Here's the next chapter! Sorry I waited so long. I was mostly waiting on reviews for this fic and The Force of Mischief. I was trying to figure out if I should end The Force of Mischief or not, and I wasn't getting much feedback. So I love how a lot of you tried to guess who sent the transmission. Your curiosity will now be quenched! Here it goes!
laureas: Hmm…I didn't think of that. You always come up with such good ideas/points! If (when?) the Jedi come in, they'll definitely be curious about "the other guy." I tried to make the votes realistic, but I also wanted a majority in favor of Loki, so I had to stretch it a little bit. Hope it was real enough anyway!
AaylaKit: Do not be ashamed of being called a fangirl. I am a Loki fangirl. Either way, as far as your guess goes…keep reading. ;)
Ptroxsora: Awesome! My best friend is really into Kingdom Hearts, though I know very little about it.
Pergjithshme: Let it be known that one of your guesses is correct. You'll find out which one soon enough.
The Avengers stared uncertainly at the device, though Loki was the only one brave enough to stand near it. "Stark? Considering that this is your building—and you are best at this type of thing—I suggest you come over here and see if you can pick up this transmission."
"Why don't you do it?" Tony asked.
"I am of Asgard. Our technology is different from yours," Loki pointed out. He smirked. "Don't tell me that you are afraid?"
Tony jumped to his feet a little too quickly. "Out of the way, princess." Loki did not look like he appreciated the nickname. Tony didn't care. He lightly pushed Loki out of the way and started working on the device, trying to hack into the communication system. "Here—I think I can retrieve it," he said, concentrating. "Someone is trying to contact us right now. I'm pretty sure I can—got it!"
"Can anyone…ear…me…?" a voice of static asked.
"You're up, Loki!" Tony said, smirking.
Loki rolled his eyes. "You are a child, Stark." He leaned closer to the device. "Repeat."
"Can anyone hear me? This is Anakin Skywalker. State your identity."
Fury strolled up and pushed Loki away. Loki made a face. "Why all the shoving? You both could have asked me politely to move and I would have done so."
Fury ignored him. "Listen to me. My name is—"
"Mace?" the voice, Anakin, demanded. "Where are you?"
Tony burst out laughing. "What did he just call you?"
Fury lifted a hand. "Enough, Stark." He returned to conversing with Anakin. "You have the identity wrong. I am Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D and I would like to know who is speaking."
"Stop joking with me, Mace," Anakin said. "Seriously, what's going on? I caught a suspicious transmission from that source. It involved Separatists, though I could not catch the conversation in time."
"My name is not Mace," Fury growled, getting irritated.
"Let me try!" Tony said eagerly, leaning closer so that Anakin could hear him. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Let's start over. You've reached Stark Tower, current residence of the Avengers. We're not in right now, as we are trying to put an end to a plot to destroy our world, so please leave a message."
"Huh?" Anakin sounded confused.
"Out of the way," Natasha said. She bumped into Loki on the way over. She glared at him and he grimaced. "We have reason to believe," she began, "that a hostile transmission was exchanged last night between a sinister man that intends to take over our world."
Barton joined in. "Do you know anything about a Count Dooku?" he asked.
There was silence on the other end for several moments. Then, Anakin said sharply, "What planet are you from? What do you know about Dooku's whereabouts?"
"He infiltrated my tower and overrode my computer system," Tony complained. "He also locked me in a closet, and—"
"He hit me with a frying pan," Loki interjected, rubbing his face.
"Wow. Sounds like you had quite an ordeal." There was laughter. "How many of you are there? I'm hearing lots of different voices," Anakin said.
"There are eight," Steve said.
"We are all teaming up to put an end to Dooku's attempted reign," Banner added.
"Right. Well, go ahead and tell me everything that happened last night. Whatever you can tell me could be very helpful to my operation as well as yours," Anakin told them. "Let me get my partner in here. I'm sure he'd be very interested to hear about what Dooku's been doing. We haven't had a trace of his whereabouts in a long time." There was a long pause. The Avengers waited in silence for the voices to return. "Okay, I'm back," Anakin said. "I've got Obi-Wan Kenobi with me. Say hi to the people, Obi-Wan!"
"Hello there," a new voice, Obi-Wan, said.
"All right, brother," Thor said. "Tell them what happened." He spoke a little louder for the two strangers to hear. "My brother, Loki, will tell you everything that occurred. He was the core witness."
Loki nodded and explained everything. He ended by stating who they were and what they were trying to do. "We call ourselves the Avengers," he said, tentative with the word we. "Anything you can tell us about him would be much appreciated."
There was a pause, as if Anakin and Obi-Wan were taking this all in. Finally, Obi-Wan spoke. "We are Jedi, keepers of the peace. Currently, the Republic is at war with a group called the Separatists, which is headed by Count Dooku. We apologize for the war spreading to your planet. We do not wish to harm developing systems. Judging by your description, you are an uncharted planet."
"If you are at war, then you must have an army," Steve said, sounding eager.
"Yup, we've got one," Anakin said, sounding proud. "They're clone troopers, designed with intelligent minds fit for combat and strategy. Every single one of them was trained to follow orders without question, yet think on their feet at the same time. Our army is far superior to Dooku's mindless droids."
"Great," Tony said. "So when can you get here?"
"Excuse me?" Obi-Wan sounded surprised.
"You're going to assist us, right?" Natasha asked. "You said yourself that you need to find Count Dooku. Well, Count Dooku is here."
"With an army, might I add," Barton said.
There was another pause. At last, Anakin said, "Maybe we could take this up with the Jedi Council. Don't give me that look, Obi-Wan. We've got to help them! They obviously can't take on the droids alone."
"You have not met my brother," Loki mused. Thor laughed and punched him lightly in the arm.
"What are your abilities, then?" Anakin asked. "We need to get an idea of who you are and how well you can defend yourselves."
"How about we do a headcount?" Tony suggested, thinking of the time that he had done the same thing when addressing Loki not too long ago.
"How about those two come here first and see us for themselves?" Natasha suggested. "If they think they can help us, they could bring the army."
"That sounds fair," Anakin said. "What do you say, Obi-Wan?"
"I don't like the idea of being away from the war, but if it means that we'll be closer to Dooku…"
"It's settled, then. We'll be right over. Give us your coordinates and we'll find you."
Time passed. The Avengers weren't entirely sure how to pass the time until the Jedi arrived. Fury kept himself pretty busy. He came and went frequently so that he could check on the agents that were trying to track Dooku. Banner and Tony worked in the lab, while Barton and Natasha chatted quietly. Steve sat in silence, listening to Thor and Loki discuss Asgardian matters.
"You know what your father will do to me when we return," Loki said. "Need I remind you that I am a prisoner there that has yet to face the trial? He is probably furious right now and would come here to get me if he could."
"I will not let anything bad happen to you, brother," Thor said stubbornly.
"But what about the Chitauri? Even if you manage to convince the All-Father to grant me amnesty, there is no consoling those that recruited me to do their bidding. They were planning to rule the universe with the power of the Tesseract. They warned me that if I failed…" He trailed off, trembling at the memory.
"Brother, you're shaking." Thor put a hand on Loki's arm. "What did they threaten you with?" he prompted.
"I—They—I'm not sure. They did not specify." If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain. "I'm going to put you all in danger," he realized aloud, drawing in a sharp breath. "I need to leave. I need to go far away…" He pulled himself to his feet. "I must go as far away from all of you as I possibly can."
"No, Loki!" Thor said, jumping up as well. The sudden movement of the Asgardian brothers had drawn the attention of the other Avengers. "We will protect you, I promise. Everyone in this building is willing to stand in your defense." Loki snorted. "All right, maybe not. But you are part of this team now. We need you."
Before Loki could reply, JARVIS interrupted. "Sir, there are visitors that are trying to gain entry. Should they be admitted?"
"That depends," Tony said. "Do they have pizza?"
"No time for games, Stark," Fury said. "It could either be Dooku or our Jedi guests. Let's have a visual."
"Give us a visual, JARVIS," Tony said, smirking. "JARVIS only answers to me. So be nice to me from now on."
A screen revealed two men standing alone in robes and tunics. There was a little droid-type thing next to them, but it did not look threatening. Also, the group noted the presence of a smaller figure wearing a hood over her head. They couldn't identify what or who she was. "Could we come in, please?" one of them said. The voice distinctly resembled Anakin's. "We've gotten some strange stares, so we'd like to get out of the environment here."
"Let them in," Tony ordered.
Before long, the Avengers were graced by the presence of three Jedi and a droid. The newcomers bowed. Thor and Loki subconsciously placed their fists over their hearts. Steve saluted, the agents nodded in greeting, Banner waved awkwardly, and Tony waved not-so-awkwardly. Fury went straight to business. "You are Anakin and Obi-Wan?" he asked.
"Yep," Anakin said. "Sup?"
"Greetings," Obi-Wan said a bit more politely. "So you are the Avengers. Let's all sit down and discuss this war."
"Good idea. Some drinks would be nice," Tony said. "Loki!"
Loki made a face. "Really, Stark? Are you asking to be thrown out a window again? Because that would be all too easy for me."
It was Tony's turn to make face. "Are you trying to get yourself thrown out of the group?"
"No. Threatening," Loki said, imitating the tone that Tony had used when he had been "threatening" the god a while back.
"Are we going to discuss this or what?" Tony asked, redirecting the conversation.
Anakin and Obi-Wan chuckled. "No, I'm enjoying this," the former said.
"Too bad," Fury said.
"You seriously resemble Mace. With an eyepatch," Anakin said.
Fury's frown deepened. "We need to come up with a strategy," he began. "I was thinking—"
"Hold the phone," Tony said. "We haven't even gotten to know each other yet! Shouldn't we figure out a thing or two about who we're fighting with? I mean, the Avengers are pretty close. But we don't know anything about these two, nor do they know who we are and what we fight for. What do you say, gang? Let's have some group bonding time."
"That was very inspiring, Stark," Natasha said dryly.
"He has a point, though," Steve said, coming to Tony's defense. "As a soldier, I know how important it is to know who you have by your side. Trust is key in battle."
"Okay, I'll start," Anakin said. "Hey guys, I'm Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight. This is my counterpart and former mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and my apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. You already know that we're fighting a war that has spread a little too far for our liking. Maybe, once we know a little more about you, we can determine if the Council will send aid to your planet."
"All right, let's do that headcount I was talking about earlier," Tony said. "You've got Thor, the god of thunder. He can basically summon thunder and lightning with the fancy hammer of his."
Thor flipped Mjolnir in his hand. "Would you like me to demonstrate?" he asked.
Loki shook his head. "Don't," he murmured. "I'm sure they believe you," he added quickly.
Thor shrugged and nodded for Tony to continue. "Oooooookay, I guess I'm the designated introducer here. There's the Super Soldier, Captain America, AKA Steve Rogers. Then there's a pair of master assassins, one of which is a pro with a bow."
Loki winced. "I've had my fair share of his ability, thank you," he said, referring to the arrow that had exploded him to his doom with the Hulk.
"Right. Mr. Personality over here is Loki, god of mischief. He's got wicked magical skills and recently joined our team. I won't get into the how's and why's of it. He can tell you himself later. Basically, he knows the strategies of someone who wants to take over the Earth, considering he tried to do it once. Moving on," he added when Obi-Wan and Anakin turned shocked expressions on Loki. "Last, but not least, we've got the big guy. Bruce Banner here is too humble to admit it, but he's the heart of the Avengers Initiative. He's super smart and he can turn into a gigantic green rage monster whenever he feels like it."
Banner shook his head. "It's unstable. It's not as great as he makes it out to be."
"Unstable or not, that thing almost killed me," Loki said stiffly.
"What about you?" Anakin asked. "Any special powers?"
"I am the 'genius billionaire playboy philanthropist' that designed a suit of armor that can do pretty much anything you want it to. Hopefully, you'll get to see a demonstration of all of our powers. For now, you'll just have to take my word for it."
Anakin nodded and turned toward the device that the Avengers had used to speak to the Jedi. "Obi-Wan and I will contact the Jedi Council immediately."
AaylaKit nailed it, pretty much. What do you guys think? Would it be epic or what if Mace and Fury met? Just saying. REVIEW! Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Star Wars, nor do I own any of the quotes that incidentally made their way into this chapter.