"So, after months of not talking to me and then ignoring me at Evelyn's party, you call me to ask about an ancient, supposed "magical" cube that will probably never be found?"
Corey pursed her lips, not knowing what to say to his sudden outburst. She had to admit though, it wasn't the best conversation starter ever.
"I don't know, Clint… I just thought you might've heard something about it, seeing as how Steve Rogers was just found. I know you're always the 'go-to' guy for random pieces of information."
Clint grunted into the phone. "The damn thing probably doesn't even exist anymore, Corey. How do you know about it anyway?" The suspicion in his voice caught Corey off guard and her palms started to sweat suddenly.
"Really Clint? The government might be good at hiding some things but they can't just make the famous HYDRA weapon disappear like it never even existed." As convincing as she tried to make herself sound, she knew that Clint wasn't satisfied with her answers.
"Okay, well if you're going to give me nothing but silence, perhaps I should just hang up?" Before she ran her finger across the 'end' button, Clint called her name.
"Wait. I haven't spoken to you in months. I don't really want to start another streak." He paused before speaking again. "How about we meet up in person sometime soon. I'll text you the days I have off and we can go from there." Corey pursed her lips just like she always did when she was nervous and didn't know what to say. What would Loki think? Her breathing hitched and her palms started to sweat again. He had to understand though; she was only trying to help him. She felt like Clint knew more than what he was telling her and she was just trying to figure out what he was hiding. She forced a smile to herself, trying to make herself feel better about what she was doing.
"That sounds great, Clint. I'll be expecting your text." With that, they said their good-byes and she hung up the phone, feeling a sudden wave of tears and anxiety crash over her.
Loki slouched in his throne of an office chair, his legs spread and his hand at his face, his mouth fidgeting with his fingertips. His mind went back to the conversation with Nick Fury earlier that day. The man on the other end of the line seemed nervous for the first time since he started talking to him. Loki realized it wasn't until he mentioned the Tesseract again that the Director started to slightly stutter on his own words and the hesitation he offered Loki made him out to be a liar.
One thing was true: Captain America had been found and he was still alive. A devious smile played across his lips when he thought about that tiny little fact: The Captain was still alive. He had to be what, 90 years old now, give or take? That wasn't what Loki was concerned about though. No, Loki was already formulating a plan to befriend the Captain. If S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't lead him to the Tesseract, the Captain would.
A light knocking on his office door stirred him from his thoughts. "Come in." He commanded the person on the other side.
"Mr. Laufeyson?" The meek voice of his newest employee hardly broke the silence. He grimaced at the weak girl. It took every ounce of self-control not to dismiss her just as fast as he commanded her to come in.
"What is it?" He tried to sound pleasant but it was only too obvious that he was irritated with the mortal in front of him.
"Oh, uh, there is someone here to see you… Would you like me to bring them to you?" Her eyes stayed focused on the wall behind her boss and when he stood up from his chair, he saw her flinch involuntarily. His face twisted into an evil smile at her. He decided that he was going to have a small bit of fun with the terrified girl.
"Do I intimidate you, dear girl?" Loki backed away from his desk and neared her small frame. She didn't say anything but he could see her shivering slightly. "Answer the question." He looked down at her wringing hands. "Michelle." He leaned down and whispered her name in her ear. She was frozen, not able to speak or move. Her hands melted to her sides and her knees locked. Loki grinned again.
"You're going to pass out if you stay like that, Michelle." He placed a hand on the small of her back to get her to at least move her legs. She yelped in his face.
"Oh, I am so sorry Mr… Mr. Laufeyson." She clasped her hands over her mouth and backed away from him slowly.
"I did not dismiss you." She immediately stopped in her tracks and stared at his face again. "Now, answer my question before I lose my patience."
She almost whimpered when he asked the question again, still not answering.
"You know, Michelle." He began to circle her. "You remind me of one of my former employees." He stopped walking when he reached her backside. "In more ways than one." He whispered to her neck, his lips almost brushing against the revealed skin. She jumped away from the contact.
"I-will you stop this is I answer your question?" Her voice was incredibly shaky, more so than she had hoped.
"It depends on what your answer is." He placed a light hand on her forearm. "And I will know if you're lying…" He growled and started circling her again though very slowly this time.
"Yes." She let out a shallow gasp. "You not only intimidate me, but you terrify me." She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for whatever he wanted to do to her. He laughed. He actually laughed at her answer. She wanted to cry out for someone to get her out of that office but she was too afraid. What would he do? So, she took a deep breath and spoke again. "Are you satisfied with that answer, Mr. Laufeyson?" Her voice evened out and she finally took control of her trembling body.
"Immensely, Ms. Larezo. Now if you will, please bring me my visitor." Michelle didn't waste any time leaving her seemingly pleased boss.
She bolted to the elevator across from his office and desperately pressed the button to go to the bottom floor. She fidgeted with her long brown hair and paced around the compact space impatiently. She could still feel Loki's breathe on the back of her neck and that made her shiver tremendously. She lightly smacked herself on the arm when she started to enjoy the events that just happened.
"There is no way you can think about your boss like that… Especially HIM!" She spoke out loud to herself. When the elevator came to a halt to allow the door to open, she sped out instantly, bumping into the man she was sent to fetch.
"Oh, goodness! I am so sorry, Mr. Stark!" He held out his hand to her and winked.
"You feeling okay, kiddo? You look a little disheveled." He stared into her eyes as if he were looking for something in particular.
"Perfect… Never better!" She bit her lip nervously when she thought about walking Mr. Stark to Loki's office, which meant she would probably be in his presence again.
"Shall we? I'll take you to the man himself." She, with Tony following behind her, walked back into the elevator.
"What a place… You ever hear of Stark Tower?" He asked her though he already knew the answer. She raised an eye brow at him.
"Yes, Mr. Stark. I know what Stark Tower is." She added playfulness to her voice that he couldn't help but to adore instantly.
"You should come by sometime. You think this is great? Does the Lokester actually live here? No, didn't think so. Stark Tower is my home, hun." Michelle put her hand over her mouth to hold in her laughter.
"Did you just call Mr. Laufeyson the 'Lokester'?" She couldn't hold in her laughter anymore when he frowned at her ignorance to his pick up line.
"Don't worry, I'll think about it, Mr. Stark." She chuckled again when the door opened to reveal the top and final floor. "Well, this is where I should probably leave. His office is straight ahead. Good luck, Mr. Stark." She held out her hand for him to shake.
"Mr… Screw the formalities, please! It makes me feel old. Just call me Tony." He took her small hand in his but instead of shaking it, he kissed her knuckles with cracked but still smooth lips. She felt a heat rise to her already flushed cheeks.
"Michelle." She managed to force her name out of her mouth before scampering away. Tony watched after her only to check her out from behind.
"Getting to know my employees, Stark?" He heard the icy voice of Loki behind him. When he turned around, he expected to see him glaring evilly but a smiling face greeted him instead.
"How are you, Stark? What brings you here today?" Tony let the CEO wave him into the roomy office.
"Same shit, different day." Tony shrugged his shoulders at the raven-haired man. "There's nothing I can do about it so I just push through the BS and live in the luxury." Loki managed to contain a laugh at his ignorant words.
"What brings you here, my friend?" He politely changed the subject.
"Okay, I'm sure you have tons of work to do… Head honcho and all, so hopefully this is short and sweet." Tony took a seat in front of Loki's desk when he offered it to him while Loki sat behind the giant desk. "First of all, I want to apologize for any inconvenience I caused with that small black out…" Tony cleared his throat nervously when Loki nodded at him to continue. There weren't many people who could intimidate Tony Stark but Loki was definitely one of them.
"Alrighty then… As you know, I've been working on a new arc reactor for self sustained clean energy. As you also know, that hasn't been working out too well for me." A grimace decorated his face.
"No, judging from the latest black out, I wouldn't say that it has been working out." Loki created a small steeple in front of him with his fingertips.
"Well, that's why I am here." Tony forced a nervous laugh. "Like I said at the party, I want to get you in on this with me." Loki raised a brow at his comment. "With your help, I think I could get the arc reactor to stop overloading." Tony broke eye contact between them and let out a low whistle.
"Who knows, man, this kind of technology could be good for your company." He smiled at his own bribery tactic but little did he know Loki would soon have all the energy he would possibly need for his business and more.
"I will give this some thought, Stark." Loki stood up from his throne-office chair hybrid and held out his hand for him, dismissing him sooner than Tony was hoping.
"Okay, well… Thanks? For hearing me out." He grabbed Loki's hand rather awkwardly before leaving Loki to himself. When the door finally shut and he was completely alone, he slammed his hand into the wooden desk. Tony Stark angered Loki more than anyone, even more so than his brother.He wasn't sure what it was about the man that made him so angry but it was probably his ego. Even though Stark walked on eggshells around the god whenever he was in his presence, he still talked to Loki like they grew up together as the best of friends.
Another thing that angered him about the egotistical bastard was his invention of the arc reactor. Loki powered almost the entire state of New York and the fact that 'Laufeyson Inc' was not powering Stark Tower infuriated Loki. He let it go on though, for the sole purpose of Stark filling him in on his inventions. Loki would double cross Stark and he would feel no remorse in doing so. As far as Loki was concerned, Stark had it coming for a long time now…
Michelle stared at the phone number in her hand. Tony Stark, billionaire, the famous Iron Man, gave her his phone number. She could hardly contain her excitement as she grabbed her coat from behind the receptionist desk. Before making her way out the door, she stared at the number on the small piece of notebook paper one more time. Her heart fluttered and her head swam with images of the two of them doing everything imaginable. Her happiness was soon broken by the cool voice of the CEO.
"Singing a different tune, dear Michelle?" He was directly behind her. She cursed herself silently for always letting him sneak up on her like that.
"It is cute how the 'man of iron' doesn't intimidate you but I do?" His voice sounded sad momentarily and she almost turned around to apologize but she quickly realized it was a ruse.
"He's also not my boss, Mr. Laufeyson. You must understand…" He put his arms around her waist and spun her so that she was facing him.
"You lie. What is the real reason I scare you?" He was searching her face for answers and she knew he would find them there. She wasn't good at hiding her emotions.
"I hear the stories, Mr. Laufeyson." She squeezed her eyes shut and looked down as she spoke. "About the battle between siblings and the thing called the 'Destroyer'? You are intimidating because you're not from around here, or so I hear." He let her waist go as he stared at her closed eyes. "Is that true, Mr. Laufeyson?" He saw a flutter of hazel as her eyes opened again.
"I am sure nothing will surprise anyone anymore. Everyone has something special about them these days. Yes. The stories are true." He offered her a friendly gaze and she savored the moment, the moment that her boss was actually nice even if it was just a moment of silence.
"Then," she thought about what she was about to say. "How are you here now?" He stared into the brown-green gems that were her eyes for a long moment. He saw an honest curiosity in those eyes that he just couldn't deny. She meant no harm by asking the questions, so he answered her the best way he could without breaking down in front of her.
"I let go…"
So, incase there is any confusion... That 'I let go' is in reference to when he let go of the staff at the end of 'Thor'. I know he fell on the unknown world but that's why this is AU guys. :) I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading. Okay and side note! Michelle is not taking Loki away from Corey. Sorry for any confusion. He's just being the intimidating, sex-on-legs that we all know that he is! Plus, she's totally into Stark. :p
