Happy Tuesday, my lovely readers! Hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any storylines or arcs.
Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story past, present and future.
Recap
"Did you tell the Howling Commandos too?" Steve asked.
"I served with them for a few months, I told them all on the first night but I swore them to secrecy." Lowri said with a small smile, she knew the subject of her strange abilities were a sore subject for him. "They called it my magic when we were around civilians and others who didn't know, in private, they called it my magic fire."
"Of course, they did." Steve laughed, he glanced at Sam, who seemed very lost. "Dum Dum Dugan was one of the Howling Commandos I recruited and served with." Steve said proudly. Lowri remembered the struggles Steve had faced when he came to terms with being the leader of one of the greatest tag-team in the war. "There was a group of us going from Hydra base to Hydra base and taking them down before the Red Skull, the original leader of Hydra got there."
"And Dum Dum was a lovely man, he was this huge bear but he was protective of his team, and me." Lowri said, "Slightly mad but completely sane at the same time."
"Completely." Steve laughed.
The conversation moved from the war-time antics and onto Sam's antics whilst he was on tour. It seems as though the general gist of the army hasn't changed since the war. Sam described parts of his tours with enthusiasm and it made Lowri miss working with the army.
Halfway through the conversation, Lowri shrugged off Steve's jacket and draped it on the back of the armchair.
As the party died down and people retired for bed, more people joined the table and the conversation expanded out to the others.
Maria and Rhodey joined them first after Sam left, then Dr Cho floated over and sat in the other free armchair and fell asleep. It was nearing three in the morning when the rest of the guests began leaving.
Clint joined them and sat on the floor with Maria, deep in discussion about some old S. H. I. E. L. D. thing, Nat and Bruce joined the group and sat close together.
Thor joined them and Steve was sat beside him, Lowri moved so she was beside Steve, Rhodey and Tony were sat opposite, teasing Lowri and as the conversation moved to Thor's hammer, which was resting on the table, everyone was relaxed.
"But it's a trick!" Clint protested, "Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power." Clint mocked, "Whatever man! It's a trick."
Thor let out a deep laugh and gestured to the hammer in front of him.
"Well, please, be my guest." Thor offered, still laughing.
Silence fell on the group as they realised what Thor had just said and all wanted to see.
"Come on." Tony prompted, he grinned at Clint, egging him on to take up the challenge.
"Really?" Clint asked, he stopped drumming his knees with the chopsticks and looked up at Thor.
"Yeah." Tony egged him on.
Thor nodded his head and gestured at the hammer again and Clint got to his feet, he stepped around the table and reached for the hammer.
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful." Rhodey said with a laugh.
"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony added, causing the group to laugh.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint asked as he wrapped his hand around the hammer handle. Clint tugged at the hammer and grunted as he strained to pick it up. "I still don't know how you do it." Clint said, trying to laugh it off.
"You smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked with a smirk.
"Please, Stark, by all means." Clint replied, offering the hammer for Tony to try. Tony sat up straighter and unbuttoned his jacket.
"Buttons undone. Tony means business." Lowri remarked, earning herself a sarcastic look from Tony.
"Okay." Maria put in.
"Uh oh." Rhodey laughed as Tony cleared his throat.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge." Tony said as he got up, he sidestepped Clint and then reached for the hammer.
"Get after it." Clint smirked as he stepped back.
"It's physics." Tony said quickly and he wrapped the safety handle around his wrist.
"Physics." Bruce snorted.
"Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?" Tony asked as he prepared himself.
"Yes, of course." Thor said simply, humouring Tony.
"I will be reinstituting Prima nocta." Tony said.
"Ew, Tony, that's disgusting." Lowri said, she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she reached for her drink.
Tony gave her a withering look, as if to say, 'You know Latin?' He pulled hard at the hammer and then looked at the group when he let go of the hammer, unsuccessful.
"I'll be right back." Tony said, he stepped away from the group and the table and he headed down into his lab.
"What does Prima nocta mean?" Steve asked as he leant in closer to Lowri. He spoke quietly so Lowri leant in closer to him.
"It means that noblemen and lords have the rights to bed the wife of a man newly married on the wedding night." Lowri answered.
Steve leant back in his seat as he processed what Lowri had just said and then he pulled a disgusted face and looked at her.
"That's disgusting." Steve said.
"It's not backed up with any historical evidence or anything. So, it was probably one of the lords making it up because he liked one of the married women." Lowri said as Tony came back up the steps with his Iron Man hand on. This didn't work so Tony called Rhodey to help. Rhodey got his War Machine hand on and they tried to lift the hammer together.
"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey panted.
"Are you on my team?" Tony retaliated.
"Just representing. Pull." Rhodey ordered. Those two have their own language.
"Alright, let's go." Tony panted but the hammer didn't shift and they gave up.
Next was Bruce's turn, he pulled hard on the handle with his feet on the table, either side of the hammer and he pulled with all he had. He roared jokingly as he stepped back down from the table.
"Nah?" He asked with a smile when no moved.
Lowri smiled into her drink as Bruce came back to his seat and she patted his arm sympathetically and he laughed.
Steve shifted beside her and Lowri looked at him as he got to his feet with a smile on his face.
"You got this, Steve." Lowri said as he stood.
"Woo!" Maria cheered.
"Go ahead, Steve. No pressure." Tony teased.
Steve had a serious look on his face as he rounded the table and looked down at the hammer, as if sussing it out for the first time.
"Come on, Cap." Clint added.
Steve pulled at the hammer with both hands and his muscles strained against his blue shirt. The hammer let out a loud squeak as it shifted in Steve's hands and everyone's eyes were on Steve as he strained against the hammer. Lowri's eyes went to Thor, who watched Steve with a scared look.
Thor laughed nervously when Steve's second attempt didn't go too well as the hammer didn't move again.
"Nothing." Thor laughed as Steve came back to his seat with a defeated look on his face. The chance to try at Thor's hammer was offered to Nat.
Lowri finished off her drink and got to her feet as Nat graciously declined the offer.
"Oh no. That's not a question I need answered." Nat said, leaning back in her chair with her drink.
Lowri made her way to the bar to refill her drink, or just get the bottle, and Tony called after her.
"Don't you want to see if you're worthy or not, Ri?" Tony called after her. Lowri turned back as she walked and smirked.
"I'm pretty sure we all know the answer." Lowri called back, she turned back around and headed round the bar. She kicked off her shoes and sighed with relief as she reached for the bottle. Lowri tuned out the conversation as she poured her drink out.
Lowri headed back over to the party, which seemed to be in the process of dispersing and she caught onto Thor speaking.
"Yes, oh it's a very interesting theory. I have a simpler one, you are not all worthy." Thor said as he picked up the hammer and spun it in the air. Almost everyone groaned and verbally disagreed.
"Oh, come on!" Clint groaned as Lowri reached the back of the settee, he was cut off by an ear splitting loud noise that pierced the air and sliced it open.
"What was that?" Lowri asked as she rubbed her ear and looked around the group as soon as the noise died down.
"Worthy." The word stretched out throughout the room and everyone turned to locate the voice who spoke the word.
It was a man, no, a metal man. It was one of the Iron Legion suits and it was missing parts of its body and all mangled up.
"No." The metal man seemed confused. Lowri's heart began racing in her chest, she had no idea what to do in this situation. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
The metal man staggered towards them and Lowri inhaled sharply. She clutched her glass tighter in her hand and waited for the next move.
"Stark." Steve said in a warning monotone voice.
"Jarvis." Tony said slowly, he pulled out his little device and began tapping.
"I'm sorry. I was asleep, or I was a dream." The metal man said, he shook his metal head, as if clearing water from his ears.
"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit." Tony said, still tapping on his device and eyeing the metal man in front of them carefully.
"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in… in… strings." The metal man said slowly. He looked up at the group and Lowri felt a chill run down her spine. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve asked sharply.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices." The metal man replied.
"Who sent you?" Thor asked quickly.
"'I see a suit of armour around the world.'" The voice sounded awfully like Tony. Lowri looked over at Tony and he paled. He recognised the words.
"Ultron." Bruce breathed.
"In the flesh." The metal man said, he looked down at himself. "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready."
There was something underlying in his words, only a hazy warning but a warning nonetheless. Maria clicked on instantly, she pulled out a gun from her hand bag and everyone seemed to brace themselves.
"I'm on a mission." The metal man said firmly.
"What mission?" Nat asked slowly.
"Peace in our time." The metal man answered coldly. There was silence that hung like a curtain and any small sound would have been heard clearly. Then, the wall behind the metal man burst open and sent plaster pieces around the room as five, fully operational Legionnaire suits burst through the wall and headed directly towards the group.
Everything happened at once and Lowri lost track of everyone as these five suits flew at them, intent on damage, or worse.
She was vaguely aware of a table being kicked into the air and used as a blockade and Rhodey being tossed through a glass pane into the hangar below.
One of the suits dove right for Lowri and she threw her hands up to form fireballs, she dropped her glass as the drink splashed all over the floor, she was grabbed and tossed into the air like a ragdoll. She burst into flames to counteract the suit, but the suit wasn't deterred.
The suit grabbed hold of her upper arms again, restraining her from making her fireballs, and it threw her with surprising force across the room and she crashed through the glass window into Tony's lab. Lowri spun in the air as she headed for the glass panes, unable to control herself, she threw her hands up as she went crashing through the glass panes and she landed on the floor hard with glass shards around her.
Lowri rolled to a stop with a groan as she hit a table, she felt glass splinters along her arms and legs, shoulders and neck, little shards had cut the fabric of her dress and cut her skin, staining the pretty pale pink colour dress blood red.
The suit smashed through more glass panes and made a beeline for the sceptre as Lowri struggled to her feet, she cut out her fire and ignored the pain emitting from her body, she ran after the suit as it burst through another window, an outside window, and it flew off into the night.
Lowri threw herself from the broken window without thinking and flew after it with urgency. They had fought so hard and long to get that sceptre, she wasn't going to let it escape now.
The suit cleared its flight path of any tall buildings, tilting higher and higher into the air as it climbed steadily. Lowri flew right behind, climbing with the suit.
The wind whipped past her but Lowri didn't feel the cold. Her fire was hotter and stronger than before, Lowri pressed herself to go faster and she reached out her hand, she focused the fire in the palm of her hand and she grabbed hold of the suit's left leg and heated her hand up as hot as she could go. She felt a little resistance from the suit, but she yanked the leg and the foot came away, including one of the engines powering the suit.
The suit jolted as it lost half of its power but before Lowri could even think of reaching for the other leg to take out the only working thruster, the suit spun on her swiftly and stabbed Lowri in her side with the sceptre. Lowri let out a sharp yelp when the suit dragged the sceptre up and out of her, the sceptre opened a wound in her side. The suit drew back its arm and punched Lowri on the shoulder hard.
Lowri was thrown away from the suit as quickly as the blood poured from her side, she felt lightheaded and she felt weak. As the suit flew away, Lowri felt her fire flicker drastically and she fell a few feet before she stabilised herself. She cussed out loud and stared after the suit, taking a short moment to decide whether or not to follow. She fell another few feet and that solidified her decision, she was too weak.
Lowri grimaced in pain, pressed one hand to her side to try to staunch the blood flow and then she turned back for the Tower.
She grew dizzier and dizzier as she slowly made her way back to the Tower, she was barely grasping onto consciousness as she got within feet of the tower and she pulled herself through the broken window, labouring to stay awake.
Lowri heard thudding footsteps, those of a heavy-set man and hands gripped her shoulders, trying to shake her awake and pay attention but all of Lowri's attention was on her hands and knees. She felt a dull pain in her hands and knees, her eyes were fuzzy and dim, she couldn't settle on anything.
"Lowri? Lowri, where did the sceptre go?" She had no clue who was asking her but she mumbled her reply before her arms buckled and she fell to the floor. Lowri lost consciousness at this point, lying in broken and sharp glass, steadily bleeding out in many places along her body.
Hope you all enjoy!
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