An Instance Of Fire
Chapter One
Lokie having a bodyguard amused Sif to no end as she watched the Jotun princess stalk out of the meeting room with a man looming in her wake. Oh, but little Lokie still managed to pull off her ethereal beauty even as she tossed her hair and threw angry curses at her guard, who looked entranced by her. It would break his heart to know Lokie preferred the touch of a woman, and Sif had been actively courting her since Thora had joined the Avengers. She had asked Odin to free her to the mortal realm so she could court his adopted daughter, and he said yes. To her, the mistakes her princess had made were to be learned from, not condemned and used against her. Lokie was too special, too beautiful, and too unique to be shunned and forgotten.
Sif stepped away from the wall she had been leaning against and called out to the woman she was smitten with. When Lokie whirled around to face her, she saw the princess's brow furrow. Not surprising. Sif normally dressed in armor to signify her position as a warrior of Asgard, but Thora insisted she dress like a human in Midgard. So, instead of her armor, she wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a black t-shirt. But Lokie still favored gowns, just Midgard styled now, and they clung to her slender frame and cupped her curves in a way Sif appreciated.
"How are you on this lovely day?" she asked the princess, taking Lokie's hand and gently kissing her knuckles.
The delicate flush that bloomed across Lokie's cheeks made her smile softly in return. "I am as well as I can be under a circumstance as ridiculous as this, but it cannot be helped. I did not expect to see you here."
"I would have called," Sif admitted as she dropped Lokie's hand to wrap her arm around the princess's slender waist, "but Darcy said it is more romantic to simply appear and surprise you, and so I thought I would. Did the bodyguard assignment go as expected?"
"Naturally. Thora is under the impression the woman assigned to protect her is just a liability, and Coulson is with Hawkeye," Lokie said, glancing at the man behind her.
Looking sobered and professional, the man smiled wistfully. "Agent Ramsey Glass, ma'am. I've worked as a bodyguard before, and I assure you I will do anything to protect your, uh, girlfriend."
Sif slanted a scowl at him, and he wisely chose to take a couple of steps in the reverse direction. Satisfied, she turned back to Lokie and stole a kiss from slightly parted lips, muffling Lokie's yelp with ease. She loved the soft texture of her beloved's lips against hers and the way Lokie fearlessly handed over the reins of control. When she allowed her hands to drop to Lokie's bottom, the squeak of shock her darling released made her smile into the kiss. It was another tip she had learned from Darcy, a Midgard tactic to inspire passion in her princess. She wanted to make Lokie fall for her with gentle words and soft kisses, but in the meantime, she did enjoy the caresses she snuck.
"Glad to know you're not embarrassed to grope me in public despite knowing Heimdall is telling Father's everything you do to me," Lokie mumbled, deep green eyes dazed even as she smiled lazily. "Can we leave before the others attempt to join us? I would like to spend time with you, but not with my sister hanging off of us."
"As you wish, milady. But perhaps you should change into something a bit more suitable for the mortal outdoors," Sif suggested.
Lokie scoffed but nodded, and Sif shifted to keep an arm around her love's waist as they entered the elevator. Though the beautiful gown was perfect on the princess's body, it was too nice and too dramatic for the casual dress of city life. It was the same reason Sif neglected to don her armor each morning. On the few occasions she had been armored in public, she had drawn unwanted attention to herself and frightened mortals who believed she had a mental disorder. She wore clothes Darcy had helped her pick out at a large store, and no one suspected she was anything but another human. Dressing in mortal clothes made it possible to be invisible, which is why she did it. That, and Darcy had hidden her armor.
The bunk room at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base was always in disarray, and it did not surprise Sif to find it in chaos once again. She eyes the pieces of clothing on the floor and tried to guess which Avenger each belonged to while Lokie changed in the bathroom.
Draped over the footboard of one bunk was a pink slip trimmed with lace, most likely Toni's. The t-shirt colored a menagerie of greens known as camouflage had to belong to Stephanie. Black leather pants were the favored clothing of Natasha, and the pretty yet plain lilac robe could be Brie's. But the one she as confused by was a short crimson nightgown trimmed with black lace laid out carefully on a bunk across the room. Most of the Avengers were less than feminine, and other than Miss Stark, the rest of them did not wear satins and lace.
"Admiring my sister's wardrobe?" Lokie asked, suddenly at Sif's side and running a hand down the slick satin. At Sif's startled look, the Jotun laughed and straightened. "Jane and Darcy are adamant in attempting to glamorize the others. Are these clothes more to your liking, or must I change again?"
"I like them," Glass chimed in.
Sif did as well, from the skintight jeans to the low-cut green sweater to the delicate black heels. It was hard not to notice how lovely the princess was even in normal clothes, and the warrior was proud to lay claim to her. Back in Asgard, men had swarmed Lokie for her quiet beauty, silver tongue, and her sharp mind, but she had brushed them away carelessly. Odin had worried his youngest planned on not choosing a partner, but his concern had been for naught. Lokie simply had saved her affection because when Sif began to pursue her, she had opened like a flower. Knowing she was the only one who could charm the Frost Giantess stroked Sif's ego in a way no amount of victories in battle or commendations from the Allfather could.
She drew Lokie closer and kissed her briefly, enjoying the way her Jotun princess relaxed against her. "As always, you have managed to astound me in your beauty. Let us go enjoy the afternoon together."
They scarcely had a chance to move toward the door when it burst open and the Avengers filtered in followed by bodyguards. Deciding to take advantage of the situation, Sif stole up to Lokie's bunk and waited for the princess to materialize beside her, which Lokie did a moment later. Wisely, Glass stayed on the ground.
"So, you're telling us Toni's bodyguard time travels," Brie said as she plucked her robe off of the floor, tone awed. "And she was accurate enough to be right where you landed, and then she brought you here? Do you know how she did it or how it's changed the present? Have there been any adverse effects to the journey? Did it make you nauseous?"
The bronze-skinned man at Stephanie's side laughed and sat down on the captain's bed. "Eric time travels, yes, and does so quite often. From what I understand, she eats junk food and downs Coke and coffee until it makes her shake. Then she jumps, which is what she calls it. To bring me back, she got hammered. And since I died, or I was supposed to, and no one found my body, there are no major changes. No adverse effects. No nausea. Just the unpleasant sensations of being in a new place I know nothing about. But I got Steph to help me figure out what I don't get."
"Of course. Just tell me what you want to know," Stephanie said, and Sif could have been wrong, but she thought she saw the captain's fair skin flush. Had Captain America met her match?
"Fascinating," Brie said as she sat down and waved her bodyguard, a stunning young man in a pair of camouflage pants, to join her. A young man who looked thrilled to do so, gazing at the doctor as if she was a goddess. "I would love to find time to interview her about the effects of time travel on her body. Think of what we could do if we could travel in time. The possibilities are endless. The amounts of research alone are phenomenal. I'm sure Toni would love the chance to observe ancient industrial techniques, and—"
Clarissa snorted loudly and leaned back into the arms of her guard, Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Leave the girl alone. You think she wants to be reminded she's a freak? She probably just wants a nice, quiet life and a steady paycheck. Take a breath and try to enjoy the hot guy hired to take care of your every need."
"And she'll find a way to avoid everything considering she's been on the run from us for the last ten years. Would still be if we hadn't made it clear she's an employee of Antonia Stark, not us," Coulson added as she sat down, Clarissa settling on his lap with a broad smile.
Sif made a mental note to speak to the Erica they were speaking about if fate crossed their paths. Until then, she hoped Stark did not put the poor woman through the ringer. No one deserved that.