Three chapters three days in a row! You guys are most definitely spoiled.
Meanxruki: I am trying to add more Loki, really I am! And thank you so much, that means a lot.
msgone: Yes, yes he is.
AN: Realized I made a mistake on type of Scan later on so I needed to change it. It would have bothered the hell out of me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
As the sisters were finishing up the last bits of training before their dinner break, they received a bit of a surprise, the Avenger team being taken more by surprise as Loki entered the training room alongside Thor and Fury.
"What is he doing here?" Stark was the first to ask.
"He is here under my direct orders," Fury replied, "If I could just take a moment of your time, I have something to explain to all of you."
The team gathered closer together and Fury explained to them the situation of Loki training with them, more specifically the recruits. All but the three sisters began to protest.
"How do you know he won't cause us any harm?" Steve asked.
"Or try getting away?" Clint added.
"I was under the impression we didn't trust him," Natasha chipped in.
"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, if you wish to know the details, you can ask me again in the conference room," Fury said, "As for the rest of you, whether you like it or not, Loki is part of the team and I expect you to behave yourselves."
"I guess I can…try to restrain myself from killing him," Stark muttered.
Dianne shot Stark a glare, and aimed a kick at him, hitting him right in the shin. Stark cringed, and returned her glare with one of his own. Fury said nothing else as he left, leaving Thor and Loki there. Dianne went to walk over to him, when she stopped and looked over to Natasha first.
"You may take your break now," Natasha said.
Olyvia and Rosemary were suddenly no longer weary as they took off at a run to the doors, chanting something about food as they left and Dianne moved to Loki's side.
"Is Fury actually serious?" she asked, "He's just…giving you free roam of the place now?"
"More or less."
"I thought he didn't trust you," Dianne said quietly so the others couldn't overhear, "So what sort of threat did he make in some attempt to keep you in line?"
Dianne saw a look of pain flash across his face for the briefest moment, before returning to a blank countenance, "Oh just the usual death threats."
She wouldn't have been surprised, but she had a feeling it was more than that. With a sad smile, she wrapped her hand in his.
"Come on, I only have a thirty minute break and I'm starving."
Pulling Loki behind her, the two left the gym.
"Any volunteers to keep an eye on him?" Natasha asked.
"I'll go," Steve, Bruce, Clint and Stark all replied in unison.
"Clint, why don't you come with me?" Natasha suggested, "The rest of you can go."
The other three then left the room, leaving Thor looking lost and confused.
"Why do you not trust my brother?" he asked, aiming his question to the two remaining agents.
"You do remember what he did here, right?" Natasha asked.
"He has changed though," Thor said in defense for his brother, "How can you not see it?"
"He is very good at hiding his feelings," Clint said, "All I see is an empty shell."
"He is much more than that," Thor said, "I hope in time that you will come to see that as well."
After the half hour dinner break, it was back to the gym for the girls. Loki came as well, just to watch. It would be tomorrow that he would begin training with them. There was still a substantial amount of testing to be done on each of the girls, but now that they had gone several days without the personal tests, it was Olyvia's turn again, which Stark reminded her as they were leaving for the night.
"Ooh joy, experiment day, my favorite," Olyvia said sarcastically, giving Stark a thumbs up as she backed toward the door.
"Of course it is, you get to hang out with me all day," Stark shouted loudly enough for her to hear before she disappeared through the doorway.
"Whatever," Olyvia said, extending her left arm out in some sort of wave as she left.
Steve was about to go and call it a night when Stark approached him.
"I'm going to need to borrow you again tomorrow," Stark said.
"For manual labor again? You can do it yourself Stark," Steve rebutted.
"Actually, I had something else in mind," Stark said.
Steve paused, not liking the mischievous glint in the billionaire's eye, "What?"
"I want to see if Livy is stronger than you," Stark replied, before walking to the door.
Steve stared blankly where Stark had been standing for a few seconds as his brain processed what Stark just said. It was already obvious she was physically stronger, but he knew Stark had something else in mind. He wanted him to fight a girl, and not just any girl but one he had some feelings toward. Steve whirled around to ask why, but Stark was already gone. Steve sighed. How was he going to do this?
Heading to the gym the next day, Olyvia wasn't surprised to find Steve helping Stark again, since the man of Iron seemed to need some help lifting heavy objects without his suit, but Olyvia quickly realized that wasn't the case today as she was brought over to another section of the gym covered with floor mats to provide padding, just like where she and her sisters had their self-defense training. Steve wasn't in any sort of training clothes, just wearing his khaki jeans and white t-shirt, so she wasn't entirely sure what was going on.
"Wait a second…something's fishy here," Olyvia said, giving Stark a suspicious look.
"Since we have already determined that you are…rather strong, I want to see if you're stronger than the Captain here," Stark said.
"Can he lift up a forklift?" Olyvia asked, crossing her arms and glaring at Stark.
"Well…I doubt it, but this is a much more fun way of determining who is the stronger fighter," Stark said, "So don't be shy, come on over."
Olyvia still hadn't stepped foot on the mats, where the other two were and she wasn't about to anytime soon.
"I'm still learning my fighting skills!" Olyvia argued.
"Then that'll give the Captain a chance then, won't it?" Stark asked.
Olyvia looked over to Steve, and fought the blush creeping up on her face. She didn't exactly want to be so close, or hitting him for that matter. She wasn't too concerned though about him hitting back because she could take a hit, plus, she had a feeling he wouldn't go all out against her.
Stark tried coaxing her over again, and with a grumble she stomped out over to the two, making sure she was out of arm's reach from Steve.
"Okay, now go at it!" Stark said, jumping away from the two.
Steve and Olyvia just looked at each other for a few seconds before Olyvia inched forward, and just extending her arm, poked Steve in the side. Steve smiled. She obviously didn't want to do this just as much as he did.
Stark let out a frustrated growl, "I said fight."
Olyvia merely poked Steve again, and Stark looked over to Steve, practically begging with his eyes that he get the spar started. Steve didn't want to hit Olyvia, so he did was Olyvia did, and poked her back. Except Olyvia let out a squeak and fell to the floor when he did that.
"What just happened?" Stark asked.
Olyvia popped back onto her feet, blushing madly as she took a step away out of Steve's arm reach, and wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach.
"Are you seriously that ticklish?" Steve asked.
"I am not answering that, because everyone's reaction is the same once I give my answer."
"What, this?" Steve asked, stepping forward and poking her again.
Olyvia let out another squeal as she hopped away, slapping at his hands with her own, "No touchie!"
"I can't believe this," Stark groaned, "Our secondary tank's weakness is tickling. Who would have thought?"
"It's not my fault I'm ticklish," Olyvia said, jumping back again when Steve took another step forward, just to josh her, and again with an odd sounding squeak from her throat.
"Will you two just…fight already?" Stark asked in frustration, "That is the whole point in today's experiment, so just do it already."
Olyvia watched Steve warily, waiting for him to make the first move. She doubted he would though, so this would just continue as a standoff. So with a deep breath, Olyvia made the first move, aiming a kick at Steve's chest since he was still out of arm's reach. Steve leaned back and out of the way, knocking away her leg with a swing of his arm, and Olyvia almost lost her balance as she swung her leg back down. Catching her footing, she then moved forward and swung a few punches, Steve blocking a few hits while she managed to hit him once or twice. She noticed he wasn't hitting back, merely holding her off while she wailed on him.
"I thought the point was for the both of us to fight, Steve," Olyvia said as she threw a few more punches and kicked him square in the chest.
"I don't want to hurt you," Steve replied.
"I'm sure I can handle it," Olyvia said, "Besides, how am I ever going to learn if you hold back?"
"She has a point Rogers, so fight back!" Stark shouted from the sidelines.
"Can it Stark," Steve snapped.
As Olyvia went to punch again, Steve grabbed her arm, and then swinging her around to where her back was to him, grabbed the other and pinned them behind her back and held her to where she was nearly pressed up against his chest. It was just an automatic reaction for Steve, and when his brain finally computed that a woman was that close to him, he couldn't help but blush. Since Olyvia's face was turned away from him, he couldn't see that her face was also red, her heart rate speeding up as she felt his breath against the back of her neck. As much as she didn't mind too much being close to him, she was pinned, and her arms were at an odd angle.
"Okay, how did Natasha explain how to get out of this one?" Olyvia muttered to herself.
Olyvia wracked her brain for a few seconds before she bit her lip. Well, she knew of one that was a surefire way to get out.
"Do you yield?" Steve asked, seeing as how she wasn't struggling too much.
"Steve, I apologize in advance," Olyvia said.
"For what?"
Bringing up the heel of her foot, she hit him right between the legs, making him double over in pain, and Olyvia whirled around, grabbed Steve by his arms, pinning them behind him and then with a kick to the back of his knees, he crumpled down onto them, her nearly losing her balance again.
"Oh! The Captain just got owned by a girl!" Stark exclaimed. He was having far too much fun watching.
"Do you yield?" Olyvia asked.
"I don't go down that easily."
Olyvia suddenly found herself being thrown over Steve's head from the momentum of him pushing his torso forward and using the little arm movement he had in order to throw her. The air was knocked out of Olyvia as she landed hard on the mat, and before she had the chance to gain her breath and get back on her feet, Steve had her pinned again. Olyvia's face turned beet red due to how Steve was pinning her down, straddling her and pinning her crossed arms against her chest. It was a rather provocative position, especially to someone watching. Like Stark.
"Wow Cap'n, didn't think you'd move that fast."
Steve's face flushed red when it finally registered in his head the sort of position he was in, and what it looked like to Stark. He loosened his hold on her as an automatic reaction, and Olyvia took that opportunity to flip him over onto his back, and then moved her legs to straddle him and pin him down, pushing his arms above his head so he wouldn't have much leverage over her.
"Are we done?" Olyvia asked with a smirk, trying to force the blush off her face.
Steve, not about to be outdone by a girl, flipped her over to where he was on top again, but this time he flipped her over again onto her stomach and pinned her arms behind her back, pressing one knee into the small of her back to try to keep her still. Olyvia struggled, thinking of how to get out of this one when she paused as she turned her head over to Stark to see he held something in his hand, aiming toward them.
"Um…Stark, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Recording," Stark said, "To have proof that Steve wrestled with a girl."
Steve's face began burning in embarrassment again, "You are such a child Stark."
"And you're an old man," Stark rebutted.
Olyvia's stomach lurched into her throat hearing Stark had been recording the spar, and with a sudden burst of adrenaline, tucked her knees up under her chest, and then using her legs, threw herself backward, slamming Steve down onto the mat and knocking the air out of him. Steve gasped loudly as she then elbowed him hard in the chest to get him to let go before scrambling to her feet and ran over to Stark.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Stark asked as he began to back away.
Olyvia grabbed the small digital video recorder, and with a squeeze of her hand, crushed it. Stark's jaw dropped as he stared in shock at the remains as she let it drop to the floor.
"I am not going to let you embarrass me by sharing that video," Olyvia said through her labored breathing.
Stark scooped up the broken pieces of his precious gadget, "You…you…"
"I'm camera shy, alright!" Olyvia went on, "I don't like being recorded."
"You do realize you're on camera nearly all the time here on the helicarrier anyway, right?" Stark asked heatedly.
"That's for security purposes and I understand that," Olyvia said, "Yours was purely for the intent to embarrass."
Stark took in deep breaths to calm himself, trying to remind himself that it was just a simple gadget, he had more, he could make more. But there was no way to replicate that video!
"Are we done here?" Olyvia asked.
Stark nodded, "Yeah, we're done."
Olyvia slowly backed away from Stark, just to watch his expression to see how upset he was, before turning around to look at Steve. He was still lying on the ground, right hand lying on his chest.
"You alright there Steve?" Olyvia asked in concern.
"I'm fine," Steve replied, "Think I might actually bruise, but fine."
Olyvia offered him a hand, which he took and pulled himself to his feet.
"So I'm guessing I have to go back to normal training now," Olyvia groaned.
"Probably," Steve said.
With a sigh, Olyvia began heading over to the other side of the gym, Steve going with her. Once they were far enough away, Stark began pulling apart the broken pieces of the camera, before pulling out a small memory chip and he smiled. It was undamaged.
A few days later it was the girls' chance for their weekly call to their mother. They all reported just about the same thing, the days were long, training was hard and tiring, and they missed her cooking. Rosemary was probably the most excited during her conversation with her mother, saying that she was becoming a ninja. Until Brenda asked how she was keeping up on schoolwork, and that brought Rosemary's spirits down, admitting that she was falling behind because they weren't giving much time for her to work on it despite getting more breaks than her sisters because she needed to do homework.
They also had the day off, in a sense. Bruce was going to go over their blood test results with them today so they would be in the lab for a while, but other than that, they weren't being required to have any formal training. It was always optional, and highly encouraged. The girls happily slept in to eight o'clock, before the sunlight was too bright and wouldn't allow them to get any more sleep. As Olyvia got dressed, Whisper just would not leave her alone, meowing and begging constantly for attention, rolling over onto her back at Olyvia's feet every time she stopped walking.
"Do you want to come with me today? Huh, is that what you want?" Olyvia asked, picking her cat off the floor.
Whisper purred loudly as she rubbed her head against Olyvia's chin.
"Well, since you're such a laid back, lazy kitty I guess I could give it a try."
So slipping on her red plaid flats to go with her dark wash jeans and red t-shirt, she headed out into the hallway with Whisper in her arms, went over to Dianne's door, and knocked.
"Who is it?" she barely heard Dianne's voice through the door.
"The abominable snowman," Olyvia replied.
The door opened just enough for Dianne to wedge herself in the doorway, "Hello sibling, what do you want?"
"I was just checking to see if you were ready to head to the lab," Olyvia replied.
Dianne's eyes landed on Whisper, "Are you taking her?"
"I figured why not," Olyvia replied, "She's just going to just lay around anyway. She doesn't care what's going on around her. Well, unless there is a vacuum, then she cares."
"I wish I could take Nelly, but she would freak out from me holding her so long," Dianne frowned.
"You can hold Whisper to get your kitty fix while we're there," Olyvia offered.
Dianne shrugged, "Eh, maybe. She's not my kitty, it's just not the same. Anyway, I am just about ready to go, you go fetch Rosemary."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Olyvia said sarcastically, clearly not too fond of being bossed by her sister.
Olyvia turned back around and headed to Rosemary's room, knocking on the door until she opened it about ten seconds later.
"What?" Rosemary asked grumpily.
"Ready to go to the lab?"
Rosemary grumbled under her breath, "Just give me a few minutes."
Rosemary then just slammed the door in her sister's face and Olyvia stared appalled at the door. Either her sister woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or it was her time of the month. Getting bored staring at the door for more than a few seconds, Olyvia moved so she could lean against the wall as she waited for her sisters to finish and join her. It was as she was waiting that Steve came walking by.
"You only just now got up?" Steve asked as he slowed to a stop next to her.
"Hello, good morning to you too," Olyvia replied with a small smile, "I slept great, thanks for asking."
Steve blushed, "Sorry."
"It's okay," Olyvia laughed, "Still, I don't see how anyone can get up before eight o'clock without having a good reason, like work or school."
"Or training."
"Or that," Olyvia agreed, "I'd probably be dragged out of my bed if I tried skipping. But seeing as how this is my day off, I take full advantage of my sleeping in time."
"So you're just about to head to Banner's lab?" Steve asked.
Olyvia nodded, "Yep. Probably will be poked and prodded more too. What about you? What are your plans?"
"Well, I spent my morning training in the gym already," Steve said, "I'll probably just stay in my room for most of the day. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, just curious," Olyvia said, "After the lab I'll probably do the same thing. Waste time on a hobby or napping or something."
Steve was about to ask what sort of hobbies she had when Dianne stepped out of her room so instead he just said goodbye, saying he would see her later and disappeared into his room. Dianne scooted over to her sister, a sly smile on her face.
"So what was that about?" she asked.
"We were just talking," Olyvia replied, "So you can wipe that smile off your face."
"No," Dianne said, her grin growing wider.
Olyvia just glared at her sister instead of trying to push the issue. She knew she would just tease her relentlessly anyway. A few minutes later Rosemary finally joined them, and the three headed to the lab. They had gotten fairly acquainted with the helicarrier that they knew their way around to the places they went to the most so they didn't get lost on their way to the lab. As they entered, they found that all of the Avengers were there, minus Steve of course, even Loki was there, and they were all huddled together, well except Loki, watching something that the girls couldn't see. Loki, since he wasn't really enthralled by whatever the others were watching, noticed their arrival, and seeing them began tapping Thor on the shoulder, trying to get his attention for some reason, but Thor paid him no mind. The three girls entered slowly, wondering what was going on when they heard Stark.
"This is my favorite part."
Loki began poking Thor harder, only to have his hand batted away. The whole group let out an "oooooh" as if they watched someone just biff it.
"Well she certainly has learned what we've taught her," Natasha then said.
"Still a bit of a klutz but she's getting the hang of it," Clint added.
Olyvia's eyes widened in horror when she realized they were talking about her, and there was only one thing they could possibly be watching to be making those comments. Loki, seeing her expression, stepped back and away from the others, who were telling Stark to play it again. Olyvia ran over and thrust her head in between Bruce and Stark, making Stark jump.
"Shit," Stark squeaked, seeing her there.
"H-h-how!?" Olyvia screeched as she tossed Whisper over her shoulder and used her hands to cover the computer screen they were watching video on, which had started over, "STARK! Turn it off now!"
Afraid of physical retribution from Olyvia for this, Stark turned it off.
"Where is the memory card?" Olyvia questioned darkly.
"Memory card?" Stark asked innocently.
"I'm not stupid Stark, memory card now."
"No," Stark said, crossing his arms and giving her a haughty look.
A feral growl rumbled out from Olyvia's throat, her hands starting to form into claws instead of fists, and Dianne hurried over and grabbed her sister by her shoulders and steered her away.
"Just breathe Livy," Dianne instructed, "Deep breaths, calm yourself."
Rosemary came over with Whisper in her hands and gave her back to Olyvia, who clutched her to her chest as she took in deep breaths. While her back was turned, Stark sneakily took out the memory card and pocketed it.
"Ahem…Bruce, your turn," Stark muttered to his co-worker.
"Right," Bruce said, "Um…the rest of you can go."
With a nod, the other four left, Loki gazing almost longingly at Dianne as he walked out of the room. Now it was only the girls, Bruce and Stark.
"About your blood tests—," Bruce began.
"What is that thing doing here?" Stark asked, interrupting Bruce and pointing at Whisper.
Olyvia growled again, glaring daggers at Stark.
"How about you just set her down for a little," Rosemary whispered.
Still glaring at Stark, Olyvia set Whisper on the floor. She wasn't worried about her running off, she was becoming too busy smelling out the room for that.
"Anyway," Bruce said turning the attention back to him, "About your blood tests, there is really very little to inform you about."
"Meaning?" Dianne asked.
"There is nothing in your system that would explain the phenomenon of your abilities," Bruce said, "Everything is…normal. There is absolutely no abnormalities in the blood."
"Huh…so our abilities aren't part of our DNA then?" Olyvia asked.
"Doesn't appear to be," Bruce said, "Though for your case Olyvia, there was a little something, but only slightly. It was difficult to determine."
"So…what now then?" Olyvia asked.
"If it would be possible, I'd like to take a tissue sample of your muscle," Bruce said.
Olyvia gaped at him, "What? Are you serious?"
Before Bruce could reply, JARVIS spoke up.
"Sir, the feline is eating the plant in the corner."
Stark jumped up and ran over to the plant Whisper was chewing on, and shooed her away.
"Get that thing out of here!"
"Good Whisper, you eat that mean Stark's plant," Olyvia praised as she walked over to the cat and scooped her back up into her arms.
"I'm watching you," Stark muttered darkly, giving the cat the evil eye.
Bruce then made his way over to Olyvia, holding a plastic container and a scalpel. With a grimace, Olyvia agreed to give a tissue sample, and the two headed over into a room attached to the lab where he proceeded to get the sample.
"And as for you two, the Doctor will want to get PET Scans of your brain," Stark explained to the girls while Bruce was busy.
"We're going to be here a while then, aren't we?" Dianne asked.
"For a bit, yes."
So the two took a seat while they waited for Bruce to return. He came out about ten minutes later, followed by Olyvia who had a bandage wrapped around her left bicep.
"You'll want to take it easy tomorrow as well," Bruce said, "I'll let Agent Romanoff and Barton know so they won't give you a hard time."
"Thank you Dr. Banner," Olyvia said.
"You may call me Bruce, there is no need for formalities here," Bruce replied.
"Very well. Am I excused Bruce?"
Bruce nodded, and Olyvia said a quick goodbye to her sisters before heading out the laboratory doors. He then turned to the other two.
"I assume Stark told you I wanted to get a PET Scan."
They nodded.
"Just follow me."
Dianne looked back to the doors as she followed after Bruce, wondering how long this would take. She had planned on spending time with Loki today, and she could only assume he was waiting for her to be finished. Maybe if she pulled being the older sister card she could get this done first and get out of here.
Olyvia was more than glad that the lab trip didn't take long, despite her left arm feeling extremely sore now. Bruce was as gentle as he could be, taking a sample of her muscle tissue, but still the pain was unbearable, her whole arm aching. Her plan for the rest of the day was to take it easy and just sketch in her sketchbook. Setting Whisper down back onto the floor, Olyvia made herself comfortable on her bed and pulled out her sketchbook. Over the week they had been here already, she had made a few doodles in it already, mostly of the team she was now a part of. Needless to say, in her doodles she wasn't all that kind towards Stark, having not taken much of a liking to him at the start. She was definitely going to add a few more of them today, after his video stunt. Flipping through some of the previous sketches, she smiled with the tiniest hint of a blush at one of the quick sketches she had done of Steve. He was just so perfect and beautiful, she couldn't help but draw that face of his.
With a resigned sigh, she turned to a blank page. There was no way he would ever consider her more than a friend. He was a much more serious person than her, and there were many a time where she was more immature than serious.
Pressing her pencil down to the page, she began releasing her pent up emotions through it, sketching out a caricature of herself pommeling Iron Man. She would never do it in real life of course, she was still far too intimidated by him.
Once finishing with that sketch, she was starting to feel better and started another sketch, this time of Natasha. Olyvia thought she was such a badass, and though she was a strict teacher, she was very good and Olyvia liked her a lot. After spending a few hours in her room, getting lost in her work, she was brought back to reality hearing a knock on her door. Closing the sketchbook on a finger to keep her place, she hopped off the bed and opened it. She couldn't help but blush as her heart leapt seeing it was Steve.
"Am I needed for something?" she asked, unable to come up with any reason as to why he would be at her door.
"Needed—oh, no I was just uh…I wasn't even sure if you were back yet from your…previous obligations," Steve stammered, then he noticed the book in her hand, "Is that a sketchbook?"
Olyvia's face nearly exploded from how madly she was blushing, and she pulled her finger out from keeping her place and snapped it shut, "Uh…yeah. I-I draw a little. B-b-but I'm done, if I'm needed somewhere."
Olyvia moved back over to her bed to set the sketchbook back down, and that was when Steve noticed the bandage.
"What happened?" Steve asked, stepping into the room.
"What? Oh, the bandage. Bruce just wanted to get a tissue sample from me. It's nothing bad. Hurts like hell, but it's fine. I'm fine. Um…so you never said why you were here."
Steve's face flushed red and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet, running his hand through his hair anxiously, "I-I was just uh…checking up on you, see if you…had lunch…yet."
"And if I didn't?" Olyvia asked.
"I'd ask if you'd join me then," Steve replied, trying to keep eye contact, but averted his gaze due to feeling embarrassed.
"Sure," Olyvia replied, her heart pounding a little harder in her chest, "Lunch uh…lunch sounds good. Let me just uh…put on some shoes."
Slipping on her pair of flats, she headed over to the door, following after Steve and shutting it behind them before Whisper could follow.
"So you draw too?" Steve asked as they walked side by side down the hallway.
"Like I said, just a little," Olyvia replied, "And what do you mean I draw too?"
"Well, I've noticed you're also quite musically talented," Steve said.
"Oh…well thank you. I have always been musically inclined, but I guess that is also partly to my uh…abilities."
"Is there anything you can't do? In relation to music, I mean."
"Dance," Olyvia replied immediately.
"Really?"
"I'm sure you've noticed what a klutz I am," Olyvia chuckled, "Dancing requires some grace and I am sorely lacking in that area. I love dancing though. Of course, being the shy quiet person that I usually am, I never had the guts to ask a guy to dance, or dance with a guy who asked me. Being around a guy makes me nervous."
"I make you nervous?" Steve asked.
"No! I mean…sort of?" Olyvia replied uncertainly, her face steadily becoming a deep shade of crimson, "I-i-it's just I've been raised in a household of girls with my dad not around a lot due to how busy he was. I've never been comfortable around men and I'm just going to shut up now before I dig myself even deeper."
"If I make you uncomfortable, I can just…go," Steve said, sounding slightly hurt.
"No, I don't want you to do that either," Olyvia said, before stopping and slapping herself, "Let me start over. I am comfortable around you…but there are times when I'm not so much, such as a few days ago. I've never…been close to a guy so being physically close makes me a little nervous, but it has nothing to do with you specifically. I mean…don't I make you nervous sometimes?"
"I guess sometimes, yes," Steve said in agreement.
"So are we good now?" Olyvia asked.
Steve nodded, "Yeah, we're good."
Olyvia sighed in relief, "Good. Let's keep going then shall we? I'm famished, I skipped breakfast today so pardon me if I eat a big lunch."
"Oh, I doubt you could eat more than me," Steve said. Due to the super-soldier serum, he burned calories faster than any human being, which also caused him to have a much bigger appetite.
"If that is a challenge, I'm not going to accept it," Olyvia said, "I am trying to keep my waist trim. Or at least as trim as it can get."
So onward they continued to the food court, just chatting about whatever. Olyvia couldn't help but feel a little sad on the inside though. Steve was the first guy ever in her life she felt so comfortable with, and the only reason she felt uncomfortable around him sometimes, was because she liked him. Things just could never be between them though. He was Captain America, an American Hero, one of the most famous men in all of history, while she was just a simple girl. A nobody. There was no place for her other than an ally and friend.
Dianne was the first to get the PET Scan done, and once she finished hurried out of the lab. She wasn't sure where she would find Loki, but she may as well start with his new living quarters, just a few doors down from her own. She hadn't gotten far from the laboratory doors before she felt a cool breath against her face and the slightest whisper.
"Looking for me?"
Dianne nearly leapt into the ceiling she was startled so bad, whirling around to see Loki smiling at her in amusement.
"You scare as easily as your sister," Loki teased.
"Which one?"
"Hmm, both," Loki replied, "Though I know not to startle your younger sister ever again."
"I warned you, she's loud," Dianne said, remembering one of the incidences between Loki and Rosemary just days after he first started training with them. Rosemary nearly deafened Loki when he snuck up on her, and she screamed in surprise. Purely unintentional, but almost permanently damaging.
"I don't even think that even fully describes them," Loki said, "But enough about Rosemary. She's not why I'm here."
"Wait, let me guess," Dianne closed her eyes, making a face acting like she was thinking really hard, "Hmmmmrrrkk…Nelly, you want to visit Nelly. I didn't know you loved cats so much."
Loki rolled his eyes. Dianne knew very well his opinion about cats, he didn't care much for them. Instead of correcting her verbally, he pulled her in and kissed her.
"You are just being silly, you know that," Loki said matter-of-factly.
"It's part of my charm," Dianne replied.
"Yes, well will my charming Dianne care to join me this afternoon?" Loki asked.
Dianne cocked her head to the side, "Are you asking me out on a date good sir?"
"I am not familiar with this term," Loki said, a look of confusion on his face.
"Uh…to court? Courting? Something like that," Dianne guessed, unsure of what sort of word he may be familiar with.
"Ah, then yes, I guess you could say I am," Loki said.
"I'd love to," Dianne said, "What did you have in mind?"
Loki held out his hand for her to take, "Let me show you."
"You know, one thing I never told you was that I hate heights," Dianne said as Loki led her out onto an indoor balcony made completely of glass, looking like an observatory almost. Dianne could see the ocean far, far, far down below them through patches in the clouds, and since she was completely surrounded by glass, very clean glass, she felt like she would fall at any moment.
"You're inside though," Loki pointed out.
"Still unnerving," Dianne said as she inched after Loki, who still had a hold on her hand.
"I'll be right here," he whispered to her, and Dianne squeezed his hand tighter, even though she already had a death grip on it.
"What are we doing out here again?" Dianne asked.
"There is something I want to show you," Loki replied.
Dianne couldn't imagine what it was, except perhaps the view, but they could have enjoyed that from a less see-through part of the ship. And it wasn't even close to sunset, so she knew it wasn't that. Unless Loki planned on keeping her out here for that long.
Finally reaching the furthest out point on the glass observatory, Loki sat down and had Dianne sit in front of him. One hand holding her by her wrist, Loki could feel how rapidly her pulse was pounding.
"We won't be here long, I promise," Loki assured her.
"As in we can get up right now?"
Loki smiled, "You can close your eyes for a while if that would make things easier."
"You know how easily glass breaks right?" Dianne asked, closing her eyes and tightening her grip even more on Loki.
"I am still surprised you are so terrified, even though you are capable of flight," Loki replied.
"Falling still terrifies me."
"But you can—."
"I know I can fly, doesn't make a difference," Dianne interrupted, "Those first few seconds in which I'm falling are terrifying. Who's to say I won't freeze up in my panic and fall to my death?"
"You're thinking too much about it," Loki said calmly into her ear, "Just relax."
"How can I relax? I am sitting thousands of feet in the air with only a piece of glass between me and the ocean. How thick is the glass anyway?"
"Don't think about it," Loki whispered again, and he could feel Dianne shiver slightly, "It's just the two of us."
"And empty space," Dianne muttered.
Loki sighed. She wasn't going to drop it was she? Letting go of her wrist with his left hand, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer to him.
"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
He felt her relax slightly, and he rested his chin on her shoulder, waiting for the moment he brought her up here for. They only had to wait for a few minutes, before it happened.
"Dianne, are your eyes still closed?" Loki asked.
"Yes," Dianne replied, as if that were obvious.
"Well, you should open them now."
Dianne slowly opened one eye before both snapped open in awe. The sun was hitting the clouds just right that they glowed a vibrant gold, looking like an ocean in the sky. Dianne had never seen clouds this color, and it was beautiful.
"It's…it's beautiful Loki," Dianne said breathlessly, voicing her thoughts, "Wow, I never knew…"
"I happened upon it by chance the first time, and have come to see it a few times since," Loki said, "But, it is definitely more beautiful this time."
Dianne blushed, feeling Loki's gaze on her instead of past and toward the sea of gold. She never had anyone tell her she was beautiful before, so she didn't know how to react being told such, though it wasn't a direct comment, she knew it was her Loki was referring to.
Feeling much more relaxed now, her death grip on Loki's hand loosened, and having the freedom of his right arm, he wrapped it too around Dianne's waist, her resting her arms over his as they sat there, watching the clouds. It lasted only a few minutes, the clouds returning to their white color. Dianne sighed. She wished the moment could have lasted longer.
"Thank you for showing me," Dianne said, turning her head in attempt to look at Loki.
"I'm glad you managed to enjoy it," Loki said, "Instead of having a panic attack."
Dianne rolled her eyes, and was about to face forward again when Loki moved a hand to grab her by her chin, and turned her face to his again and pressed his lips to hers. Dianne melted in his arms, sighing into the kiss. She was completely addicted to him, and it was moments like these she wished would never end.
Rosemary knew Dianne left immediately after Bruce was finished with her tests, but she couldn't help but feel a little slighted as she entered back into the lab and seeing only Stark there. She knew Dianne would be with Loki, she seemed to spend any free time she had with him nowadays so she wasn't going to bother try finding her. As for Olyvia, well, Rosemary wasn't sure what she could be doing so she could see if she wanted to hang out in order to pass the time. Otherwise…well, she would have to work on homework. She needed Olyvia's help on it anyway so it seemed she would be spending time with her anyway.
As she was about to step through the lab doors though, Stark stopped her.
"Rosemary, could I speak with you a moment?"
Backtracking, she walked backwards over to the desk Stark was working at, "Yes?"
"I'm sort of helping out with the training rooms, making sure we're exercising every bit of your powers as we can, but…I was thinking, with your help, I could make it work better," Stark said.
"Your point?" Rosemary asked.
"You know your sisters better than anyone," Stark began, "So you know their weaknesses. I was wondering what those were."
Rosemary smirked. She could see where Stark was going with this, and it sounded fun.