Chapter 9 ~ Getting There is Half The Battle

Demons – Imagine Dragons

Morning rose in a glorious display of oranges, pinks and even a vibrant red. Lithia hadn't slept very well so she was up when the sun rose. She watched as the great burning orb crested the distant horizon, flooding the land with gentle light. They had been in Louisiana about two weeks, slowly taking in the sites and doing some shopping. Lithia smiled at the memory of the only thing Tony had bought the entire trip.

"How about that?" he asked, pointing to a building.

"No Daddy." Lithia replied coolly, gently shaking her head.

"How about that?" he pointed to a dancing girl in the middle of a street performance.

"No Dad, slavery is illegal now." Lithia said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the performance.

"How about—" Tony started again but Lithia cut him off.

"No Tony." Lithia said. "Pepper told me not to let you buy anything while we were here so, anything you want to buy, just assume my answer is no."

Tony scoffed as they entered an old antique shop. He poked around a few things, keeping an eye on Lithia as she stood near Loki. They were talking about something but were speaking quietly. He saw Loki's fingers flinch toward Lithia's hand before making a fist. He was second guessing himself. Tony would keep a closer eye on the two of them. Bruce was looking at some things as well, not entirely comfortable in the cluttered and closed in place. He kept glancing toward the exit every so often.

Tony ended up near the jewelry station. He gazed in and a simple ring caught his eye. The silver was tarnished but the pure diamond was untouched by time. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the ring. Greta appeared at his side. "Okay Wide-Eyes, what is it this time?" Greta asked, looking around for the most garish thing the millionaire, (former) playboy could possibly find. "Crystal Hot Sauce in a real crystal bottle? A real working voodoo doll, or an alligator-skin wallet?"

Tony mutely pointed to the ring. Greta eyed the ring with admiration. It was simple really, but there was an underlying beauty that made the ring unique. She was startled as Tony turned toward the back of the store.

"Can I buy this?" Tony called toward Lithia.

"Tony, I just told you—" Lithia began but Greta cut her off.

"Let him buy it!" she called. Greta's eyes were wide, and she was practically bouncing in place with the biggest smile Lithia had ever seen. "Please, for the love of Asgard, let the rich man buy this! PLEASE!"

Lithia raised her eyebrows and sighed. "Alright." She said, pulling out Tony's wallet.

"How did you get this?" he asked, quickly snatching it back from her.

"Tony, Tony, Tony, it just… walked into my purse." She said with a wink.

Tony gave her a once over before calling for an attendant. He bought the ring and quickly pocketed the small gray box and his wallet.

Lithia smiled again, walking back from their balcony and back into their room. Crossing to Greta's still sleeping form, Lithia looked down and took a big step back. Summoning a pillow, she gently smacked Greta's head. Greta didn't move at first, but then her eyes opened slyly as she looked up at Lithia. "You realize, of course, this means war."

"We can fight later." Lithia said, sitting cautiously at the edge of her bed. "I think it's time we went and…" she trailed off before swallowing.

"Oh, right!" Great cried, smacking her palm against her forehead. "Forgot this isn't a vacation. Gimme two seconds to find my pants." Her cry roused Tiny Hulk who flipped up and looked around frantically before sighing and curling back up to sleep again.

"Keep it down will you?!" Lithia hissed. "They are still asleep you twit."

"Sorry," Greta whispered. She returned from her suitcase with a pair of old blue jeans, and exchanged them for her mini pajama shorts. She already had on her gray cameo mini-T with 'Army' written across the bust, but she grabbed a light jacket to keep the chill off. Not bothering to brush her hair, she quickly put it up in a high ponytail and slipped on a pair of sandals. "Okay, let's go get your baby."

Lithia smiled nervously and went to get dressed. She pulled off her pajamas just as the room between the girls and guys opened. "I thought I heard yelling in here…" Loki's still asleep voice said from the doorway before his eyes landed on Lithia's basically naked form.

She turned slowly, clutching her sleeping shirt to her chest as their eyes locked. Loki was basically red-faced in embarrassment and Lithia's cheeks were slowly matching his.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE, PERVERT!" Greta shrieked, practically loud enough for the whole hotel to hear. Her loudness brought Tony and Bruce rushing toward the room and Tiny Hulk bolted up again, barking loudly and menacingly. Lithia darted into the bathroom, leaving Loki to fend for himself while Loki was trying to cover is eyes. But it was too late. Greta had made a grab for the closet thing near here, and throw the item right at Loki's head…which happened to be the bedside lamp. It hit Loki right between the eyes, causing him to fall backwards into the guys' room. Before anyone else could react, Greta slammed the door shut.

"Is he gone?" Lithia called from the bathroom.

"The O.D.B. won't be bothering you any time soon," Greta assured her. "I nailed him for peeping, but something tells me he's not clear yet."

Lithia crept back out but jumped at the yelling from the other room. Pulling some clothes on, she rushed into their room and leapt between the furious Tony and the already black-eyed Loki. "Dad stop!" she said, holding up her hands.

Tony sputtered, unable to fathom a complete sentence. "He just saw you naked Lithia." Bruce said, rather pained.

"It was accident. An accident." Lithia calmly said, and slowly Tony calmed down as well.

Taking shaky but deep breaths, Tony turned his focus from Loki and to the dressed Lithia. "Why are you dressed so early?" he asked softly.

Lithia stiffened slightly. Loki noticed but he seemed to be the only one. "Greta and I are going out." She replied, rolling her shoulders. "Girly stuff to do."

Quickly looking between Loki and Tony, Lithia inhaled and left to go back to her room. Grabbing her car keys and Greta, the girls swept from the hotel and hopped into the van, Tiny Hulk racing to keep up with them. They drove in silence out of the city and toward an unspecified location. "It's a few hours from the city." Lithia said quietly. Greta nodded as they turned from a main road and onto an older side street.

XXXX

"It's been two hours." Tony said, having started to pace on the balcony.

"It has been two hours, 27 minutes and 45 seconds." Loki replied.

"That's just creepy." Tony noted. "What is taking them so long?"

"Tony, they are girls doing girly things." Bruce said. "And, though we are smart, the escapades of females will always manage to elude us."

"Damn straight." Tony said. "But, don't you think that it's been a rather long time for them to be doing… girly things without even a call?"

"You do have a point." Bruce said.

Loki lulled his head back, sending tendrils of his subconscious out to Lithia. Reaching her mind, he was bombarded by a hodgepodge of mixed emotions. Fear, anxiety, joy, frustration, anticipation and too many more flooded his senses, making him pull sharply from her mind. Rolling forward, his head met his hands as he attempted to catch his breath. "What?" Tony asked already knowing that Loki had tapped into Lithia's mind.

Composing himself, Loki looked up. "Her emotions are all over the place. She can't seem to settle on one." He explained, rubbing his temples.

"Even more evidence for…" Bruce pointed out but trailed off.

"Beside that," Loki continued "She is not in any proximity to a store that would be of use if her… condition is as we suspect."

"Where is she?" Tony asked.

"I can only get a general proximity but I can confirm that she is not within the city of New Orleans." Loki said.

Tony, who had taken to leaning on the riling, sprung up. "Bruce, put on some pants. We're going after her." He said, sweeping into the hotel room.

"I have pants on Tony." Bruce said, rubbing his forehead.

"Good. Then we're ready to go." Tony said, putting some shoes on.

"Stark, she took the car." Loki pointed out.

"So?" Tony said. "You can teleport us there."

There was a pause before Loki swung his head slightly in agreement. Smiling, Tony stepped closer to Loki as did Bruce. Closing his eyes and using Lithia as an anchor, Loki slowly pulled the three of them through and to where the girls were.