From this point on, Jacqueline's "speech" will be written in italics, not for emphasis, but because parenthesis and brackets don't feel right and these thingies "" are more appropriate for foreign languages. I hope you've had a wonderful mothers day or at least a nice day in general!
I was panicking. At least I should be. My heart rate didn't budge. It remained perfectly level and calm. My body didn't hyperventilate. My mind though, that was on fire.
Pen! I wailed in absolute silence. My body steadily approached my worried looking boyfriend, the concern in his big deep-sea eyes morphing into fear. Run!
As if on cue, Pendragon raised his hand. A cloud of steam billowed from the floor. My hand moved on its own, magic coursing through my veins it swept the cloud aside. Pendragon was gone. I let loose a sigh of relief. Big surprise, my body didn't. Instead, it swore.
"A second aquamancer?" Loki questioned, "Are you two siblings?"
"No, he's my boyfriend. My loyalties lie with you, though sir; never doubt that," No! No they do not!
"Know that I will never doubt that!" Loki grinned slyly; tossing his spear into his other hand, "Wait with me, Jacqueline, for the Man of Iron to return. He will be here shortly." Tony. I screamed again, trying to force myself back into control, my brain ached as I fought. I called on my magic, trying to control the water of my body. My right arm yanked up to smack myself in the face.
Startled by the power in the slap, my body reeled, stinging, wounded. This spell could be broken. Loki turned to look at me, confused and startled. My act of defiance suddenly taking a back seat, I heard the sound of propulsion and metal on metal, automated gears pining for oil. Loki and I turned to the door to see a battered and bruised Tony Stark approaching, robots removing his rather damaged suit.
"The fun is just beginning," the god licked his lips with a mad twinkle in his eyes.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki announced casually as Tony trudged in.
"Ah," Tony put his arms behind his back, " Actually… I'm planning to threaten you." His eyes wandered to me, and his brows rose in confusion.
"Should have left your armour on for that…"
"Jacqueline? I wasn't expecting to see you for a week!" Tony sounded nervous, "Why don't you head downstairs and let us grownups do our thing?" My body didn't budge.
"Your friend the aquamancer works for me now." I could see Tony's heart drop. I don't! Tony! Don't listen to him!
"Does she?"
"I do." My body said. NO!
"I see…" Tony sounded hurt, resigned. He put on a smile, but I could see the light in his eyes die.
"Hey, reindeer games. You want a drink? I'm having one. God knows I need one after all this!"
"Stalling me won't help," Loki sneered, walking in long strides to the massive window, "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that!" He turned to Tony and smiled brightly, "What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers." The what? Loki's expression reflected what I felt. The muscles on my face twisted my expression to match the god's. Loki took careful steps towards the minibar where Tony helped himself to some richly colored booze.
"It's sort of what we call ourselves…. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes!' That sort of thing." Loki turned to smirk at me.
"I've met them." Tony scoffed.
"Takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one…. But… Let's do a headcount here!" I felt a bud of hope rise in my soul as he started to list off heroes. "Your brother, the demi-god…" Loki hissed at that, "The super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend." Loki started to walk back to me, "A man with breath-taking anger management issues…" The god chuckled, a smile on his face, "A couple of master assassins and YOU big fella… You've managed to piss off every single one of them."
Loki winked at him, "That was the plan!"
"Not a very great plan." Tony took a sip of his drink.
"Shut your mouth, Stark!" My body spat. Tony flinched, and it made my gut wrench. My hand trembled as I fought the spell.
"When they come…" Tony continued, "…And they will. They come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a Hulk!" The Hulk? THE Hulk?
"I thought the beast had wandered off…."
"You you're missing the point here. There's no throne! There's no version of this where you come out on top!" Tony moved towards Loki and my body started to stop him. Loki put his hand out and it halted in its course.
"Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it…" He raised the drink to his lips as Loki stalked towards him, his expression and stance predatory.
"How will your friends have time for me…?" Loki hissed, raising his spear casually, "When they're too busy fighting you!?" He pressed the tip of the blade to Tony's sternum, where it landed with a light metallic clang. Loki's expression faded from menacing to baffled. He tried again, with the same outcome. The metal light in his chest resisting the magic meant only to work on flesh. "…This usually works." I almost laughed out loud. I would have if not for the spell that took away my control.
"Performance issues…" Tony grimaced, "Not common… One out of five… Hurk-!" Tony gasped as Loki seized him about the throat and lifted him off the ground. Tony! I screamed. Loki threw Tony to the ground behind him, knocking the air from his lungs. My body didn't move.
"Jarvis… Any time now!" He gasped, struggling to his feet. Loki grabbed him again, this time by the jaw.
"He's planning something sir!" My voice called. It fell of deaf ears. Loki was infuriated.
"You!" He snarled, "Will all bow before me!"
Tony wasn't listening to him, "Deploy!" He called. A machine whirred into action. "Deploy!" He cried again, but this time his voice was little more than a strangled squawk. Loki threw him with great force through the window. NO!
Loki stood back as Tony's screams grew faint. I felt broken inside, tears sprung from my eyes. He turned to me with a smile that vanished the moment he saw the wetness in my eyes. My hand rose to my face to touch that tear and I stared at the slick damp on my fingers.
"What are you crying over?" Loki questioned me. I opened my mouth to answer, but a panel behind me swung open, launching some sort of metal projectile past me. I fell to the ground in surprise. Loki dove to avoid it as it rocketed past him and down toward the (hopefully) still falling Tony. Loki and I leapt to our feet and rushed towards the broken pane of glass to see.
The mechanism unfolded and caught Tony by the wrists, wrapping around him to form another fully operational Iron Man suit. The propulsion system powered on, slowing his fall to a full stop, then putting him in reverse. Loki snarled as Tony rose back to face us. Tony, stop him!
"…And there's two other people you pissed off! The first person? His name was Phil. The second, that's me." Loki raised his spear to do battle but Tony was quicker on the draw, blasting him dead center in the chest. The god slid back as Tony glanced at me.
"Sorry Jackie, This is going to hurt…" I started to take a step back as another blast hit me in the chest, singeing my clothing and making my skin burn as I dropped like a stone, my head striking the floor hard.
