I stood next to Thor as he stopped, the sound of my heart facing seeming to fill up the whole room as for moments no-one spoke. The scrutiny of the Odin and Frigga made me feel extremely uncomfortable, the clothes I was wearing seeming like a bad idea now. I mean surely there was at least one Asgardian who was willing to lend me clothes- or was my appearance with Loki in Jotunheim enough to make them believe I was an ally of his?
"Thor had told me of what occurred upon his arrival, and Heimdall before that," began Odin, his voice quiet yet powerful. "But I would like to know why you were with him in the first place."
"He took me with him when the Chitauri showed up at my house," I replied, hoping my voice hadn't faltered.
Thor seemed alarmed, but Odin less so and more annoyed for my edited version of events.
"What was Loki doing in your… house in the first place?" he asked, Thor now also looking over at me curiously.
I took a deep breath before starting; "I went home to find that he was in my house, and when I asked him why he was there he said because it was somewhere Heimdall's gaze could not reach."
Odin was once again annoyed, either that or he had to try really hard to think, and I was just grateful I wasn't a babbler. Imagine that, me just talking and talking-I'd have been killed a long time ago.
"Explain what occurred between the two of you," he said.
So I gave him the run of events, trying to get the image of topless Loki out of my head- sure he wasn't as cut as Thor but he was still hot. Didn't mean I'd forgive him for stabbing (again!) though, I wasn't that shallow. I tried hard to keep my voice level and not let it show that I was freaking out on the inside.
When I had finished there was a long silence, during which I could tell Thor wanted to bombard me with questions about Loki. I was half-surprised that he didn't, given his nature but was grateful nonetheless.
"You would help your enemy?"
I faltered for a moment, unsure about how he wanted me to answer it, then decided to speak my mind.
"Defeating your enemy isn't just about beating them in battle," I replied.
It was the first time he had seemed to… well, not like, but respect my answer, nodding ever so slightly.
"You believe you can turn Loki away from his path of destruction?"
No, I didn't. Because at the end of the day Loki had free will and he wasn't necessarily going to listen to me- or anyone- about turning his life around. The only one who could turn him away from that path was himself.
"I want to give him reason to."
Call me crazy, but when things got this extreme then I didn't believe that punishment was always the answer- Loki was the way he was because he felt inferior to Thor and had grown up to find out he was the monster that all his supposed people feared. In his case I believed he should be shown that he could be accepted if he chose to come back, that nobody looked down on him for being a frost giant.
"You speak wise, for a mortal," commented Odin, and I figured that was as much as compliment I was going to get out of the guy. "But do you not believe that it is these thoughts which caused him to go to you above all others? Do you not think that Loki is using you because of these sentiments?"
He had a point, and it wasn't like I hadn't thought about it.
"It doesn't mean I shouldn't try."
I didn't believe that Loki was going to turn from bad to good, but I believed there was good in him and refused to give up in trying. It wasn't in my nature to try for a little bit and then give up on someone because it didn't work- that just wasn't me at all.
Well, some times it was.
"Very well then, we shall send you to Midgard now," he said, then to clear it up added; "Our own Midgard."
Wait, that was it? He only wanted to see me to ask why I hadn't kicked the butt of his adopted son? Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be.
"I shall go with her to make sure she is looked after," said Thor, speaking up for the first time and I thought for a moment that Odin was going to tell him no and then some argument broke out. But as it was Odin just nodded and did whatever he was doing that would presumably send us to Midgard- I mean Earth.
Whatever he was doing was different to the Tesseract because instead of blue light rushing past me and a bizarre rushing feeling, it felt almost like falling at incredible speeds with the world blurring before me only to reorganise itself into a new view entirely as we arrived almost in an instant.
Still not fast enough for me.
"Let's not do that again," I said to Thor, though I wasn't sure if he heard me.
Thunder boomed loudly in the distance, rain shooting down from the sky in torrents and battering everything it could reach. Lightning flashed, the wind howled and I swear to god I was going to be blown off whatever it was I was standing on and blown halfway around the world.
It was like that moment in a movie when you have that ominous and then suddenly some random person turns up at your house who's possibly a psycho killer or some equally threatening… hand on a minute.
"We must get inside!" Thor said loudly, making sure I could hear him and pointing me along the walkway we were standing on.
I practically ran along it, hoping I didn't slip as I looked over the edge to see a long drop down and realised I was on the top of some building. But glass doors soon revealed themselves and an amused person standing behind them, practically laughing at us.
Of course it would be Stark tower I would land on.
Which meant I didn't have to ask nicely to go in, so I walked straight into the room and resisted the urge to punch Tony in his smirking face.
"You look a bit wet," he said.
I bet I looked like the Grudge woman.
"Very observant of you," I said sarcastically. "Anything else you'd like to point out, Captain Obvious?"
"I missed you too, Crazy Chick," he said, turning to Thor as he came in. "So what's with the delivery?"
Thor proceeded to tell him what happened, whilst I just stood there shivering and dripping water all over the place.
"Well can it be noted I will not be putting nukes through portals anytime soon," Tony said. "I tried Caps whole way of saving the world and decided I don't very much like it- mainly because I could have died."
"I do not think we need fear the Chitauri," Thor said in reply. "They seem more focused in finding Loki than attacking Earth again."
"That's because we kicked their asses and now they know better," Tony commented.
"I don't recall bad guys giving up because you 'kicked their asses'," I pointed out. "They may just be regrouping."
"Way to think on the bright side of things." Tony went over to his bar and got himself another drink. "Can I offer either of you anything?"
"I must return to Asgard," declined Thor. "I can trust you to look after Miss Attwater can I not?"
"Sure- we're like best friends me and Crazy Chick," he replied to the god, grinning as I glared at him. "See? We get along so well."
"Then I will leave you," he said, offering his archaic farewells before going back outside and disappearing in a flash of lightning from the landing platform.
"Does Fury know you're back?" asked Tony, handing me a Malibu and Coke. I shook my head and he grinned once again. "Well then, I suppose I should let him know."
I had a feeling that Tony was up to something, either that or he had got his ass chewed out by Fury and was in the mood to prove him wrong- as he did with Cap.
Either way I was not looking forward to meeting Fury again.