Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Marvel franchise. I only own my OC.

Chapter 14

After making sure she was fine, she and everyone else including Loki, much to Tony's dismay, went back to Stark Tower. The next day, everyone was busy. Tony found a way to extract the Extremis from Pepper. Rhodey managed to clean the mess Killian left by outing the Vice President of the US as a conspirator with Killian much to everyone's shock. She would never forget the look on Rhodey's face when she laughed over the 'Iron Patriot' thing.

The next night after everything was settled over dinner; she explained to everyone about her condition and made sure that Tony explained what happened after she went to Asgard. She learned about Tony's panic attack, Happy's attack at the Chinese Theatre, Tony's ex-girlfriend working for the Mandarin, what he found out about the whole Mandarin situation and the Extremis and to her aghast, Tony's public announcement of their address in Malibu issuing the explosion to their home.

"You what?!" she screeched as Tony winced. Pepper hid a smile as she wiped her mouth while Loki shamelessly smirked at the billionaire's situation. "48 books, dad! 48 LIMITED EDITION books are gone for good! Do you know how long I collected those? Do you even know what strings I have pulled to get those?"

"Not to mention I almost died the attack but you, instead, were worried about your books," Tony started but Clio raised a finger at him.

"Of all the stupid and reckless things you have done, this is, by far, the worst, dad!" She yelled. "Mentioning our address to the national TV would have been okay if you weren't the most famous person on Earth!"

"I love the famous part," Tony muttered to his self making Pepper glare at him.

"And to think I've been enjoying my stay in Asgard while you were out on a suicide mission!" she continued ranting. The spaghetti she was eating left untouched on her plate.

"At least you enjoyed," Tony supplied then sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, Sugarplum. I know it was wrong of me to do that"

"Very wrong!"

"But it was to protect the two of you," Tony explained motioning at her and Pepper.

"But you failed," Pepper interjected.

"You're alive, right?" Tony asked sarcastically. Pepper and Clio glared again at the man and he swore he saw his life flashed before his eyes.

That whole night, Tony never heard the end of it. She only stopped when Pepper calmly asked her to since her dad was already on the 'verge of crying'.

She stayed up at the living room still contemplating what happened while everyone went inside their bedroom to sleep. She was sitting on the veranda looking out at the beauty of the city lights from below.

A year ago, the same city was burning up with aliens but now, it looked like it was never invaded at all. Still, the view did not compare to the view of Asgard at night. Well, since their Malibu Mansion was gone now, she might as well get used in New York. Malibu was where she spent growing up in and she couldn't help but feel the weight of its loss.

"You should also rest," she heard Loki spoke behind her. She turned around a bit surprise to see him still awake.

"I thought you went to sleep?" she asked as Loki made his way next to her.

"Sleep would not come at the moment," he replied as he too gazed at the busy city down below. She suddenly wished she could read what was in his mind at the moment while he gazed at the city he tried to invade.

"Me too," she answered back. "There are so many thoughts in my mind right now that I couldn't afford to sleep at all."

"Do you want me to cast you a spell for you to sleep?" he asked and Clio shook her head.

"I want to think all about it," she said and gazed back at the city; her eyes full of longing at the life she ever wanted. "I never asked for this, really," she added as she crossed her arms on her chest. She could feel his stare but she did not glanced back.

"What is?" he asked.

"This kind of life," she replied then sighed. It just came out. Well, she might as well start opening up to him. She needed to anyway especially after everything that happened. "Don't get me wrong, I love my dad so much but I just wanted to have a simple life; away from the media, away from the people who are trying to hurt my family," she muttered the last part but she knew Loki heard her.

"I've almost been kidnapped a dozen times now and to tell you the truth, I'm used to it. I'm used to all of it; living under my father's shadow. And I've managed to enjoy it," she stated then closed her eyes. "But now, I can't anymore."

"Why?" he asked.

"How can I live a normal life, right now? Everything inside me is changing. I don't even know if I'm still human," she said and rubbed her hands on her shoulders to keep her warm.

"You are still the same to me," he stated after some time. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "As long as your heart doesn't change, you're still the same. Physically, you are changing but do not let that change even the way you think or feel. Do not go where I went," he finished.

Silence descended upon them. "I never thought I'd hear that from you," she joked lightheartedly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered after a moment.

She glanced back at him in surprise. He turned to her with all the seriousness. "For saying those things? No, don't be," she chuckled slightly.

"For the pain I've put you through," he stated. She froze from her spot at his statement. He raised his hand to caress her cheek. "For not coming back as the one who saved you from death," he continued.

Her mouth opened a little at his statement. This was the first time he apologized for the crimes he committed that she was caught off-guard at the moment and she was at loss for words. "You were forced to," she muttered. Loki stared at her with regret. "…right?"

He shook his head. "I agreed to it," he admitted; Clio's brow furrowed. "I wanted to prove I could do more than what my brother did. They did force me by altering my memories where I thought Thor threw me off the bifrost. I was driven by rage and that is why I agreed to do it.

When I saw you in Stuttgart I began to question my motives," he continued. "But you already saw how I killed the man. I saw the terror and disbelief in your eyes and that made me decide to continue the plan because what more could I lose now that you fear me."

"Okay, stop," she ordered and raised a hand to him. The emotion she was feeling was too much and she could not handle it. "Just stop."

"I'm sorry," he began to say but stop when she slapped him across the face. A look of surprise crossed his face but was later replaced by confusion when a smile appeared on her face; it was a sad smile.

"That's for what you did," she said with a grin. Wiping the tears on her cheek that she did not know fell, she chuckled humorlessly. Loki gave her some time to wipe away the tears to which she was thankful with. "You jerk, this is the first time you apologized for that," she muttered.

"Is that why you are crying?"

"I'm not crying!"

"That is not what it looked like," he said and decided to just wipe her cheeks. "I wanted you to hate me. It would have been easier for me if you hated me."

"I don't," she replied.

"I know you don't," he smiled. "That's why I apologized to you now."

She nodded. "You confuse me sometimes," she replied.

"So do you," he said with a smile on his lips. The smile made her heart skipped a beat. It was a rare smile one that she could only see when he was being sincere and her heart was so happy that she could only see it when he was with her. "That may be the reason why you never left my mind. Irritating and stubborn as you are, I find you very interesting."

Her smile dropped and she rolled her eyes at him. "You could have left the irritating part. I could have gone for the stubborn one," she replied. Loki shook his head in amusement. "So, what about this captor of yours?" she asked after some time.

There was a look that passed on his face that she could not fathom at her question. Whether he was contemplating what he wants to answer or not, she did not know. "He doesn't matter, anymore," he answered. She didn't try to push further. It must still pain him of the memory and she didn't want to ruin the moment they had.

To her surprise, his lips landed on her forehead and lingered there for a moment before he stood up straight. "I'll never let anything hurt you, this I swear my life with," he muttered as he caressed her cheek. Her heart, for once, was not pounding rapidly in her chest instead it was calm. It was peaceful; everything was with him.

"You don't have to," she whispered and smiled at him as she gripped the hand that was caressing her cheek. "I can handle myself, you know."

"That I do not have confidence with," he said his eyes were serious. "I want to protect you. If it's the last good thing I have to do in my life then I would gladly do so," he added.

Her mouth opened slightly and she bit her lower lips. "Of all the female species you could have met in this entire universe, why me?" she asked.

"Why do you doubt yourself?" he asked back. "I will only say this once because I will never repeat it ever again: Of all the billion stars in the universe, you shine the brightest; the beacon to my darkness."

Her heart was fluttering and she could help but grin at the cheesy but sweet sayings of the man in front of her. She didn't respond at all instead she closed her eyes. All she wanted was to savor the moment she was with him. Once S.H.I.E.L.D. knew he was back to Earth, he will have to go back to Asgard to avoid getting caught here.

But the next day, Hogun and Volstagg appeared at Stark Tower and were ordered by Odin to bring Loki back on Asgard in an urgent matter. Promising he'd be back to come and get her whenever she's ready, he left with the two warriors.

After Loki left, Tony announced his decision that surprised both Pepper and her over dinner that he was willing to take off his reactor and the shrapnel embedded in his heart. She, Pepper and Rhodey went with him at the hospital to show their support. It was a 12 hours long operation but to their relief it was a huge success.

It was slowly turning back to normal and she was glad it was. She hoped and prayed that the peace will last long.

Three weeks have passed after the incident and Clio was currently reading about the reports given by her new subordinates. With much thought, she resigned from her work and decided to continue conducting her study in Stark Tower. With Tony's help, she managed to hide the unknown microorganism in her new lab. She knew how dangerous it was and if it gets to the wrong hands again, it would be her fault.

"Hey, Sugarplum, how do I look?" Tony spoke making Clio looked up from what she was reading. Her father stood at her doorway dressed in a blue coat and tie. He was going on a date with Pepper tonight and she was the one to arrange it just in case her father messed up again. "Too much?"

She smiled broadly and gave him a once over. She walked over to him and arranged his tie. "You look dashing, Dad."

"Of course, I do," he replied smoothly and Clio rolled her eyes. "You're not overworking too much, are you?"

She shook her head and patted his chest. "I'm not; just looking over some stuff."

"You sure you don't want to come?" he asked once again. He kept on worrying whenever she was alone.

"Date night, Dad," she reminded and pushed him towards the door. "Besides, you still need to make up to Pepper."

She walked with him towards the elevator. "Look, call Happy if there's something wrong okay? He's just below the building and make sure to call me."

"No way am I calling you on your date with Pepper. Dad, relax! I'll be fine," she reassured him and kissed his cheek.

"Okay, fine," he grumbled and entered the elevator.

"Oh, and don't forget," she added before he pushed the button. "I'll be visiting Jane over the weekend in London."

Tony sighed, "I can't stop you, can I?" he asked hopefully and Clio shook her head.

"Nope," she answered and smiled cheekily at him. "Have fun!"

Once the elevator door closed, she walked over to the balcony to where she and Loki last talked and inhaled deeply. With God of Mischief's absence, she actually missed him despite them arguing over little things. She remembered the time she forced Loki to eat meatballs that she made at dinner. He commented how it smelled funny and how it looked funny to him and refused to eat it no matter what. It actually turned into a verbal fight between them that Tony had enough and yelled at both of them shutting them up. In the end, Loki had to eat it when she continued to glare at him over dinner.

She looked up at the sky and wondered what everyone in Asgard was doing. She kept thinking about going back there and continuing her apprenticeship but at the moment, she can't just leave Tony and Pepper behind. Not to mention she was setting up her new research laboratory. She called Dr. Bruce Banner to help her set up her research and he promised to be there by next month after his voluntary work.

~0~

Darcy waved at her when she finished getting her luggage. Clio smiled at her friend and gave her an embrace. She just arrived at the airport. Tony offered to use their private jet but she wanted to do this like a normal woman. She was already having a crisis about her soon-to-be genetics and living a life like a princess was not helping at all. But the truth was, she actually wanted to get there in a slow pace. She didn't know what to say to Jane especially now that she spent the last few weeks on Asgard.

"Welcome back, I thought you were gone forever!" Darcy joked and Clio chuckled. She gave her a Mcdonald's soda which she was thankful for. She didn't bother eating on the plane and slept it off.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," she joked back as she took a sip and looked around to see where her other friend was. "Hey, where's Jane?" she asked.

"The thing is, I forgot to tell Jane you were coming," Darcy answered and smiled cheekily at Clio's baffled form. "Well I did tell her but not the exact date. You see, she was busy today."

"Doing what? Moping?" Clio joked and Darcy gave her a grin.

"Nope, even better," Darcy said, her eyes glints with mischief. "She's currently on a date."

Clio spluttered the soda from her mouth and gazed wide eyes at Darcy. "No way," she muttered as she wiped her mouth. Darcy grinned at her expression.

"That was my reaction, too!" she exclaimed and grabbed her other luggage "Ten bucks says she ruins this one?"

"Deal," she replied with a grin. She really does love Darcy; she was always carefree and was always the serious but caring friend. She loved both of them.

"Anyways, I'll be dropping you off your hotel first and you get some sleep. I need to meet my intern."

"You have an intern?" she asked with a scowl.

"Yeah, he is also Jane's intern's intern," Darcy said with a grin. Clio shook her head and chuckled.

"So, I'll be heading by your place later?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Darcy replied. "Hopefully, Jane screws this one up and we'll be having a pizza party later."

Clio grinned back at her friend as they drove away.

~0~

"How was your flight, Sugarplum?" Tony asked via intercom. She promised she'd call when she arrived at her hotel. Tony was currently at Stark Tower's kitchen drinking coffee when she called.

"Boring," she answered as she arranged her luggage to the hotel's closet.

"I told you, you should have used the jet," Tony remarked making Clio roll her eyes.

"What are you up to today?" she asked instead.

"I'll be going to Stark Industries later. Pepper called a board meeting today," he answered and took a sip from his coffee. Tony, to both her and Pepper's delight, would be going back to Stark Industries and be reinstated as the CEO.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for your speech then?" she asked with raised eyebrow. Tony gave her a 'why-would-I-need-that?' look. "What? You mean you didn't prepare any? You're going back and they need some reassurance from you."

"Why would they need that? If they don't trust me with my own company, they can quit anytime," he sassed.

"Dad," she warned and Tony gave her a grin

"I was just joking, Little Owl, I'll think of something when I get there," he answered then narrowed his eyes at her. "You better not get in trouble while you're there. The last time you're in London, it all went haywire."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she waved off making Tony grumble.

"Don't wave me off like that," Tony scolded earning a cheeky grin from his daughter and sighed. "Anyway, do you ever plan to go back to Asgard?"

Clio tensed at the question but released a sigh. "I will after I talk to Dr. Banner about the microorganism. He might have a theory about it. You know, now that I think about it the effect of the microorganism looks the same like the Super-Soldier Serum the one you told me about that was injected to Steve Rogers by Grandpa Stark?"

Tony was silent for a moment, almost like he was thinking of something. "That's why you need to talk to Bruce about it?"

"Yeah," she answered and clicked her tongue. "I wanted to talk to him about it ASAP but he said he can't just walk away from his volunteer work."

"We'll discuss it further when you get back," he said and she nodded. "Anyway, I have to go before Pepper kills me. I'm almost late at the meeting. Call me when there's trouble, okay?"

"Okay," she answered and Tony stopped for a moment and stared at her intently.

"I mean it. CALL ME when there's trouble," he said and emphasized the word 'Call me'.

Clio rolled her eyes but then blow a kiss at him, "Love you, Dad," she said and ended the call not bothering to wait for his reply.

She put her phone at the night stand next to her bed and yawned. She did not get any sleep at all throughout the plane ride. She stretched her joints and lay back down at the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, her thoughts wandered to Loki. His departure was sudden that they never got to talk about things since she was also busy that moment. He only promised that he'll be back to get her when she's ready and that was it. Her eyes fluttered close as sleep gingerly took her in with Loki being the last one on her mind.

It was a 4 hours dreamless sleep and was interrupted by the ringing of her phone on her nightstand. She tried to ignore it and buried her head on the pillow. Sighing, she went back to sleep when the phone stopped ringing but the peace was interrupted when it rang again. Groggily, she sat up from her bed and grabbed her phone.

"Hello?" she answered; the sleep in her voice was evident.

"Hey, Sleepyhead," Darcy called out and Clio groaned. "Sorry to wake you up but we have an emergency."

"What?" she grumbled.

"Well, Jane's been missing for four hours now and I thought you might want to help," Darcy informed her.

Any sleep remaining in her system vanished at her friend's statement. "What? Four hours? I thought you said she was on a date?"

"Yeah, about that, I made her kind of walk away from him," she said as Clio stood up.

"Made her walk away? What?" Clio asked as she grabbed her hairbrush and combed her dark tresses.

"I'll explain it to you when you get here," Darcy said and told her the address before hanging up.

She went to the bathroom to erase any trace of sleep evident on her. Grabbing her jacket and bag, she walked out of her hotel room and dashed outside. Luckily, a cab pulled over to her and she went in. She told the driver the address. She grabbed her phone deciding whether to call Tony or not. Was this some kind of trouble? Sighing, she sent him a text about Jane missing and that she was fine and was probably Darcy's prank.

She scowled when the driver pulled over an abandoned storage house. "Uh, you sure this is the place?" she asked.

"This is the one you told me about," the driver grumbled. Thanking the driver, she got out of the cab and walked towards the warehouse. She pulled out her phone and decided to call Darcy, in case this was really some kind of a prank.

"Darcy, I swear to you if this is some kind of joke you're not going to like what I'm going to do to you," she threatened.

"I'm not into girls, Clio," she joked making Clio roll her eyes. "Look to your left," she instructed. When she turned, she saw her waving.

Putting back the phone in her pocket, she walked towards her friend. She noticed a guy walking behind her as well.

"Hey," she greeted when she was in front of them. "Meet Ian, my intern. Ian, this is my friend Clio Stark."

Ian's eyes widened at Darcy then turned to gawk at Clio. "You mean, THE Dr. Clio Stark? The daughter of Tony Stark? The billionaire?"

Clio stared at Darcy with raised brow and the latter shrugged back at her. "You're famous, what do you expect?"

The billionaire's daughter shook her head and put a hand on her hip. "Okay, where's Jane?"

"That's the thing. I went to Jane in the middle of her date with a guy named 'Richard' – yes, I know, who names their kid 'Richard'? -Because I have to report about this strange signal we've been picking up. I mean, we haven't had that signal since New Mexico."

"New Mexico?" Clio blurted out with a scowl scrunched on her face.

"Yeah, that was like three years ago, I think. That's where we met smokin' hot alien Thor," she informed her and Clio's eyes widened. Three years ago, she also met Loki in New Mexico. If she remembered correctly, he told her he had business with Thor here on Earth that night. What an odd coincidence.

"Okay, so what does this have to do where Jane is?" she asked wanting to get to the point. The matter was not important right now. They needed to find Jane.

"I was getting there," Darcy said then heaved a deep breath. "So, we tracked the signal where it was at its highest and it led us here. Then there's this whole thing were you drop something and it would come back right on top. Do you get me?" she blabbered.

Clio opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. If Jane was the one explaining she might get what she was saying but this is Darcy. If she asked for her to explain further it will only get more complicated.

"Anyway, the point is there are opened portals in that storage and Jane went to survey the place and the next thing we knew, she was gone. We tried calling her but there was no signal."

"Wait, hold up," Clio stopped raising her hand as Darcy breathed a deep breath. "So you mean, you were here doing research but then you lost your lead scientist?" she asked and Darcy nodded furiously. "Did you try to search the place again?" Darcy shook her head and Clio sighed in defeat.

"So what should we do?" she asked.

Clio eyed the two of them and then surveyed the surrounding. "Why don't you two search outside and I'll go back inside and see if Jane comes back?"

"Okay," Darcy agreed and pointed at her phone in her pocket. "Please don't turn off your phone. I don't want to lose another friend."

"You're not going to lose another friend," Clio reassured her and patted her shoulder. "Besides, Jane must have been busy with something she found inside where there is no signal."

"Shouldn't we just call the police?" Ian asked fidgeting slightly. She couldn't blame him. Even she was panicking for her friend. "I mean, what if a serial killer followed us here and kidnapped Dr. Foster?"

"If we do that, they'll arrest us for trespassing," Clio warned and gave a huff. "And besides, serial killer? Really? If I know better, Jane could take care of herself." Not to mention Heimdall keeps an eye on Jane and would have notified Thor if something were to happen.

"At least we'll go to jail together," Darcy said in high pitched with a grin.

Clio rolled her eyes and walked back inside the storage house. "Call me if your found anything," she called back to them before entering the place. Her eyes scanned the dark place. It looked like a creepy haunted house. Her heels echoed throughout the building as she took a step. She assumed the place was abandoned for years now.

"Jane?" she called out then tensed. Somehow, this was so familiar. Then she remembered the scare Loki put her in. "Damn it," she muttered. If this was some kind of a prank, she'd be murdering her friends. Whether she be put on jail or not, she did not care anymore.

There was a shuffling of birds that made her squeak not far away from her. She debated whether to call the police or not. If she did, they'll be arrested for trespassing. Sighing, she walked further. She almost jumped when she felt her phone vibrated in her pocket. Grabbing it out, she cursed when she saw Darcy's name.

"Yes?" she hissed after she accepted the call.

"Just checking on you," Darcy said. "There's still no sign of Jane, by the way."

"So is here," she reported as her eyes scanned the ceiling. "What is this place, anyway?"

"I don't know but I have to warn you there's a shift in gravity. Just in case you freaked out if you saw a floating truck."

"What floating truck…" she stopped abruptly when the thing Darcy was talking about came to view. It was floating in midair and Clio rubbed her eyes just in case she was hallucinating again. Her mouth hangs open at the sight. "What in the world?" she muttered as her fingers touched the base of the floating truck. It was very light like a feather and when she pushed it slightly, it moved.

"Pretty cool, huh? We…" Darcy was cut off by statics. She looked at her phone and see Darcy was still on the line. "Clio?" she heard then another static.

"Yeah, I'm still here though I'm losing you," she informed her. "This must be where you lost Jane."

"Can… Clio… Call… Now…" she heard Darcy said through the static. Jane must be near since the signal was low.

"The signal is low here, I'm going to call you back later when I find Jane," Clio assured then end the call. She gazed again at the floating truck one more time before entering the door at the other side. It led into a hallway to her dismay. She peeked to every room to see if Jane was there but found none.

At the end of the hallway, she saw another to the right but this one was dark than the hallway she was walking at. A wind blew through the window of one of the rooms making her shiver slightly. "Maybe I should get back to Darcy," she muttered.

She jumped slightly when thunder boomed. She glanced at the window near her. The sky was dark which made her furrowed her brow. It was just sunny a while ago. She suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Could that be a sign that Thor was here? Was Jane really in trouble? Was there really a serial killer that followed her friend? She eyed the hallway warily deciding whether to continue or not. Or she could wait for Thor to come if that was really him.

She decided the latter and turned on her heel when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway she was avoiding. "I should start avoiding creepy places like this," she muttered as the footsteps got louder and louder as it comes nearer to her. Bracing herself, she grabbed the thing that was on her right – which was a twig.

'Kill whoever it is,' a voice whispered in her head. What? She thought. She glanced behind her just in case someone was behind her but there was none. She was off her medicine since arriving on Earth so why was she hearing things again?

A yelp escaped her lips when she came face to face with her missing friend, who also yelped in surprise at the sight of her. "Jane!"

"Clio? What are you doing here?" she asked as the dark-haired girl rushed towards her and engulfed her in a hug. "I thought you're still in New York?"

"Where have you been?" Clio asked choosing to ignore her friend's question. Jane scowled at her in confusion as Clio checked her for any injuries.

"I'm right here, I've been right here," answered Jane before she could answer they heard a police siren.

"Shit," Clio muttered and grabbed her phone. "Still no signal, Darcy must have freaked out and called the police. Come on."

Jane's eyes widened. "What? Ugh, I'm so going to murder her!" she exclaimed. They rushed back to the entrance of the building.

When they were outside, the rain was already pouring down hard and Darcy was talking to one of the police officer when she saw them. They both ran back to Darcy. Clio expected the rain to pour down on her but was taken by surprised when not a drop landed on her. She slowed her step as she watched Jane marched to their waiting friend.

"Clio! Jane!" she greeted in relief as she rushed towards them. "I've been calling you, Clio but I can't reach you. What happened?"

"There was no signal inside," Clio informed after regaining her shock. She looked around the area and saw the three of them not being landed by the heavy rain pour. Her mouth hangs open at what was happening.

"Please tell me, you didn't call the police," Jane said in disbelief.

"I can't reach either the two of you. What was I supposed to do?" she defended.

"Not call the police," Jane growled with a glare.

"I was freaking out," Darcy argued back.

"You call the cops; they call the Feds and the next thing we knew S.H.I.E.L.D's crawling all over area 51!" Jane said through gritted teeth.

"Jane," Darcy tried to explain but the astrophysicist was furious.

"We have a stable reputation anomaly. We have unlimited access! Our only competitions were those ten year old!"

Clio stepped up and put a hand on each of their shoulders having heard enough. "Okay don't be hard on Darcy," she reprimanded then gazed back at Jane.

"I wouldn't be if she just sat still and waited for me!"

"Jane, you were gone for five hours."

Her fellow scientist stared at her dumbfounded. "What?" she muttered. A thunder boomed again from the sky and that's when Darcy and Jane just noticed what was happening.

"That's weird. Shouldn't it be raining?" Darcy asked.

"I'm glad you guys are starting to notice it," Clio replied as she turned away from them to survey the circle that was not being poured down. She walked over to where the circle ends and watched as the rain drops to the ground. To her surprise, the circle started moving and she moved back to not get wet. She cringed when the rain caught up to her and started pouring down on them. "Is this one of your phenomena?" she asked her two friends as she turned back to them. She turned around to see only Darcy. She furrowed her eyebrow and started looking for Jane only to gasp in surprise.

"I guess," she heard Darcy said over the rain. "Is this one of those cheesy moments in movies where you say 'awww'?"

Jane was walking to the god of thunder who just arrived from the scene. Slowly, a grin appeared on her face at the reunion of the two, finally, but then both she and Darcy flinched slightly Jane slapped Thor right in the face.

"Uh, probably?" Clio answered Darcy's question then flinched again when Jane slapped again.

"I've seen this scene before," Darcy commented and Clio nodded in agreement. "You know that movie where they were standing in the rain and the girl slapped him because she thought he had forgotten her?"

"Yeah, I think I saw that one; just don't know what title," she commented back as they gazed back at the two were talking. "Now they're getting mushy with each other," she commented.

They both rolled their eyes at the scene. "Ugh, I can't stand that. I'm heading back to the police and try to explain to them what happened," Darcy stated and Clio nodded in agreement.

"Make sure your intern is okay too," she said.

Darcy was about to walk away when she stopped. "Hey, are we being invaded again?" she asked not bothering to look back at her.

"What? No. Thor is a good guy, remember? Why?" Clio asked back.

"Because I swear, he was the one I saw on T.V. when New York was invaded," Darcy informed her.

Clio scowled at her friend before glancing to where Darcy was pointing at. A gasp left her lips when she saw a man clad in green and gold armor not far from where Jane and Thor was located holding an umbrella and looking like the gloomy god he was. He was also looking at the two pair with disgust before rolling his eyes and landing to hers. His eyes widened a fraction at the sight of her.

"Slap me," Clio muttered.

"You sure?" Darcy asked before giving her a slap on her arm which made her yelp in surprise. Clio glanced at her in disbelief. "What? You told me to slap you."

"I meant that as metaphorically," she said through clenched teeth as she glared at her friend.

Shaking her head, she glanced back at Loki and sure enough, he was still there. She was not hallucinating. She held back a smile at the sight of him. It's been a long time since she last saw him. She walked towards him slowly and he did the same too. They met halfway and offered her a place under his umbrella. "What are you doing here?" she asked still couldn't believe that he was really here.

"I was accompanying Thor when Heimdall could not see his mortal anymore," Loki explained then scowled at her. "What are you doing here? Should you not be in that Tower?"

Clio sighed as she recalled what happened five hours ago. "I don't even know where to begin. I was supposed to visit Jane but then she went missing for 5 hours," she groaned.

Loki tucked a hair under her ear and she smiled at him in return. "Well, at least I won't be going back to that Tower to see you," he replied.

"You were planning to?" she asked a grin appearing from her face. A tint of blush was visible on both her cheeks.

"Yes," he answered. "After Thor make sure his woman is safe."

"Well, here I am," she joked and opened her arms to emphasize.

"Yes, here you are," he replied back. They both grinned while they gazed at each other.

"I can't believe you found a guy too!" Darcy exclaimed. She jumped slightly at the sudden intrusion while as Loki did not seem faze. "Come on," she beckoned before walking towards the couple who were about to share a kiss.

Clio and Loki shared a look before walking over to the two couple who was now annoyed at Darcy's interruption. Loki folded the umbrella when the rain stopped.

"Finally," Loki muttered.

Jane then saw Loki and gasped. "You're?"

"I am Loki, you may have heard of me…" The three of them flinched when Jane's fist connected to Loki's jaw.

"That was for New York," Jane growled and breathed heavily before delivering another punch. "That was for Clio."

The god of mischief stared at the brown-haired scientist incredulously before grinning wickedly and turning to Thor. "I like her," he said and Clio rolled her eyes at his statement. "Nice work. But you're the second mortal to ever land a punch on me – if you ever call that a punch," Loki stated before winking at Clio.

"Guys," Darcy called out gaining back their attention. "I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested."

Jane and Clio's eyes widened at her statement. "Right, hold that thought," Jane said before walking back to the police.

"I thought you talked to them?" Clio asked Darcy who shrugged.

"It's a private property," she answered then turned to Thor. "Look at you, all muscles and everything. How's space?"

Thor smiled uncertainly at her friend. "Space is fine," he answered.

"Shouldn't you be worried at your intern?" Clio asked as they all watched what was happening. One of the policemen was checking on Ian and the other was talking to Jane.

Then, everything was all too sudden. One minute, the police was talking to Jane and was about to grab her by the arm and the next thing she knew, she was being shielded by Loki as wave of red substances emitted from Jane making the policemen fly from the impact.

"Jane!" Thor called out and ran to her.

"Are you hurt?" Loki asked her as she straightened up. She shook her head and saw Thor helping Jane up.

"Place your hands on your head and step back!" The police officer ordered.

"This is not good," she muttered and Loki nodded in agreement.

"The woman is unwell," Thor reasoned out to the police officer who was trying to intimidate the god of thunder.

"She's dangerous!" said the police officer.

"So am I," Thor threatened then turned back to them. "Loki!" he called out before grabbing Jane by the waist.

"Let's go," Loki said and grabbed her arm.

"What? Wait," she tried to pull her arm from him but the next thing she knew, they were next to Thor and Jane before light descended upon them pulling them off the ground and into the sky.

When they landed, Clio realized she was back on Asgard. "Shit," she muttered.

"We have to do that again," Jane muttered with excitement; eyes were wide with amazement. It was the same expression she wore when she first landed on Asgard. "Hi," she greeted Heimdall when she realized he was staring at her.

"Welcome to Asgard, Lady Jane," he greeted back then turned to Clio. "Welcome back to Asgard, Lady Clio. I trust your stay in Midgard was fine?"

"Back?" asked Jane and Clio grinned at her sheepishly.

"That's what I've been dying to tell you and the reason why I went to London," Clio explained.

"Oh, you'll explain it to me in full details, Stark," Jane threatened making Clio roll her eyes.

"You need to go to the healing chambers first," Clio informed her.

Heimdall stepped in and looked at the two of them. "Both of you needed to go to the healing chambers. From my understanding, you are still unwell, Lady Clio."

"I'm fine," grumbled Clio. "The only thing I'm worried about now is my dad."

"Oh, do not worry! The Man of Iron will understand," Thor beamed.

"You don't know him when he's angry," Clio pouted and Jane chuckled nervously for her friend.

"I'm sure he's not that bad," Jane assured then tensed up at the horror that crossed Clio's face. "Right?"

Tony's POV

"Achoo!" The meeting stopped by a sneezed and everyone turned to stare at the source. Wiping his nose with a tissue, Tony gestured for them to continue.

Pepper, who was beside him, put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't think so. I just had a sudden chill." But his instinct suddenly kicked in and grabbed his phone from his pocket. He was forced to put it on silent mode by Pepper when he entered the meeting.

"We can go to the hospital after this," Pepper suggested as she watched Tony open his phone in annoyance but did not comment about it.

There was a text from his daughter and from Jarvis and Rhodey. He first read his daughter's and the moment he opened it, he cursed loudly making Pepper flinched and sighed and the others to stop talking.

"Excuse me?" one of the executives asked incredulously.

Tony ignored him and looked at Pepper. "Call Rhodey, right now!"

Author's Note: Hey guys, so this one was a bit lengthy. 7k words count. I hope you guys like this one and tell me what you think. I haven't been able to update soon since I'm busy with a lot of things. So let me know what you think on this chapter :)

Black Moons Daughter: I got more of her new skills coming! Stay tuned!

MikazukiSuzuki: I'm so sorry it took so long! I haven't been able to finalize it since I was busy with stuff. But I hope you like this one. It's a bit lengthy. Tell me what you think!