A/N: This is probably my last update this year, so merry XMAS to everyone who likes it, reads it, favoures it or even reviews. Thank you.
And a big thanks goes to my beta, Ellanor, who keeps me from butchering the English language totally. You know you're the best. Thank you for being there. I love you.
Now, please read and enjoy, and don't forget to leave feedback.
Give me some reviews.
Chapter 11
It wasn't his fault. He hadn't asked Coulson to threaten him with an enormous weapon, not knowing what it would do.
'We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer...'
Well, it wasn't his fault that he'd had to send the Destroyer. If the Idiots Three had obeyed his order as King of Asgard, it wouldn't have been necessary.
It wasn't his fault either, that Fury had developed ambitions to raise the dead- because no matter what the witch said about letting him rest in peace, she was worried that Fury might have actually found a way.
Although that was the one rule in magic even Loki wouldn't overstep, Tony was glaring at him as if it was all his fault.
Of all the people Loki had killed, he hadn't expected it would be Coulson's blood that was hardest to wipe off his hands, and he felt as if he had shot himself in the back again. Probably it was a foolish notion anyway to believe that things would ever change. The blood was on his hands, gushing red, and it would never go away. There was no forgiveness, no redemption for a man like him. Pathetic sentiments! He would always be an outcast...
Loki stole a glance at Tony, who didn't seem to be satisfied with Raven's answer, and it was indeed not very satisfying to be told that there's nothing you can do, so go back to work.
Slowly, he rose from the sofa and approached Tony; he didn't quite know what to say, and he would certainly not encourage him to start researching on GH-325- whatever it was- but he could offer him a helping hand with the chariot.
Tony frowned at him, then he shrugged and said, "You done lazing on the sofa? Great! Give me that screwdriver."
-ooOoo-
Raven released a breath she hadn't noticed holding when the two men started working together again. After what had come to light, she had believed Tony would blame Loki for all that possibly happened to Agent Coulson- well, probably he still did. But although Loki was unquestionably responsible for Coulson's death, he was not to blame for Fury's sacrilegious ambitions to bring him back to life.
Of course, one could argue now that Fury wouldn't have to go to extremes if Loki hadn't killed Coulson, but it was one thing to kill someone in battle- and Coulson was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, aware of the dangers of his job as well as of the risk he had taken by trying to fight Loki on his onesies- while it was an entirely different thing to dabble with shady science or the Dark Arts in order to conquer death.
The Dark Arts might give you the illusion it is actually possible because there are ways to raise the dead and bring back something that moves and is vaguely human... like a zombie, or worse. It still gave her the creeps when she thought of Voldemort... even after all those years she would never forget his snake-like face, his features distorted by the evil power flowing in his veins, glowing in his blood-red eyes. Yes, he had managed to conquer death; he had split his soul in pieces, had shattered it for the sake of immortality. In the end, he had lost nonetheless.
Although she doubted the success of Fury's ambitions, Raven hoped he would fail for the sake of Agent Coulson's soul- because wherever that GH-325 originated from, the price Fury was willing to pay was too high and the risk too great.
You just cannot fool Death.
Fury should have listened to the Ramones, singing about flesh rotting, the smell of death all around; of molars and fangs, the clicking of bones, and spirits moaning among the tombstones in a dream you cannot escape when the moon is bright and something ain't right-.
'I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary, I don't want to live my life again...'
Well, but apparently Director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D was not a punk rock fan, and there was nothing she could do about it, no way to spare Coulson the fate his boss had chosen for him... because there were more pressing matters at hand.
The Chitauri- or, to be more precise, their chief, The Other.
That alien freak was still after the Tesseract, and he was still in control of Selvig and the doom-stick of destiny, previously known as Loki's sceptre. So where was Selvig now? Where had he gone to after the recent events at S.H.I.E.L.D central? Where was he hiding?
All of a sudden, an idea crossed her mind and she cleared her throat. "Loki...after you stole the Tesseract from that S.H.I.E.L.D research base, where did you go then?"
Loki shot a brief glance in her direction and frowned before he turned around again with a shrug.
"Somewhere..." He replied at long last, and was about to focus on whatever he and Tony were doing. But he was wrong if he thought Raven would be satisfied with such a vague answer.
"Yeah, obviously. Care to specify on that? I mean, you needed a place to go; you had to provide Selvig with all the technology to finish his research on the Tesseract-"
"Barton took care of the logistics." Loki cut her off, not wanting to recall the cold and barren corridors of his memories, the booted feet of mercenaries echoing in the desolate halls of a dark and gloomy place, the voice of the Other in his head, demanding a report... but he was already back there, sitting on a step between two pillars, the sceptre in his hand, calling, calling, calling... urging him to follow the biddings of the one who controlled it, controlled him... that damnable voice in his head he never wanted to hear again...
"You know, Frosty, it can't hurt to think about it," Tony interjected. "Her question makes sense- unless, of course, you abandoned your secret lair in a big bang."
Loki shook his head. He hadn't ordered Barton to blow up the place. Perhaps, he should have...
"I don't know where we went. I didn't care." He sighed and started nibbling his lips, his eyes cast to the floor. "I... I have to admit I wasn't myself at that time. Travelling all the way from a galaxy far away to Midgard had taken its toll on me and-"
"Yeah, I remember the footage of your arrival; you looked like death warmed over."
"Well, thank you for your kind compliment, little witch; I will return it in due time. Nevertheless, I still do not know where we went. I was on the back of a pick-up driving through the night. I don't remember much of that trip, nor the precise destination Barton took us to. He planned everything; he chose our lair.."
"So, I have to ask Agent Barton." Raven concluded. Tony and Loki were chuckling as if she'd just made a jest.
"I doubt he will cooperate, no matter how manipulatively you bat your lashes at him," Loki replied in a careless tone, then he fell silent and stared at her, knowing at once that she hadn't been jesting. "Oh no. No, no, no. We all know you're extremely foolish, but you will give up that stupid idea immediately."
"I wasn't planning to bat my lashes at him-"
"You won't try to track him down and hex him, either. It's too dangerous." Loki glanced at Tony for support and for once Stark agreed with him.
"I hate to say it, but Frosty is right. Barton is probably still extremely pissed off after last night's events; you really shouldn't cross his path any time soon."
Raven refrained from telling them that she considered herself perfectly capable of handling Barton. Damn, she wasn't just a witch; she was a trained Auror and an agent like Barton. Okay, she lacked his skills in combat- but why fight anyone if she could simply hex them?
"I will ask Jarvis to check on abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D hideouts and safe houses. We know the location of the operation base for Project Pegasus, we know the average speed of the pick-up trucks S.H.I.E.L.D is using, and assuming that Barton was heading for the New York City area, Jarvis will be able to calculate the approximate perimeter of that place." Tony suggested while he was already feeding his AI with the required data. "It might take a while, but we'll get a hit."
And if Barton had not used an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D base? Raven wondered silently. Then it would still be like searching the needle in the haystack, and all of Stark's advanced technology would be useless...
"Stark is right." Loki said, reminding her that they had more pressing matters at hand, like trying to get the Chitauri chariot back up in the air again.
Lovely, they're bonding. She liked that, even if it seemed to be against her. But since there wasn't anything she could do to help them with the alien spacecraft anyway, she could just as well leave them to whatever they were doing... and while they were still working on a way to travel to Asgard, she would ponder over something else, like how to stop Selvig without having to kill or cause any more harm to him, because he was just as much a victim in this madness as Loki was...
Raven didn't tell them what she was up to; she didn't have a concrete plan when she left the guys, claiming she was heading home to take a nap, and probably she was really looking tired since Tony offered to take Loki out for dinner later, so that she wouldn't have to bother about that.
When she grinned, it didn't go unnoticed. Loki arched a brow at her, but she just shrugged and warned Tony to not take him out to have shawarma. Then she Disapparated.
As soon as she arrived home, Raven called Rocco at the WIIA, asking a favour. He assured her that he could do it and so she hung up again in order to call Severus, who actually answered his phone after the first ring, sounding worried. The last time they had talked was before her break-in at S.H.I.E.L.D, and he hadn't liked that plan very much. Now, he was relieved to hear she was alright. She didn't want to start another argument, so she refrained from telling him of her newest plans because he would like them even less. There was still plenty of time to mention her intention of travelling to Asgard. At the moment, after last night's events, it was quite soothing to listen to his experiences at the potions conference in Kathmandu.
Rocco called her back a while later to inform her that he had managed to arrange what she had asked him to.
"I sent a message from Agent Romanov to Agent Barton's phone, and he agreed to meet her at the Russian Tea Palace at 8 P.M. All incoming messages between them will be re-directed to your phone. Am I great?"
"You're the best, sharp tooth. Ta!" Although Tony's AI was a wonderful thing, Raven preferred to work with real people even if Rocco was dead and a vampire. Dead and yet alive... well, sort of... She had to think of Agent Phil Coulson again.
"Is there anything else you need me to do, sunshine?" Rocco asked, interrupting her reminiscence.
"I... um- have you ever heard of a serum or something like that called GH-325?"
"Nah. What's that supposed to be?"
"Something to bring back the dead... Is there any new Dark Lord rising somewhere? A mighty vampire prince perhaps? Or a voodoo priest I haven't heard of since I've been too busy with aliens lately?"
Rocco answered all of her questions in the negative and she could almost see him frown as his long fingernails were clicking on the keyboard. "Nope. No unusual occurrences- with the exception of a large gathering of potioneers in Kathmandu. By the way, how is your dear husband?"
"Fine," Raven replied curtly since she didn't want to talk about Severus now. Although she missed him dearly, she already dreaded the conversation they were soon to have considering her coming travel to Asgard. But now was not the right time to worry about that; she had to focus on something else entirely.
"And how is your lovely Asgardian prince?"
"Rocco!" And then there were moment she envied Tony for his AI, ready to swap nosy, capricious vampire for the voice of logic and reason anytime. "Loki is not my Asgardian, nor is he lovely. He might be a prince but most of the time he's a pain in the , if you'd excuse me please, I still have some research to do."
Raven was about to hang up when Rocco's voice stopped her. "Wait a sec! Do you want me to inform your new friends about your meeting with Barton?"
It was an absurd question- if she had wanted Tony and Loki to know about her plan she would have told them. But since she knew they wouldn't approve to it, she had no intention to fill them in.
She had been in more dire situations than meeting with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D in a civilized place, and she had handled them all pretty well; she didn't need any superheroes or demigods to hold her hand.
"Tell Al what I'm up to," Raven decided in the end, mainly because Rocco tended to become quite flustered and he was already as his slightly worried undertone indicated. "If I don't contact you thirty minutes after meeting Barton, call the Iron Man to break me out of S.H.I.E.L.D's custody."
Raven arrived at the Russian Tea Palace minutes before Agent Barton did. Seven years at Hogwarts, being one of the unpopular students, had given her a knack for becoming almost invisible without having to wear an Invisibility Cloak; she could just make people not notice her, and that came in quite handy now.
She watched him enter the restaurant, looking out for the red head of Natasha Romanov. When he didn't spot her, he glanced at his watch before he allowed the waitress to lead him to a table at the far end of the room.
The good thing about having arranged a date for Agent Barton was the fact that he wouldn't bring his bow to what was supposed to be nice dinner with the woman he fancied. That didn't mean, though, he would be totally unarmed. Therefore, Raven had to take him by surprise.
He ordered a drink. Although the place was called the Russian Tea Palace, they hardly served any tea here; most of the clients drank vodka and so did Barton.
She waited until he had downed his glass, then she cast a gentle Petrificus spell on him that slowed his movements but didn't render him totally immobile.
"Hello, Agent Barton." Faking a smile, she slipped into the empty chair opposite of him, where he would have preferred Natasha Romanov to sit.
To say he was surprised at the sight of her was probably the understatement of the year; his jaw dropped while his eyes were sparkling with unconcealed fury.
"You!" He hissed as he tried to jump up and throttle the witch, but he soon realized that it seemed to take his ages to even find the floor under his feet, so he gave up that attempt and remained seated. A hint of fear crept into his voice when he asked. "What have you done to Agent Romanov?"
"Nothing. Do you think I should?" Raven replied calmly. It was plain to see he would have loved to put an arrow through her eye-socket.
"If you harm a single hair-"
"Ooh. Lemme hazard a guess- you'll kill me? You're such a predictable man, Clint, but don't worry; I have absolutely no intention of harming Miss Romanov."
"What do you want, then?" He asked bluntly.
"Information, Agent Barton. The everlasting currency of our profession. Of course, I could rape your mind to get it- but since that's a nasty thing to do, I prefer to rely on your cooperation."
"Cooperation? You must be kidding! I will definitely not cooperate with the one who freed the dangerous war criminal, Loki-"
"Yeah, I understand your resentment, the trauma you experienced and probably even your payback... although it sickens me. But this is not about Loki." She didn't tell Barton that Loki was just as much a victim of the Chitauri as he was because it didn't matter. They had to find Selvig and take the sceptre from him, and he was probably hiding at that secret lair Barton had set up for Loki while he was still his loyal follower.
"You think you understand? No, you know nothing!" Barton barked.
Immediately, Raven cast a Muffliato spell to dim their conversation, so that the other clients of the restaurant would hear none of it.
"You have no idea what it was like to have HIS voice in your head, to be unmade and replaced by something else- damn, he actually made me care for him!"
"Oh, now that's truly... horrible." Raven said in a mocking tone.
"I killed for him!"
"Of course, you never killed for S.H.I.E.L.D-"
"That's not the point." Barton cut her off.
"You're right. It's not." She raised her hands in an apologetic gesture, her wand hidden in her sleeve. "I'm glad we agree. And since that's settled now, we can finally focus on the reason for our meeting- would you like another vodka?" Before Barton could say no, she had already signalled the waiter to bring another round of drinks.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" He asked suspiciously.
"No. I'm not in the mood for a drinking competition. All I want to know from you is where you went after Project Pegasus collapsed on you."
Barton was surprised but tried to hide it. He shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Clint, Clint, you're lying to me." Raven figured him out at once; she wasn't just quite good at reading micro expressions, she was also a skilled Legilimens, and the combination of both made it nearly impossible for anyone to feed her with lies. Besides, she could almost see the place in Barton's eyes- booted feet on bare concrete floors, long corridors with tiled walls, pillars and arches; it looked like an old, deserted building except for the perfectly equipped laboratory. It was all there in his mind.
"Perhaps. But that's the only answer you will get from me. I won't aid Loki in building another portal with the Tesseract."
"What?" It took her a moment to grasp what was troubling him. "Oh..." Of course he doesn't know it yet. "Um... the Tesseract is back in Asgard with Thor, just like Fury promised to let him take it back there."
Barton stared at her in bewilderment. He reached for his glass and downed the vodka without taking his eyes off her.
"I can assure you I'm not bent on world domination and neither is Loki, nor was he ever really. You know that, don't you?"
He didn't reply. Agent Barton seemed to be even more confused now as he was mulling over her words, and he refilled his glass from the bottle the waiter had left at their table at Raven's behest. Fractions of memories were flitting through his mind, feeding his uncertainty because he wasn't sure they were all his own.
"Tell me the address of your lair, please." Raven said in a soft, enticing tone, using his state of confusion to lure him into telling her what she wanted to know without giving away any further information. She had said too much already; she wouldn't spill all her beans to an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And since Barton was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, one of the biggest, most powerful intelligence organisation, he should be perfectly capable of filling in the gaps he was still missing. In the meantime, however, Raven didn't hesitate to use just a tiny bit of magic on him in order to shamelessly spur his cooperation and finally get the address she wanted.
Raven left the Russian Tea Palace as unobtrusively as she had arrived there. She called Rocco at the WIIA to tell him that all was well, before she Apparated home.
While waiting for the elevator to take her up to the 60th floor, she briefly wondered if it had been fair to play Barton the way she had done, considering all that Loki- and the Other- had put him through. On the other hand, she would never forgive him for what he'd done to Loki because torture was never excusable, even if she understood his motivation. So, in the end it was the end that matters. Barton has had his revenge and she hadn't raped his mind like she could have; she hadn't let her resentment against him take the upper hand. She had merely influenced his will to cooperate a tiny little bit.
Nothing to worry about. Barton wouldn't hunt her down for that. Instead, she had given him enough to think about before he would take action.
Her phone was ringing the very moment she left the elevator and bumped into her friends and neighbours, Regulus and Edie Black.
"Raven! I thought you were in Kathmandu with Sev!" Edie squealed.
"Um..." Her phone was still ringing. Raven glanced at the display; the number was unknown to her. Nevertheless, she mumbled an excuse and answered the call, mainly to avoid having to explain Edie why she hadn't visited or called her recently if it was obvious that she was not in Kathmandu with her husband.
'Hello, little witch,' Loki purred into her ear.
"Oh... it's you." She flashed an apologetic look at the Blacks and told them it was a job-related call she had to answer.
'Who are you lying to now?' Loki asked cheerfully.
The door of the elevator closed but the Blacks hadn't entered it; they were waiting for her to finish the call. Raven moved a few steps away from them so that they wouldn't overhear her conversation. Fortunately, they knew her well enough to not find her behaviour suspicious since they were aware of the fact that her job required the necessity of secrecy.
Ignoring Loki's question, she hissed into her phone. "Did you steal a phone or whose number is it you're calling from?"
He chuckled. 'It's mine; you may want to save it. Tony provided me with an old phone of his in order to ease my effort in blending in perfectly with Midgardian society.'
"Great." Raven wasn't certain if that was Tony's wisest decision,.but at least the guys seemed to get on well and weren't trying to kill each other.
'Yes, it's fun indeed. You mortals are really not as poorly advanced as I believed when I first heard that Thor fell in love with your world.'
"I'm glad to hear that." Rolling her eyes, she glanced at the Blacks, who were still waiting for her. Raven flashed them a wry smile while Loki informed her that Tony had invited him to a bar. And indeed, she could hear the noises of a bar in the background; people were chatting and laughing, clinking glasses. She hoped Tony knew what he was doing. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D was still after Loki.
"Please don't have too much fun." She hung up and turned around to face her friends. "So good to see you! Sorry, for not calling or dropping by earlier to let you know that I couldn't accompany Sev to Kathmandu due to an assignment that kept me quite busy lately."
It wasn't even a lie. Housing an Asgardian prince who was also a wanted war criminal and responsible for the alien attack on New York City had kept her quite busy, indeed, but she really didn't want to explain her motivation for helping Loki now. Raven was tired. Although she loved her friends, she was not in the mood for explanations. All she wanted was to have a nice and quiet evening without Loki or anyone else to bother her.
Regulus seemed to get it at once for he stopped his wife from pestering Raven with questions she wouldn't- or couldn't- answer anyway. In the end, he took Edie's arm and urged her to step into the elevator with him.
"Good night." Raven watched the doors closing behind her friends and breathed a sigh of relief that was mingled with a tang of remorse for not having been honest with them. Ever since she'd met Loki for the first time she'd been lying or bending the truth to everyone but him.
As she opened the door to her apartment, she was feeling guilty because she wouldn't have that if not for Regulus, who had never given up his dream of living in a building towering over the city 'so it is filled with light and I can look at the sky from every window.'
She still remembered his words, spoken in the gloominess of Grimmauld Place. Thirty years later, Regulus Black was a billionaire who had fulfilled his dream- he had built a tower with his name on it, and yet she still hadn't quite figured out how he'd made his fortune.
Of course, he was a Black. A name synonymous for wealth in wizarding Britain, but not in America. When they arrived in New York City years ago, Reg had tried himself as a monster truck rider... with little success. Then he had opened a nightclub, and that had been a success. He had sold it at its peek, had made some deals in the stock market, and although you never saw him actually working hard, he was almost as rich as Tony Stark now.
-ooOoo-
The problem with being a genius was that most people who matched Tony intellectually were nerds, the kind of guys that approached and pestered him with boring theories. You wouldn't want to meet any of them on a night out when you're trying to have fun. Alas, the people you could have fun with were often slightly dim-witted and only bearable after a few drinks.
That's why Tony didn't have many friends, even if a lot of people claimed to be his friend... mostly if they wanted something from him. Well, that was the curse of being a billionaire.
There was a time when he had thought he'd found a kindred spirit in Banner, but Bruce was too preoccupied with the 'Other Guy'.
And now Tony was having a surprisingly good time with the one person he'd least expected- simply because less than a fortnight ago they had been fighting against each other. But when Loki was not in a mad scramble for power and world domination, when he was not striving for a throne or leading an alien invasion against New York, when he was not throwing him out of the window- well, then Loki was quite an agreeable fellow to hang around with.
It seemed to be a bit like that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde thing, like Banner and the Hulk, another form of anger-management issues. And Thor was probably the trigger, the catalyst... of course, psychology was not Tony's first area of expertise, but after having experienced the two not brothers interact it was only fair to hazard that guess.
Although Tony had come to New York with the intention to avoid any public appearance, he had offered to take Loki out for dinner. Well, to be honest, he had thought about simply calling a pizza instead of actually going out. But then he had changed his mind.
On their car ride through the city, there was a moment when Tony felt quite uncomfortable all of a sudden and even Loki fell quiet as they drove past the signs of devastation caused by the alien attack.
Tony wished he hadn't left his workshop; he was content if he could tinker there for hours or days on end. He didn't have to go out. He was neither a party animal nor a playboy anymore since he was in a stable relationship with Pepper now. Okay, perhaps it was only stable-ish, because for it to be more than that he should actually spend some time with her... instead of hiding in his tower, far away from her. He kept telling himself she was safer without him while fighting the urge to protect her from all the horrors, the wormholes and aliens... without even realizing what poor excuses he came up with in order to hide his anxiety attacks from her.
-ooOoo-
Oh no! Raven thought when she emerged from the warm, scented waters of her bathtub to find a Facebook friend request from a certain Loki Noonesson on her phone. She accepted it, wondering what he was up to now but she doubted he was attempting to gain world domination via Facebook or Twitter. Perhaps, he was just trying to get caught by S.H.I.E.L.D, who had all the technical equipment needed to locatehim and they were still after him- on the other hand, Loki had been given that phone by Tony Mr Technogod Stark, so it was probably as safe as possible.
Tony was no fool- or was he? After all, he was a guy in the company of another guy and they were on a night out to have some fun.
She typed a message to Tony, asking if he knew what he was doing when he presented Loki with a smartphone.
Yep, came his short reply.
Alright, so be it. Raven washed her hands of their idiocy and decided to not give a damn about the guys anymore. At least not for tonight. She would not let them spoil her quiet evening off, because whatever was to come or whatever might get themselves into, she was certain they could handle it all perfectly well without her.
-ooOoo-
"Tony! Oh hey, Tony Stark! Wow! Is that really you?"
They were having a drink at the rooftop bar of the hotel where they'd had dinner, when that woman approached him with a big smile on her face. Damn! Tony would have preferred to stay incognito.
He was about to reply that he was just a life holographic decoy of Tony Stark when Loki elbowed him and made him look up. Alright, she was quite a looker- a gorgeous body dressed in a blue satin dress. Well, perhaps the dress was a bit too short and too tight to be classy, but she had a pretty face and an impressive mane of red hair. Of course, that red was just as fake as the amount of hair... or her bust size. But yeah, she was definitely quite a sight.
"Remember me? I've been to your birthday party!"
Which one? Tony had celebrated many. But soon it dawned upon him that she must mean that very specific one he was trying hard to forget.
"Fancy seeing you here in New York."
"Yeah, Roxy... um, Rita? No? Rosy?"
"Ruby."
"Right."
"Just look at her, Tony," Loki interjected in a purring tone, "this lovely lady is decidedly a ruby."
Finally, Ruby was looking at him. She smiled. "Oh, hello. Don't you want to introduce me to your charming young friend, Tony?"
Um... charming young friend? Wait- did that mean she considered him old? Which was weird given that he was in the company of an Asgardian who was probably a thousand something years his senior. Had he lost his touch as a playboy? And no, it didn't matter now that he was in a stable relationship with Pepper when the prettiest girl in the bar didn't give him a second glance after she had spotted Loki.
"Hello, beautiful Ruby, I'm Loki." The Asgardian introduced himself, offering her his most winning smile, and she seemed to be smitten instantly.
"Loki. That's an unusual name."
"Well, I'm an unusual man, dear Ruby. Would you like to join us for a drink?"
She sat down next to him and almost immediately he snaked an arm around her shoulder while asking for her favourite choice of drink. Of course, she said champagne. All the girls loved champagne. And so Loki left it to Tony to order a bottle.
"So, what are you doing in New York, Loki?" Ruby asked, sipping her champagne without taking her eyes off Loki, who couldn't take his eyes off Ruby either. It was plain to see that he admired the way her long red curls caressed her breasts like tiny little red snakes, although it was less the hair he actually admired.
"I came to this wonderful city with the aim to obtain world domination." Loki answered seriously.
"I like funny men." Ruby was giggling, but Tony groaned and cursed under his breath.
Damn! Why did the The God of Lies have to be honest just now?
"Don't listen to him. Don't take him serious. He jesting."
"Ooh, am I?" Loki replied in a mocking tone
"Yeah. Typical rock star attitude, if you ask me..."
"Oh, wow! You're a musician?" Ruby was looking at Loki with sparkling eyes.
"Um..." Now, Loki was at a temporary loss and he cast a quick glance at Tony, who didn't hesitate to come to his rescue.
"Yep, he is- and damn, now the secret is out; I'm gonna manage him."
"I didn't know Stark Industries is in the music business."
"I didn't know that either," Tony mumbled almost unintelligibly, but fortunately, Ruby didn't pay much attention to him because she was too focussed on Loki.
"That's so cool! What kind of music do you play?"
"I'd say it's quite alternative with some emo influence." Tony replied in Loki's stead, and the Asgardian flashed him a grateful look since he didn't know much about Midgard's music scene. He would ask the witch about it later, remembering she had quite a large collection of audio media.
"I like that. And what's the name of your band?"
"Asgard Rocks."
"Wow." Ruby was impressed. Of course, she had heard the stories of Thor, the superhero from Asgard, and how he had helped to save the world in general and New York City in particular- it was all over the news ever since the alien attack- and she thought it cool to have a band with a name related to that event. Starry-eyed, she gazed at Loki, still mesmerized by his handsome features and his slender fingers that were toying with her hair in such a delicate way it made her skin tingle. "You have a lovely voice, so I guess you must be the singer. On the other hand, I also adore your hands... ooh, you have so wonderful hands... do you play any instrument as well?"
Again, it was Tony who replied, lying smoothly about Loki's skills as lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of a band that didn't even exist. Well, it didn't matter anyway. It was just as unimportant as Ruby telling Loki about her ambitions to become an actress/ singer/ dancer or that she was in new York for an audition, because that's what all the girls claimed when in fact they were just looking for a guy to finance their dreams- or at least their boob jobs.
But he didn't have to worry about Loki falling for that trap. His infatuation with Ruby was mainly of a physical, testosterone guided nature- he wanted to bed her, that's all. And Tony knew just how he could aid his new friend...
While Ruby and Loki were getting to know each other in a more intimate way- meaning, they were smooching seriously- he went to the reception of the hotel and returned a little later, slipping the key card to a hotel room into Loki's hand.