A week had passed since Nico's rescue, capture and then rescue again, and the wounds he had suffered at the hands of Gaea were finally fading. Nico woke up to his dark, black bedroom, and sighed. He really wanted to go back to sleep, but something had awoken him. He sat up, yawned and stretched, and then began to slowly make his way out of his soft, comfortable bed.
All of a sudden, there was a blaring noise, and the blinds that had previously covered the wall of windows flew open, filling the room with bright sunlight. Nico yelped in surprise, and toppled off of the bed. He landed on the floor hard, but rolled with the movement, becoming upright in a crouch, pulling out the dagger that had been hidden under his pillow. It took his sleep-fogged brain a moment to realise that the blaring noise was actually a song. 'Build me up Buttercup' to be exact. Nico roared with fury, before yelling, "Jarvis, turn this disgustingly happy song off NOW!"
"My apologies, Mr. Di Angelo, but your host Mr. Stark has disabled my control over the music played in the tower. I'm afraid you will have to endure the song." Nico was barely able to hear Jarvis' crisp voice over the accursed 'music'. He snarled, and stomped over to the control panel on the wall, and started mashing buttons. He stopped when the words 'Nico di Angelo: Access Denied' appeared in red writing across the small screen. He growled in annoyance, and decided he would just have to wait the song out, and kill Stark later, when he was at least wearing shoes. The better to stomp Stark's face with, he thought darkly.
Unfortunately for Nico, the song was on a loop. After figuring this out, Nico decided perhaps Stark's face needed rearranging sooner rather than later. Screw shoes, he had a knife.
He palmed the dagger, and stalked out of the room, slamming the door so hard on his way out that it caused the wall to crack. He strode towards the living area, murder filling his thoughts. He passed through the threshold and began to prowl around the room.
"Playing hide and seek, are we? Won't save you, Stark, I can sense your aura. And Thor's. You see this dagger?" He held up the black dagger from which coils of smoky darkness were being emitted, "It really wants to separate your head from your body. I'm only too happy to oblige," he snarled menacingly.
Instead of hearing the fearful whimpering that that tone of voice usually caused mortals to make, he heard quiet laughter. Nico's eyes widened with realisation. Shit, a trap! He had just enough time to take one running step in the direction of the door before he heard a beep. Oh shit, he thought, before a mass of yellow exploded down from the ceiling, covering every surface in the room, including Nico, in a soft blanket of sunny colour.
Dandelions.
Nico shuddered once, before falling still. Tony and Thor jumped out from behind a sofa and high-fived.
"You are a good friend, Man of Iron," Thor beamed happily, "I believe my capes have now been avenged. You have my thanks."
"No problem," Tony smirked, "Anything to mess with our dear Emo Ninja. Speaking of which, I was expecting more of a reaction." Tony frowned at Nico in concern, "Hey Nico, are you alright? They're just flowers you know, why..." He fell silent as Nico lifted his head to face him and Thor.
His eyes were black, and he was terrifying, even covered in flowers. A low growling sound filled the room, and Nico bared his teeth, incensed. Black flames erupted all over his body, setting fire to all the flowers in contact with him, reducing them to ashes. Tony and Thor took a step back, they're fight or flight instincts yelling at them. 'FUCKING RUUUUUNNN!'.
Just then, Loki entered the room, already dressed, and his eyes widened in horror at the scene before him. He took in the sight of Nico, who looked like he was about to tear Tony and Thor apart limb from limb with his teeth, and bathe in their blood. Though the glare was not being directed at him, Loki could not help but shiver with terror at the sight of Nico so angry.
"Nico, my friend," Loki said calmly, not allowing a trace of his true emotions to enter his voice, "Please calm down. I now that killing them may seem like a good idea, but I fear you will regret it afterwards." His words seemed to have no effect on Nico whatsoever, so he decided to try a different approach. "Think! If you kill them now, we cannot prank them in revenge. Remember our plans, Nico, if you kill them, all our work will be for nothing!"
These words seemed to break through the haze of bloodlust that was clouding Nico's mind. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he reopened them, they were back to normal. He looked in front of him, and saw that Thor and Stark were clinging to each other, seconds away from becoming gibbering messes. His father had told him not to use his full glare on mortals, but in a situation such as this, there had to be an exception. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Nico appearing to calm down, until he took a calming breath. With that inhale, came the aroma of thousands of dandelions, the one thing he hated most in the world. Immediately, all reason left his face, and his eyes bled to black once again. Hellfire exploded from his hands, and bathed the room in black light, incinerating all the flowers that dared exist in his presence.
Tony and Thor leapt behind one of the sofas, trying to be as small a target as possible. Loki, on the other hand, created a green shield around himself, and sent energy into the building and furniture around him to protect them from the flames. Nico was beyond reason, and if left to his own devices, might accidently burn down the tower in his fury. Black fire leapt from surface to surface, incinerating every dandelion, leaving no survivors. "BURN IN HELL, BASTARDS!"
Behind the sofa, Tony pursed his lips, and placed a fist under his chin in deep contemplation. "... perhaps we went too far..."
Thor stared at him incredulously, "To coin the mortal phrase, no shit, Sherlock. I blame you, Man of Iron."
Finally, every flower was dead, and hopefully rotting in Tartarus. Tony and Thor popped their heads up over the sofa fearfully. Warily, Loki dropped the magic spells that were sapping his strength. Together, they gazed at Nico, who was standing in the middle of the room, his black hair shielding his face from the others, and the black flames licking his hands slowly dying away to nothing.
Nico took a calming breath, this time free from the disgustingly floral aroma, and raised his face to stare at the two culprits. His face was void of emotion. "You will pay for this."
"You harmed my beloved capes!" Thor roared, regaining his courage and stalking towards Nico, a finger pointed at his, "Now we are equal." Nico simply glared. Thor gulped before hastily replying, "Or perhaps not. We will not use these 'dandelions' again, son of Hades. My capes were repaired, after all." He began to slowly edge backwards, away from the murderous demigod. Nico snarled, and said to Loki "Thanks for saving the tower. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly."
"It is quite alright, my friend. The sight of Thor about to faint from fear evened the score." Nico smirked, and was about o reply, when an angry voice yelled from the kitchen.
"Who the FUCK burned all the food!? Nico, goddammit!" Clint stormed out of the kitchen, a charred box of cereal clutched in his hand. Nico stared accusingly at Loki.
"What!?" Loki spluttered, "I saved the building AND the furniture from your tantrum! Well excuse me for forgetting the food!" Nico facepalmed and looked at Clint apologetically.
"I'm sorry Clint, Stark and Thor pissed me off, I'll go get more food." Nico glared at his tormentors before walking towards the door. "That music better not be playing in my room, assholes. You tempted fate once today, care to try again?" With that, he was gone, leaving Tony to sprint over to the nearest computer screen.
When Nico arrived at his room, it was mercifully silent. He quickly changed out of the sweatpants and t-shirt he had slept in to fresh clothing and his aviators jacket. He was just finished when there was a knock on the door. Nico walked over, and pulled it open to see Loki.
"Yeah?" Nico asked.
Loki looked uncomfortable. "You are going to buy food, yes?" Nico nodded. "I see. And where you are going to buy food... they don't happen to sell peanut butter cups, do they?"
Nico's lips twitched in amusement. "... You want peanut butter cups?"
Loki glared at Nico before he sighed, and covered his eyes with his hand. "Curse those pathetic mortal sheep, but they make delicious food. I discovered them the last time I was in this realm."
"When you were trying to achieve world domination?"
Loki nodded, "Yes, that time."
Nico shrugged, "You can come if you want, they pretty much sell them everywhere. But you're going to have to wear a disguise." Loki looked affronted.
"Disguise myself from mortals? Surely you jest. Why should I have to?" He huffed indignantly, "As if I would hide my true identity from them. I am a prince!"
Nico growled, "So now I have to disguise myself. The mortals may not know you were the mastermind behind the invasion, but you've been seen with us over the last couple of days. Anyone seen with you will be assumed to be an Avenger. I'd rather not be mobbed whenever I go outside."
Loki waved a hand dismissively, "Simply wear your mask. Besides, you can transport us to this 'store' with your shadows, can you not?"
"I'm not a goddamn taxi!" Nico yelled, "It's just down the street. We're walking." Loki wrinkled his nose at the prospect of being in the presence of so many mortals, but decided it would be worth it if he could once again taste the heavenly candy. Nico headed back into his room, and grabbed his mask. He placed it on his face, and his lower face and neck were covered once again.
Nico and Loki stood beside the doors that would deliver them outside at street level. They could see nothing through the fogged glass, but they could hear a faint roaring sound. They stared at each other in confusion before shrugging. Nico pushed open the door and walked out into the sunlight, followed by Loki. They were met by a wall of noise, and they were momentarily disoriented by what they saw.
Surrounding the steps that led to the entrance of the tower was a huge crowd of people. Thousands upon thousands of individuals filled the street, the majority of which were brandishing banners and signs. Upon seeing Nico and Loki, the crowd exploded into shrill screams and catcalls, and they both had to stop themselves from covering their ears.
"What is that horrendous sound?!" Loki yelled. He was referring to the shrill sound of squeee! the majority of the crowd seemed to be producing.
Nico gaped at the crowd beneath his mask as he read some of the signs. All of them said different things, like 'I 3 Ghost King' and 'Marry me Loki!'.The meaning was apparent.
"Loki... I think we have fangirls." His theory was proved true as the crowd began to scream even louder, and many of them started yelling marriage proposals. As if an invisible wall had been lifted, the crowd suddenly converged on the two men. Before they could reach them, Nico grabbed Loki's arm, and shadow-travelled them into the food store across the street. The shop was empty but for the shop attendant, who gasped in surprise at the sight of them before passing out in shock.
They crept over to the window, and stared out at the crowd, which was still grouped around the area they had been in, some of them splayed out on the ground, sobbing at the disappearance of their heroes.
Loki gulped, his throat suddenly dry. "I have an army... of insane mortals."
Nico nodded in shock, "As do I, it seems... As do I..."
After they had purchased the food from the trembling shop assistant once she had regained consciousness, the travelled straight back into the tower, not wanting to risk their lives trying to get through the mass of fangirls. They had replaced most of the food that had been destroyed, even Thor's, and Loki had bought an entire shopping basket full of peanut butter cups. Once they had put all the food away, they called the others, who flocked into the kitchen in search of sustenance.
Upon opening a cupboard, Thor discovered that they had purchased him Poptarts. "You are too kind, brother!" he exclaimed happily, and opened the box and began unwrapping some. Loki's eyebrow twitched at being called 'brother' but a dark smile crept onto his face, which was mirrored by Nico, and Loki clicked his fingers. Thor failed to notice any of this.
He happily shovelled the snacks into his mouth, and for a moment, he was overjoyed. But then, all of a sudden, his happy expression morphed into one of confusion, and then-
"ARRGHH! WHAT GHASTLY FIRE DOES FILL MY MOUTH!? IT BUUUUUURRNNNSSS!" He began to cough and choke, so he ran to the table, grabbed a pitcher of water, and proceeded to poor it over his face. When this failed to work, he yelled, and fled from the room, his face as red as his cape.
Loki and Nico collapsed to the floor, laughing until tears ran down their faces.
"What did you do?!" cried Steve, his face the picture of shock. Still gasping from lack of air, Nico held up a jar labelled 'Wasabi Powder', from which Loki had been transporting into Thor's Poptarts.
Everyone began to laugh, although Tony kept an eye out for any attacks. He had been involved in the prank earlier as well. Suddenly, all emotion fled Nico's face, leaving it an emotionless mask. "I hope you've learned a lesson to day. No one uses dandelions ever again... no one..."
The others hastily nodded in affirmation, before finishing their meals, and heading back to their tasks. Clint returned to the gym, where he had been practicing his archery. As he entered the room, he noticed a flicker of shadows from the corner of his vision, but when he turned to look, there was nothing there. Shrugging, he readied his bow, aimed carefully, and fired three arrows at the same time. Strangely, after leaving the bow, instead of sailing silently through the air, the arrow made a sound. Pew, pew, pew! Clint's eye twitched.
"FUCK IT! STARK! WHERE THE HELL DO I BUY A SHITLOAD OF DANDELIONS?!"
I'll hopefully be updating a lot this week coz im on my mid-term break. First chapter of my new story will be uploaded later tonight, read it if you want. Reviews and stuff, yeah, I love them...