flush when he said that. Unknown by Nate, Steph had had a crush on him for the better part of at least three years. The only person who knew was Cliff (and possibly Toby, seeing as she kept calling them things like 'love-birds' and 'soul mates', although she could be joking.), and she hoped that it stayed that way. Nate just seemed just too impassive. He never expressed much emotion, and he rarely ever smiled, but she couldn't help but fall in love with his beautiful bottle-green eyes, curly auburn hair, and, well, everything about him
The push bell on the counter up front jangled as someone pressed it, and Stephanie hurried to the front to tend to the customer.
"Hi, Stephanie!" an obnoxiously cheerful voice said.
"No. No, no, no, Toby, get out!" Stephanie said to her sort-of-friend. "I am working."
Toby gave her a blank look. "What is this 'work' you speak of?" she asked cheekily.
Stephanie groaned and did a mental face palm. She turned to Cliff and Brian, who were watching in amusement. "Why on earth would you bring her here, guys? You know that all she does is eat the free samples, bug the actual customers, and is downright annoying!"
Cliff shrugged, and Brian stifled a laugh. "We were on our way to get shwarma, and we thought we'd say 'hi'." He told her.
Stephanie gave him an annoyed look.
Nate came up to the counter then. "Hi, Cliff, Brian." He said. He glanced at Toby, who was busy doing something with gum wrappers. "What's she doing?"
"No clue," the twin brothers said at the same time (it's creepy how they could do that), shrugging, and Cliff added, "She's weirder than usual. Did Coulson put her on something?"
Stephanie gave the other teens a weary look. "Gosh, I hope not."
"Knowing our luck, she'll be like this for a few hours." Nate said dryly. "We should put her on the street with an empty can and see if people will give her money."
The twins exchanged smirks with Stephanie, and Cliff said in a singsong voice, "Oh, To-by!"
She skipped over to them. "Look what I did!" She said, holding up the wrappers she had been fiddling with. She was somehow able to turn them into the likeness of the face of Homer Simpson.
Cliff stared at her in shock. "How did you... Never mind, we have something for you to do."
"Does it have anything to do with bombs?" She asked him seriously. "Because I don't like bombs."
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "It has absolutely nothing to do with bombs." She turned to Nate. "Go get the broken toaster."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why? What are you people up to?"
She waved him off. "Just get the toaster."
He gave her an uneasy look (a very hot uneasy look), but obliged. He returned a minute and a half later; carrying a much dented object that somewhat resembled a toaster.
Stephanie took it from him and handed it to Toby. "Here, you can play with this outside."
"Outside." Toby asked her. "Why outside?" She took the toaster and examined it.
"Because you are bugging us. Nate and I get off work in about an hour, and then we'll head out with you guys for shwarma, okay?"
Toby nodded. "Okay. Do you guys happen to have a blowtorch?" When everyone sent her wide-eyed looks, she cracked up. "I'm, I'm kidding!" She said, exaggeratedly gasping for breath.
Stephanie and Nate glared at her. "What tools will you actually need?" Stephanie asked her.
Toby looked thoughtful. "Um… Do you guys happen to have a screwdriver?" She asked.
Nate nodded, and went into the kitchen to look for one. He came back a short while later with a small screwdriver.
Toby took it without thanks, and ran for the door.
"Wait!" Cliff called after her, holding an empty mug, "You're going to want this!"
She looked at it, then at him. "Why would I want that? You know I'm not allowed to drink coffee any more. Coulson's orders."
Cliff rolled his eyes. "Well, since you're going to be having fun with the toaster, we're going to see how many people will give you money. Just pretend to be homeless, and we'll be good."
Toby gave him a scandalized look. "You're using me!" She cried.
"Nah. Well, yes, but this is how we're paying for shwarma later. Now go be a hobo."
Toby yanked the mug from him, a frown still on her face. "Jerk," She muttered to him.
~LOKI~
It had been five months since Loki had become 'Mr. Lain', a mythology teacher at Midtown High School, and he was absolutely bored. It had been so long since he'd tried to take over a planet, kill off an entire species, or try to annihilate his brother for the throne. In other words, it'd been forever since he'd actually had any fun.
There were two of his students that he was certain were the reincarnations of those pesky Avengers, a Nathan Richards and Clifford Barnes. He had spent enough time with Clint Barton to recognize him within young Mr. Barnes, and Mr. Richards, well, he just reminded him so much of that annoying red-headed Russian woman.
He had told his suspicions to Thor, who told them to Fury, and Fury had suggested he make a trip to the workplace of Mr. Richards, as it was known that his four friends, including Mr. Barnes, enjoyed wasting their time. He had reached the building, a bakery by the name of The Baker's Dozen (a bakery pun. How original. Not), when he almost walked into a teenage girl leaning on the brick wall, and fiddling with a metal kitchen appliance. She had a white cup (mug, actually), next to her, and she was mumbling to herself.
Loki thought he recognized her. Was she a student of his (the faces were all starting to blend together, except for the ones that he actually bothered to notice)?
"Hey, watch it!" The girl complained loudly. "You stupid jerk!"
Loki cringed. He knew her alright. She was Toby Sterling, and was well known around the school for being loud, obnoxious, fairly mad, and an absolute genius. Thank Odin Miss Sterling wasn't in any of his classes.
"My apologies," he told her in a low voice, before entering the bakery. Four teenagers, a girl in a blue striped tee-shirt with a light pink apron over it with long blonde hair in a French braid, a boy with darker curly hair and glasses wearing a purple button-up shirt, and Mr. Barnes and Mr. Richards.
Barnes had short dark blonde hair, and was wearing a black tee-shirt, while Richards had curly dark red hair, and was wearing all black under a light pink apron.
"Mr. Lain?" Richards asked him. "What are you doing here?"
Loki stared at him with a passive expression. "I am in need of some pastries, it seems for the, ah, faculty party." He replied coolly.
"Alright… What kind would you like, sir?" The blonde girl asked him politely. Loki decided he wasn't very fond of her. She was too nice.
He quickly scanned the items on the menu. "Ah, pecan maple danishes. Twenty of them."
"Okay," the girl said slowly, scribbling down his order. "When would you like to pick them up?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know, when would you like them? Today, tomorrow…" she trailed off.
He thought about it. "Tomorrow afternoon would be perfect. Thank you." He said, giving them a parting nod, and going out the door. As he left, he was able to make out Barnes whispering, "Isn't it weird to see a teacher outside of school? I almost thought that they lived there!" The others responded with some laughter, but Loki couldn't hear any of their replies, because he had teleported himself almost half-way across the city to meet Fury and Thor at the secret SHIELD base.
Well? How was it?! TELL ME, I DEMAND TO KNOW! Hee hee, got a little carried away, there. Well, anyways, thoughts, feelings, suggestions, and such are always wellcomed, so don't be afraid to press that little button at the bottom and review! And don't forget to vote! Later, R&R!
~Es