"Okay, that's enough!"

Pepper's head appeared above the logs as she shoved them out, scattering wood across the floor. Loki's head snapped toward her and his eyes betrayed at once his uncertain amusement at a woman rising from a pile of logs, his annoyance that he hadn't looked there, and his glee that he'd gotten what he wanted. His shirt still held in Loki's hand, Tony looked over weakly.

"Just let him go and let's do this," Pepper said. Unless you want him instead? You sure seemed into that, she thought but didn't say.

"Pepper," Tony mumbled so incoherently Pepper wouldn't have been able to discern anything but her own name. He scrabbled at the ground with one hand. "Geahereaamkickisass…"

Loki dropped Tony and sashayed toward Pepper, a catty grin on his face. "Count yourself lucky. You're about to see what a real man is like," he said.

Oh, honey, Pepper thought, almost rolling her eyes. That ship sailed long ago. You weren't the first and you will be far from the last. She wasn't kidding herself that this wouldn't be traumatic, but Loki was of the opinion that he was some grand erotic force sweeping into her naive life. Far from it.

"You have what you want," she said, letting her voice shake and pretending to break off, like she'd lost the nerve to say something else. She shrank back as Loki reached her and snaked a hand around her waist, his leg brushing hers as he walked past her and pulled her toward the door. As they left, Tony vainly tried to crawl after them.

The hallway seemed much shorter than it had just minutes ago. Pepper bitterly wished she had Tony's sort of intelligence- the kind that would cook up half a dozen plans in the thirty seconds it took to walk to the bedroom. Her own talents lay more in organization, expediency, and common sense, none of which pertained to a mad demigod.

Loki shut the door behind them, leaning against it with his head nearly touching the doorjamb. "When I'm through with you, Stark won't know whether to be disgusted or ashamed.

Is that how this seems to you? Pepper felt a moment of pity for her tormentor. Loki really had no idea of what love and lovemaking was meant to be. All he knew was conquering and taking and winning. Even if he got everything he ever wanted, he'd still be lonely and alone.

"Allow me to make myself presentably," she said dryly. She walked to the en-suite bathroom and opened the door, showing Loki the lack of exits. "No doors, no windows, no secret passageways, not that they'd work with no electricity. I'll keep the door cracked for you."

"Do choose something becoming," Loki said, sitting on the bed and stretching a long leg out to touch the door. "Perhaps something green?"

Tony was more of a classic red sort of guy, and Pepper was secretly crazy about purple lingerie, but she had quite the collection, largely from Tony seeing something that caught his eye. He brought home far more than she could wear, in fact, and she'd never before worn the dark green gown she slid out of the wardrobe.

I'm not like Tony. I can't make half a million plans in thirty seconds. But I can make one.

It wasn't coquettish submission that led Pepper to suggest, of her own accord, that she dress up to be raped. The electricity in the building was off, but batteries still worked fine. Like the batteries in her curling iron. Her hand hidden behind the mostly closed door, she turned the iron on and leaned it against the wall, slipping a tissue into its grip. She slipped the satin gown over herself and returned to the bedroom. As she stepped through the door, Loki, who had crept beside it, slid into view and twirled her by the waist onto the bed.

"My lady, you seem almost eager," he said, one hand planted by her head and the other beneath her ribs. His thumb curled, and she felt it dig into her breast.

"I hope it lives up to expectations," she said, trying for a mixture of spirited and reluctantly seduced.

Loki hitched up his leg, bringing his knee next to her waist. "It will be unforgettable," he said.

Long before the world had gone crazy and spat out dozens of costumed crusaders, a spate of muggings in New York had led Pepper to attend a few weeks of self-defense classes. The class had focused mainly on preventative techniques, but there was also instruction in judo. Unlike more aggressive martial arts, judo was centered around the idea of using the enemy against himself. Even with the craftiest of plans, Pepper was still at a staggering disadvantage. Her plan hinged entirely on Loki being as vain and dignified as she was gambling.

As Loki slowly moved a hand toward the hemling of her gown, Pepper knew he wouldn't disappoint. Instead of tearing the gown off outright, he sensuously slid it up, just enough to bare her thigh. He ran his hand up it, leaving gooseflesh at his cold touch. Pepper felt a bubbling of revulsion and and discomfort, but no actual fear. Whatever Loki thought was about to shatter her world, she'd already done it. You couldn't be Tony Stark's girlfriend if you weren't down with some kinky stuff. And Tony had a hundred times more experience than this faux-romantic joke.

Loki's hand ceased the pretence of modesty and slid over her breast. His fingers curled and started to stroke, as if he had some asinine inkling that Pepper might experience pleasure from being assaulted. She shook off the urge to push his hand away, reminding herself to shower when it was over. Just a quick shower. Wash all this away.

Loki shifted upward higher onto Pepper, his legs on either side of her. He lowered his head and Pepper had to suppress a face of disgust at her initial thought, before she realized he was only going in for a kiss. He kissed the hollow of her throat, leaving her wanting to squirm away at his unwanted pressure on such a vulnerable area. His free hand caressed down her side and hooked against her hip, his fingers landing on her inner thigh.

Involuntarily, Pepper squirmed, giving Loki the exact wrong idea. "Is that what you like?" he asked, his hand on her breast shifting. "I wouldn't want you to think me selfish. It wouldn't do to start before you're ready."

The heat death of the universe will come before I am ready, Pepper thought. But as much as she hated the thought, this was a good thing. Loki thought she was about to be overcome with passion and all the sorts of things cheap romance novels presented. She could already detect the faintest scent in the air. Only a few more minutes…

Loki sat up and slid his hand to Pepper's neckline. He started to pull down on the fabric at the same time as he leaned down, perhaps thinking his tongue was quicker than his fingers. At that moment, the entire room was drenched in foam.