Chapter Six: Blowing Shit Up
When she awoke from what had been the best sleep of her life, her first instinct was to reach for the body that she expected to be next to hers. Loki was gone, but his scent, though faint, still remained. He hadn't left that long ago. She had awoken to the sun rising, which meant that he had woken up even earlier.
She thought about pouting that he was gone, but they had too much to do today for her to be sulking that she woke up in bed alone. She pushed herself out of bed, taking a moment to stretch as soon as she stood up. When done stretching, she realized that she had been left a present.
A leather outfit was set out for her. The same colors were in it, but it was molded to fit her and cling to every curve. When she picked it up to inspect it further, she realized that there was a note pinned to it as well.
I promised you a set of armor. I hope it suits.
L.
She couldn't help but grin, folding up the note and putting it in a pocket of the armor. She wasn't usually a sentimental creature, but she already knew that she'd be hanging onto that note for a long time.
She first slid on the black undergarment, then slowly helping herself into green leather bodice, thankful that the golden snaps were in the front rather than the back, or she wouldn't be able to put herself into it alone. If it weren't for the black lace up boots that were sitting next to the armor, it would have left her legs exposed, but she had complained before that she didn't like anything getting in the way of her legs, which made her smile that maybe he had remembered that.
Ye gods, she was SUCH a little girl! This was not the time to get to thinking about things like that. Too many emotions were just going to cause problems today. She wasn't even worried about herself. She didn't want anything to happen to Loki because she was distracted and being an idiot.
When she heard someone come into the room, she was grateful that she had gotten dressed. She smiled when she turned and saw that it was Loki. "Come on. I think we're about to have company soon," he said to her, offering her his hand. She slipped her hand into his and he led her out of the room. "Do you like your armor?" he asked her as they walked toward what appeared to be a bar area.
"It's perfect," she said to him with a smile. She heard what sounded like a minor explosion outside, turning to look just as Tony Stark was landing on the building, the beat up armor that he was wearing being pulled away from him to reveal the human underneath.
Phoenix tilted her head at him as Stark walked inside, as if...well, he owned the place, which she supposed that he at least thought he still did. He headed straight for the bar, reaching for alcohol to presumably pour himself a drink.
"Not sure if right now is the time for a drink, Stark," she remarked to him, more just curious than anything else as she watched him. She personally had no doubt about who would win today. So now, she was studying him as if he were a particularly fascinating pet.
"It's always time for a drink," Stark replied with a grin, finishing pouring his own glass. She assumed that it was something expensive, as she couldn't imagine the billionaire Tony Stark drinking anything cheap.
"Tell me, have you arrived to appeal to our humanity?" Loki asked Stark.
"Considering neither of you are much in the way of human, I don't think that will work," Stark said, taking a sip of his drink. "I'm actually planning on threatening you."
"Probably should have kept on your armor for that one," Phoenix told him, already feeling the urge to pounce, but, as Loki seemed almost relaxed right now, she was doing her best to control herself as well.
"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage," Stark said with what sounded like a verbal shrug. He looked up at Loki. "And you've got the blue stick of destiny." He then looked at her. "And you've got a whole new wardrobe. Nice legs, by the way." She rolled her eyes even as she saw Loki stiffen, his hand tightening around his scepter. "Would either of you like a drink?"
"Keep looking at my legs and I'll strangle you with your own intestines," she told Stark, narrowing her eyes at him.
It pleased her to see Stark freeze for a moment when she threatened him, trying to hide his discomfort behind taking another sip of his drink. "You two make a cute couple, by the way. It's too bad that you're both shit house crazy."
"Stalling us won't change anything," Loki said, finding a way to get back to the matter at hand.
"No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having a few," Stark told them. She was pretty sure that the man was a raging alcoholic. The few times she had seen him before all of this started (in public places that S.H.I.E.L.D. had assigned her to watch him from afar), he had always reeked of drink.
"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" Loki asked him. Loki was right about one thing: Stark was stalling right now. She supposed that the rest of his friends would be here shortly. The portal was being open as they chatted, so anything he had to say was just letting more of them get ready to come through.
"The Avengers." Both Loki and Phoenix looked at each other in mild amusement when Stark said that. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."
"Yes, I've met them," Loki said. What she knew about them just bored her, mostly.
"Yeah, takes us awhile to get any traction, I'll give you that one." Almost as if this reveal of a weakness was nothing to Stark. "But, let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod." With the sneer that crossed Loki's lips, she was amazed that he didn't punch Stark in his face for mentioned Thor. "A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins." Stark stopped, taking another sip of his drink as Loki walked to the window to watch the portal opener that Selvig had created. It was then that, while Stark thought they were BOTH distracted, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Stark was snapping on bracelets. They must have something to do with his suit of armor.
"And you two crazy kids, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
She rolled her eyes. "Look at me, I'm shaking in my new boots," she said, waggling a foot at him for a moment. "That was the plan, Stark."
"Not a great plan," Stark replied. He finished his drink, but held onto the glass for a moment. "When they come," he stopped for a dramatic pause, "and they will, they'll come for you," he said, pointing to the both of them.
Loki grinning and turned back toward Stark, walking closer while still holding his scepter. "We have an army," he said.
"We have a Hulk," Stark retorted.
"I thought that the beast had run off," Loki said to him. Now the two men were only about a foot apart.
Stark shook his head. "You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you two come out on top. 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 damned well sure we'll avenge it."
She smirked. "Pretty speech," she said. She watched as Loki took a step closer. "You're not quite the wordsmith you think you are, though. He's the one who's the god of lies, after all." She pointed to Loki, who was grinning as well.
"Besides," Loki remarked. "How will your friends have time for all of this avenging, when they're fighting you?" He tapped the scepter to Stark's chest. Instead of the predictable turning of his will, though, she heard an audible 'clinking' sound.
Stark let out a nervous laugh, seemingly a little shocked himself that it didn't work. "Guess it's true. I don't have a heart." He looked up over Loki's shoulder at her. "Or does he have performance problems?"
She snarled, but Loki had her beat, grabbing Stark by the throat and throwing him across the room. "JARVIS, any time now," Stark called out before Loki stalked over and grabbed him by his throat again.
"You will fall," Loki sneered, this time throwing the human through his window, glass flying everywhere as the mortal flew. Another of his suits flew out the window after him, likely having to do with the bracelets as well.
Too soon, Stark was flying back up, this time in his suit. "There's someone else you pissed off as well," Stark said. "His name is Phil." He sent one of his own energy blasts into the room, Loki grabbing her and pulling her out of the way of the direct blast.
As plaster fell around them, they both looked out the window, watching as Stark flew off to deal with the now coming army that was starting to filter out of the portal that Selvig had opened. "I really hate that man," she snarled, shaking her head to get the plaster out of her hair.
"Don't worry," Loki said, tilting her chin up at him with his hand. "He'll fall, just like the rest."
Despite the situation, she was about to press her lips against his when she heard a roar from outside, sounding like it came from the blond haired brother. Thor. "Your brother has miserable timing," she grumbled.
"One of his calling cards," Loki agreed, standing to his feet and pulling her up with him. The two of them walked outside, seeing the 'mighty' Thor standing there, hammer in hand again.
"Loki!" Thor called out. "Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"
She could see the Chitauri already flying out and around on their little vehicles. She had an idea.
"You can't!" Loki replied to his brother. "There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"
"So be it," Thor snapped.
"You have this, right?" she asked Loki. When he nodded, she smiled. "Good. I'm going to go and blow some shit up." She ran up to the side of the ledge, jumping off and landing on one of the vehicles. "Go find something to kill!" she shouted to the driver, throwing him off so that she could take the helm. This thing was hers now.
It took her a few minutes truly to get the hang of it. Thankfully, the issue of balance and turning wasn't too far off from a motorcycle. When she found a firing mechanism that allowed for her to fire off blasts of energy similar to what Loki fired out of his scepter, she used them to her full advantage, firing off several blasts at any nearby buildings other than Stark Towers. She barely even looked to see what she was firing at around the city. She just cackled madly when she saw things explode. She hadn't felt so alive in so long, possibly even ever. This was what she was meant for. It was wonderful to feel some semblance of being where she was supposed to be.
As she had forgotten to tie back her hair, it flew in the wind as she flew this contraption around. She wondered if Loki could see her, dark brown hair flying while she cackled madly at every little thing that exploded around her. She must have been a sight.
She flew back by Stark Tower just in time to catch another snippet of conversation between him and his brother. "Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor shouted to Loki. Thor seemed completely oblivious to her being so close, but Loki had noticed her. She hovered quietly for a moment, tilting her head to watch.
"It's too late," Loki told him, his voice lowered. "It's too late to stop it."
"No," Thor replied. "We can, together."
Smirking, Phoenix fired off a shot just past Thor to distract him. While he was looking away, Loki jammed a knife in his gut. "Sentiment," he snarled to Thor, pushing away from him and jumping on the craft with her. As she took off, she then noticed that he no longer had the scepter, but she still had plenty of firepower left in this thing, so no worries.
She flew off with him, listening as he directed her now. Now her mayhem wasn't random, instead directed directly toward the 'Avengers,' mainly in an effort to keep them distracted from trying to find a way to close the portal, making them have to move around and lose focus, occasionally getting attacked by the army that was still flowing down from the portal.
There had been an enjoying time of following Loki's orders, but it was short lived. She heard something flying through the air, something unfamiliar, and turned just in time to watch Loki catch an arrow in the air that had been aimed for his eye.
"Is that Barton's?" she asked. "Because usually his…"
She didn't get to finish, as the arrow tip exploded, catching the vehicle on fire and causing her to crash back into Stark Tower.