Chapter 11

After watching Thor's interrogation of Loki, I wanted to ask him the questions I had bottled up inside me over the past few hours. I knew they would never allow me to see him again, though, so I decided to take advantage of my magic. I asked Tony if I could use some exercise equipment, because I had missed my morning run, and he showed me to the exercise room on the 85th floor. There were more machines in there than double my school's fitness center. I thanked Tony, climbed onto a bike, and tried to focus my mind on the 76th floor.

I felt the weird sensation of my mind leaving my body, and when I opened my eyes, Loki was sitting next to me. He had his face in his hands, so he didn't see me appear. I made sure to channel my magic so I was only visible to Loki, shielded him from the cameras, created an illusion of Loki sitting alone as he was now, and then tapped him on the shoulder.

Loki jumped, clutched his ribs, and then his eyes lit up. He looked around at the five different cameras, and then back at me.

"It's okay, we're covered," I reassured him, and he relaxed.

"How much magic are you using right now?" He asked curiously.

"Quite a bit."

He smiled proudly, and I laughed a little.

"Why will you not leave, darling?" He asked sadly.

"I can't leave you," I said, and he smiled.

"Where are you actually?"

"Nine floors up, on an exercise bicycle," I said, and he laughed.

"Quite the multi-tasker, aren't you!" He exclaimed.

I looked away for a moment, my mind reeling with questions, but I was unsure which to ask first.

"What troubles you, love?" He asked, and I turned back to him.

"I have... questions," I said, and he sat up a bit straighter. "First; why did you take me back to Asgard with you in the first place?"

He looked taken aback by this question. Then, he seemed to really think about it for a minute. "I-I think it was mostly because of how intriguing you were to me. Never had I thought I would meet a mortal that knew how to properly address an Asgardian. I mostly wanted to know how you knew. Your next question is probably why I asked you to live on Asgard? Yes," he nodded, because I nodded, "That was because in one day of talking with you and getting to know you, I found that I could trust you more than I could trust anyone I had known my whole life. I wasn't sure how, but I had an intuition that you were different than other people."

I nodded again. "So... Why did you ask me to marry you?"

"Are you regretting your decision?"

"Gods, no! I'm just curious..."

"I jest, sweetheart! I asked, again, because I felt I could trust you. And I love you," he unconsciously reached for my hand, then remembered I was an illusion, and pulled back his hand.

"I love you too, Loki," I whispered, feeling an overwhelming need to both cry and touch him.

"Have you any other questions?"

"Yes, one; how are we going to get home?"

He looked at the floor sadly. "I do not know, Ashley. We will, though, we will go home."

A minute went by of me staring sadly at the choppiness of his hair, and him staring sadly back at me. Then, Loki said, "I have a question. Who is the annoying child who has been following you around, the one who did this to my face?"

I smiled and shook my head. "That's my little brother, actually."

"Oh."

"Yeah. How did he get powers? He said one of your 'minions' gave them to him, but you don't have 'minions.' Do you?"
He looked confused for a minute, and then realization flashed across his face. "The rogue Chitauri. He had a machine that boosts powers. Your brother must have ended up inside."

I opened my mouth to say something else, but gasped suddenly instead. Loki stared at me wide-eyed, and I felt as if my head was being split in two. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My vision went black, and when I blinked my eyes open, I was on the floor next to an exercise bike with Natasha and Clint kneeling next to me.

"Ashley, what happened?" Natasha asked, honestly concerned.

"What?" I asked a little dazed.

"We were watching the cameras and all of the sudden you fell off the bike," Clint said, helping me sit up. "What happened?"

I must have been so focused on all the illusions I was doing, I couldn't keep my actual body upright. I couldn't tell them I was with Loki; they'd never leave me by myself again. Instead, I rubbed my head and said, "I- I don't know. I got dizzy, and then the next thing I knew, here you are."

"Okay, that's enough exercise," Clint said, helping me stand up. I swayed a little, my head still feeling like it was going to explode, and he steadied me. "Let's go back upstairs."

We went back up to the 92nd floor; I sat on the couch and leaned my head back. I waited until my head stopped pounding before turning around to see what the others were doing. I noticed Steve and my brother still weren't there, but I really didn't care where they were. It was about time my brother stopped being overly clingy. That was one thing I didn't miss being with Loki, was my little brother tagging along everywhere I went.

Tony noticed me watching them and walked over to the couch, leaning over the back so he was level with me. "Before you say it, I am not letting you go back to Asgard, but is there anything I can get you in this world?"

I laughed lightly, and then looked at him curiously. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "Uh, okay, well, I could really go for a cheeseburger," I said laughing.

He laughed, smacked the back of the couch with the heel of his palm, and stood up. "That I can do! Let's go," he motioned for me to follow him to the elevator, hit the button to go down, and turned back to the room. "Anyone want to go for a burger?" He asked, and the others looked at him like he was crazy.

"Is that a no?" He asked after a minute of nobody talking.

Darcy and Ian looked at each other and shrugged. "What the hell," Darcy said, and they stood up. "Come on, Jane."

That's how I ended up in a burger joint in downtown Manhattan with the Avengers.

We took up two tables all together, and I ate the greasiest burger I have ever had in my life. It was delicious.

After we were there a half an hour, Steve and Jeremy walked in, and I groaned as my brother sat next to me. Then I noticed Steve's clothes were singed a little.

"Are you trying to scorch everybody?" I asked him as the waiter brought him a Pepsi.

"That wasn't fire, though," he said nonchalantly.

I put my half-eaten burger down. "Then what the hell was it?"

He smiled at me. "Lightning," he said as the waiter brought him a burger and he took a huge bite out of it.

I shook my head and picked up my burger again. I honestly didn't even want to ask.

After everybody finished, they paid, and I swore up and down to Tony I would pay him back for mine and my brother's food. He just kept shaking his head, but there was no way I was going to owe a debt to him, or any of them, for that matter.

We walked out onto the crazy street, and people parted around us, pointing and whispering excitedly about the superheroes. I felt them staring at me, probably because I was a normal looking person with the Avengers, and I held my head high. I was not going to show weakness to these mortals.

We walked through the double doors into the lobby and up the elevator to the 92nd floor. Tony offered my brother and I rooms, which I gladly accepted over being sent back to a cell. He took us down to the 55th floor and showed us to two rooms right next to each other.

Jeremy smiled at me, and I just scoffed and slammed my door shut.

I climbed into the queen sized bed, sat with my back against the headboard, and pulled my knees up to my chest. I looked around the little room. It was set up like a hotel room, with a nightstand on each side of the bed, a dresser with a huge mirror over it, a small closet by the door, and a little bathroom. With the furniture, it looked smaller than my cell. There was digital alarm clock on the left nightstand that read 7:45. I knew my brother's room had a TV because he was blaring "Adventure Time" through the wall. I smiled to myself, thinking about all the electronics I used to be addicted to. Honestly, I was amazed I had made it two and a half months without my phone.

I got up and went into the bathroom, instantly feeling claustrophobic. The room was so small that when I turned, I slammed my elbow into the door. I washed my face with the cheap soap on the counter and went back into the main room, climbed back onto the bed, and cried myself to sleep, wishing we had never come back to this stupid realm.