After the alley incident, Panther decided to avoid alleyways so not to raise suspicion. Plus, the more people who saw her change, the more people who could tell the news and the FBI.
With a sigh, Panther walked along the streets in hopes of finding a place for food. Within minutes, she found a Zaxby's and walked in ordering chicken tenders. Receiving her number, 39, Panther headed over to a table with her sprite and sat down, watching the news on a small TV.
"Reports from an anonymous person has just come in saying that the panther is actually a human that can morph" the news lady said.
Panther's eyes widened and she began to cough repeatedly from swallowing her sprite the wrong way in surprise. This wasn't good. If the FBI found her, Panther knew it would be all over. She knew she needed to find a way back to the avengers, but she wasn't ready to go. After all, Panther still held a grudge against Tony.
"Geez Brooke, do they not feed you?" Loki asked as he watched Brooke nearly clean every table.
"Oh no, I'm fed. I'm just a bottomless pit" Brooke answered before stuffing her face with fish. "I am never going back!" she yelled spinning around.
Loki smiled a bit with amusement. "Can I have-" he began, only to be cut off by Brooke.
"NO! don't you dare touch that food!" Brooke hissed, clutching a roll to her chest with wide, crazy eyes.
"Brooke, I think you've had enough" Loki whispered softly, taking a step towards Brooke, only to have the hammer hit him and knock him over.
Loki watched as Brooke called the hammer back and began to walk towards the door, muttering something about gods hogging all the food. "Wait, Brooke! Don't go!" Loki called, sitting up only to have the hammer thrown at him once more knocking him down.
"Brooke, where are you?" Thor called out, helping his father try to find the mortal that stole his hammer.
Thor stopped in his tracks at a quiet moan from the door beside him. Quickly opening it he looked inside to find Loki on the floor. "Father, in here!" Thor called, already running towards Loki.
"Loki, what happened?" Odin asked as he entered the room as well "Where's Brooke?"
"Gone somewhere in Asgard" Loki muttered, sitting up once more.
"Ok, but what happened" Thor pressed, worry evident in his voice.
"Something in the food made Brooke very protective of it. So she hit me with the hammer, twice I might add, and walked off" Loki answered.
Steve began to pace back and forth, deep in thought. They had to somehow focus on Loki while also secretly finding a way to bring Panther back without the FBI questioning things. Sighing, he turned his attention back to the TV where they were still watching the news.
"She seemed lost, so I asked if she needed help and instead she morphed into a panther and chased me!" the man they were interviewing stuttered, his face pixelated for safety.
"Why would Panther morph in front of someone who was trying to help?" Tony asked, looking at the others.
"Tony, the man wasn't trying to help. He meant to hurt her. You can tell by his posture that he's lieing" Clint answered, staring at the man on the TV intently.
"So she thought it would be best to turn into a panther?" Bruce asked.
"It's probably the only form of self-defense Panther knows" Natasha pointed out.
Tony sighed and shook his head with a quick eye roll. "Well whatever the reason, one of us needs to sneak away and go get her, namely not me or Bruce" he said, walking out of the room.
Clint looked at the door that Tony had exited from and then back to the team. "Natasha, I think you should try" he said.
As the sun slowly began to set Panther found a tree in Central Park she could easily climb. She was about 20 feet up when she found an abandoned bird's nest carved in the tree. Smiling at her luck, Panther headed inside before morphing into her panther form and laying down, watching the sunset.
"It sure is beautiful. If Brooke wasn't stuck on Asgard she would enjoy it" Panther whispered with a smile. What really caught her attention though was all the lights slowly flickering on.
It reminds me of the family vacation I took to Las Vegas when I was five. Panther thought, resting her head on her paws.
A slight rustling from something or someone climbing the tree made Panther instantly sit up and poke her head out of the craving in the tree. Looking down to a branch below her, Panther saw Natasha sitting on it.
"How'd you find me?" Panther asked curiously.
Natasha shrugged, climbing up more to sit on the branch level with the nest. "I'm a master assassin that works for SHEILD" she answered.
"Good enough point. But what are you doing here?" Panther continued, sticking her head back inside.
"I'm looking for you so you can come back to the helicarrier. Too many people are already suspicious of you and your ability" Natasha replied.
Panther snorted and faced away from Natasha. "I'm not going back" she stated plainly.
"And why not?" Natasha asked.
Panther didn't answer. She didn't want to go into detail about what happened between her and Tony. Every time she thought about it, it still made her angry. Sticking her claws into the floor, Panther finally answered. "It's because of some things Tony said. And I don't feel like repeating them"
"You should know well Tony is thick headed. So why let his words get to you like that?" Natasha said.
Panther sighed, looking over her shoulder. "It's always been a habit for me. Words, scolding, mean things said about me, they affect me and stay in my mind. I try to forget, but I can't. And sometimes it gets to the point where my anger is focused on the person who said them, not the words themselves" Panther said.
"I'm guessing then, that's the situation right now with you and Tony" Natasha assumed.
"Yep" Panther replied.
Brooke was having the time of her life. She never knew how big Asgard was. What bugged her though was how she wasn't running into so many gods and goddesses. Brooke had always assumed Asgard would be flooding with them.
"What? Is it like Christmas holidays for them or something?" Brooke joked with herself, adding a slight chuckle.
Before Brooke knew it, she began to laugh harder. "I should seriously do that for Christmas. Dress Odin up as Santa and Thor and Loki could be little elves" she mused with a smile as tears from her laughter rolled down her face.
"What were you saying?" a voice asked Brooke, startling her as she turned around.
"Oh, uh, er, hi Thor" Brooke said, scratching the back of her neck nervously.
Busted. Brooke thought.