"You know..." Tony said, propping his hip against the door frame and staring at Callie, who was working at a desk in one of the many office areas. "I wondered why you and Loki fit so well, and then guess what, the other day I got my answer." He pushed away from the door frame and walked in to the room, glaring at the young woman.
Kicking the door closed so that they had more privacy, he watched as Callie stood up to her full height and glared at him. "What are you smoking, Stark?" She asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. Perhaps he would have been more wise to wear his suit in to the room before starting this conversation?
"I have been wondering for two days why Grace has started to avoid Bruce, I thought maybe it had something to do with the operation, but then I saw her patching up another officer, so that couldn't be it. Perhaps it had something to do with the knowledge of what the other guy could do, but no, that wasn't it because when I asked she said she wasn't afraid of the big guy. And then your father asked me to check out some footage of the medical bay, because some things had gone missing, like burn cream and a morning after pill."
Tony watched as Callie squared her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips, he only saw a flicker of fear before it was replaced with deep hatred. "And I saw you and Grace, I knew instantly what Grace was after before I saw the box in her hand, there are only a few things kept up in that top cupboard. And I saw you two talking, of course I turned off the sound to give you privacy, until I saw Grace run from the room crying and you throwing burn cream after her."
"Tony shut up, you don't know what you are talking about!" Callie said, turning away from the man and going back to her work. "Now if you don't mind, some of us have work to do!" She added, rustling some papers to get her point across to him. "All friends fight, doesn't mean it needs to involve everyone else!"
"Well you see, that is where you are wrong, Callie. That is where you have always been wrong. See we are a family here, and as soon as Grace got in to the doc's bed..." He noted that Callie flinched at his words, before quickly hiding it. "She became apart of this family to. And you see, now that she's avoiding him, including moving in to Natasha's room, it's thrown him a bit off. And we need everyone we can on this job before the psycho bird lady decides to throw waste to another city."
"Just go away and annoy someone else, Tony! I'm trying to track weird crow movements around the world, and you are just annoying the hell out of me!"
"So anyway!" Tony said, rocking on the balls of his feet with his hands clasped behind his back, completely ignoring the glare Callie threw at him once more. "I rewound the tape and watched with the audio on, and that's when I saw Callie, I saw the reason you and Loki get along so well. You are just like him, destroying other peoples happiness."
"I did no such thing!" Callie said, turning to stare at Tony. "I only reminded her of something that had slipped her mind. Now seriously, go away whilst I work. Don't you have a camera to work on?"
"It's finished and attached to Bruce's tie so that he can record where to find those nice berries that we found the other day. It's my way of testing it out and Bruce's way of collecting his own food so that he doesn't feel guilty about eating. I swear you can count each of his ribs when his shirt is off!"
"You can." Callie said, with out thinking, blushing as Tony laughed.
"Anyway, you stay out of other peoples business and they'll stay out of yours. Wouldn't want anyone making a comment about how you are sleeping with an insane god..."
Tony walked to the door before pausing and looking back at her. "Who probably after helping out here is going to try and take over the planet again, but don't worry, I'm sure Hulk will delight in beating him once more." With that Tony left the room, letting the door close behind him with a soft click.
Thor had returned within a day with the promised help (the warriors three, Sif and Malmury), but Loki was still no where to be found. Only Tony and Nick knew why he had fled, and neither were going to tell Callie, who busied herself with work and taking care of Hella to keep her mind off her vanishing partner. She was scared to get close to another man in case that Loki reminded her who she belonged to, frowning as the smell of Thor's coffee made her feel ill, she hurried out of the room.
Whilst they all waited for the new plan to take affect, Natasha was still finding it hard to get her hands on a crow, apparently zoos and animal places did not have them due to them being 'pests'. Steve and Raven had taken over the gym, Steve finding that Raven was the only other person, apart from Thor and Tony in his suit that could spar with him without getting tired. Even after three hours the two of them were still at it, though last time anyone had checked Raven had managed to get him in a leg lock and he was trying to wriggle his way out.
Thor and the other Asgardian's had taken over the film room to be shown a new film Tony had found that he thought they would like, sadly the film he had picked was 300, making the gods (and goddess) roar in laughter and roll around the room. The quiet and withdrawn Malmury was happily talking to Pepper, who was showing her how to sew an intricate pattern on a cushion.
Though as much as the others had normal activities, the tension around Bruce and Grace was unbearable, so much so that others avoided both of them when they could. Callie had her hands full with Hella, who since coming back from Asgard had picked up a few habits that were not welcome on Earth, including throwing her cup on the ground in delight when she wanted another drink.
There was nothing any of them could do but wait, wait and hope that their plan could go in to action soon, before The Morrigan found another target.
Loki paced back and forth in front of The Morrigan, not believing his luck at finding her in front of Stonehenge.
"So much has changed..." She said, letting her fingers trail over the ancient rocks. "Yet some things are still the same, the Loch is still as deep and mysterious and these rocks still stand." She paused and looked at him, the crow on her shoulder letting out a caw before flying in to the air. "Why are you here, Frost Giant when you fight on the team trying to stop me?"
"I care nothing for that supposed team..." Loki said, leaning against one of the other rocks and crossing his arms. "But I do care about why you have suddenly come back to this planet, finding the others to boring?"
"We both know Mortals are stupid creatures, a few chosen words and we can have them destroying their whole planet while we sat and watched. Though I am hurt you decided to go with the others instead of me, if you had of picked more wisely, Loki Laufeyson you would be ruler of this stupid planet..." The Morrigan stated, matching his stance on a different piece of stone. "Do they know you can find me so easily?"
"Only when you chose not to hide, but no, they do not. Nor do they dare question me, to fearful of what I could do to them. Oh and the things I could do..." Loki sighed dramatically before looking back at the woman. "But I want to know why you picked Midgard, even though you know it is protected by Thor."
"I was hoping you would put up some kind of fight, bring an army from Asgard down and protect this world, and instead I am faced with childish antics... I am disappointed in you, no doubt your brother as well as yourself want to charge in to war. It's why he brought the warriors back with him, and yet even after I attack one of their own, they still dally on with stupid plans."
"You know as well as I do that Thor will not bring a war to this planet, he will try and deal with you in a different way." Loki moved so that he was in front of the goddess, once again startled by her beauty. "No matter how much pressure you put on him, but the best fun... Leave the planet for a few years." Loki grinned as she raised an eyebrow at him. "They are all on edge my dear, Morrigan, if you left now they would forever be waiting for an attack that would never come. Even their grandchildren would be fearful of the day the attacks start up once more, you have done it before with the one they called Jack The Ripper, and then again with the Zodiac killer, so why can you not do it again?"
"Loki your lying flatters me, really it does. But I am beyond bored with this planet, I want a war, Loki... A proper war with death and destruction!" She purred, running her fingers down his chest. "You know the feeling, deep in your stomach, the want and need slowly bubbling to the surface whilst you try and try again to press it down, not wanting to give in to it just yet, until the torture is to much..." Her lips were inches from his, and her breath mingled with his, she smelt of an empty meadow after rain, the same smell for all these centuries.
"Don't fight me, Loki." She whispered before crashing her lips in to his in a breath stealing kiss that caused his heart to beat faster and his fingers to dig in to her hips, holding her close as she dominated his mouth. "Join me, and together this world will fall at our feet, and then we can take on the man who dared call himself your father!"
Loki was about to kiss her once more when Callie's call of worry came through the mental link, causing him to push The Morrigan away and catch his breath, staring in to her green eyes he shook his head. "Things have changed, Morrigan..." He said, but was cut of when her hand ran down his front and gently gripped him through his pants.
"Not that much." She whispered, before vanishing in a whirlwind of feathers and dust, leaving him panting and glaring at where she stood.
Give Hella to someone else to watch, I am coming home. He thought, only giving Callie five minutes to give Hella to Grace to watch, before he returned to their bedroom to ravish her, his mind still on The Morrigan and what she could do to him.
Callie walked down the corridor, her muscles sore from where Loki and her had gotten in to a physical fight before he slammed her in to the dresser, cracking the mirror, and taking her there on the spot. She desperately needed some coffee to pick her up before she went back to work, otherwise her mind wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything.
Moving down the corridor she crashed in to Bruce, groaning as she fell back on her behind, forgetting how solid the doctor was. "Ow..." She groaned as she hit the bruises left by Loki's hand and finger nails. She looked up to see Bruce looking down at her, not even bothering to hold out his hand to her.
"Bruce." She said, picking herself up off the floor and brushing the dust from her pants. "Thanks for the hand up..."
"I thought you would much rather Loki's instead." Bruce said, glaring down at her as she looked at him in shock, he could see her eyes searching his exposed skin for any hints of green.
"Bruce, please... I think we need to talk about this..."
"About what? The way you played me for a fool? God Callie I am not stupid, I knew you wanted Loki, even when you were with me! I wasn't blind, I just hoped that the fact he destroyed New York would turn you away from him."
"You destroyed Harlem."
"I WASN'T IN CONTROL!" Bruce roared, making Callie flinch and back up, once again her eyes darted across his skin to find the tinge of green. "BUT YOU WERE IN CONTROL! YOU WERE IN CONTROL AS YOU LAID IN MY ARMS AND THOUGHT OF HIM!"
"Bruce... Calm down... Please calm down..." Callie whispered, putting her hands up in fright and backing away from him.
"You asked me the other day why I stayed away from you, this is why. Because the other guy wants to snap your neck and fling your worthless body at the feet of the man who proclaims he is a god! He wants to make you pay for stabbing him in the back, the first girl he had trusted to be around! I WANT TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!"
"YOU SAID YOU COULDN'T TRUST YOURSELF!" Callie yelled back at him.
"BECAUSE HE KNEW! HE KNEW YOU WOULD PICK LOKI AND ALL HE WANTED WAS TO KILL YOU, EVEN AS YOU LIED TO MY FACE!"
"I NEVER LIED!"
"YOU SAID YOU WERE OURS! YOU SAID THAT YOU LOVED ME!"
"YOU DIDN'T SHOW ME LOVE! YOU WERE SO WRAPPED UP IN TRYING NOT TO KILL EVERYONE AND FOR THEM NOT TO KNOW YOU ACTUALLY HAVE FEELINGS!"
"BECAUSE MY FEELINGS ARE ALWAYS CRUSHED! YOU PROVED THAT, CALLIE LAUFEYSON!" He stopped shouting when he heard footsteps, glancing behind him he spotted Grace, watching them with soft eyes, inside the other guy roared, wanting Grace to come and make it all better, whisper sweet nothings and never leave them.
Callie glanced at where Bruce was looking and snarled, glaring up at him. "I see you have already moved on, though." She said, before walking down the opposite direction of the corridor.