Chapter 4: Maybe she's not that bad after all
Alexis got back at about midnight. She'd been roof jumping; she loved it because it made her feel like she was flying. She'd always wanted to fly, to be free, to be weightless. As she walked in through the main doors of the tower a thought ran through her mind, but it wasn't hers. What are we going to do? She needs someone to help her...Alexis smiled. Stark, she concluded. She followed the train of thought down to his lab, and lent against the door frame. Stark was tweaking one of his cars, and had half of his body underneath the undercarriage.
"You don't have to help me. I'll sort myself out." Stark sat up suddenly when he heard her, banging his head on the undercarriage of the car. Alexis started laughing, a musical sound rarely heard by anyone other than Luke.
"So you can read thoughts then?" Stark asked while rubbing his head.
"Sometimes, depends on whether I'm listening or if the person is thinking so loudly that they project it." Alexis said as she walked into the lab, and started to fiddle with things on Stark's desk. "So what are you planning to do? Lock me in an asylum? Good luck with that. I'm extremely hard to contain when I want to escape"
"So I gathered. I'm not planning on doing anything. All I'm going to do is say that if you ever want to talk to someone, I'm here. I've been held captive, and I know what it's like. I still get nightmares over it. We may seem untrustworthy, but the only reason Barton was in the ventilation shafts was because that's all he does all day. He was worried about Luke. I think he sees himself in him because he was around Luke's age when he joined SHIELD. You'll probably hate me for saying this, but I see myself in you. I never really saw my parents, and I know what it's like to hate being alone. You're clever, and from the sounds of it you have a lot of potential. Have you ever considered testing your powers?" Of course it would be Stark who would question the limitations of her powers, Alexis thought. She was slightly suspicious about how he knew all these things about her, but let it pass. Maybe it was good that someone knew.
"Not really, I haven't had the equipment or the time. I've been too busy watching my back. Life does that sometimes."
"Would you like to though? If we could find out the full extent of your powers, it means that we'll be able to plan attacks better." Stark grabbed an ice pack from a freezer and pressed it against his head, sighing in relief.
"So basically you want me to be a lab rat for your galaxy-wide cry that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war? No thanks." Stark widened his eyes slightly as he recognised the warning. Alexis began to walk out of the lab; her suspicions had been confirmed that all SHIELD were trying to do were turn her powers into weapons, when Stark called out to her.
"Alexis, wait. What do you know about Loki?" She stopped and turned around, one eyebrow raised in amusement.
"More than you'd think. My parents..." She contemplated explaining everything to Stark. He was very similar to her, she had to admit, and it would be nice to have someone on the team who understood other than Luke. "I have suspicions that they did deals with the Jotunn. I have a theory explaining why Luke and I have powers. Once, when I was about 5, I snuck downstairs and in my living room was my parents and a man who definitely wasn't human; he was blue for God's sake. They were thanking him for something but I don't know what. The next day I went to the library and got every book I could on mythology and read them. I found out about them in a book of Norse mythology. That's how I know about Loki. He... fascinates me. He has magic, and it sounds so much like mine." Alexis said, while looking at the floor. Talking about her past hurt, but she felt that she could trust the man who wrapped himself in iron. They both wore suits of armour; only his was physical while hers was mental. She edged cautiously back into the room, where Stark was sat, spinning around on a chair while thinking.
"Well, Loki hates us. About a year ago, he tried to destroy New York." Alexis snorted.
"Just because I've been on the run doesn't mean I don't know what's going on the in world." She said, amused.
Stark rolled his eyes. "He still wants world domination, and we need to stop him. He also wants revenge. Thor's currently in Asgard trying to find a way but I think that you and Luke are the solution, especially you. You're our best hope."
"Why me though? Why haven't the other Asgardians intervened? It is their problem after all." She sat down on a chair opposite Stark and adjusted the height so her feet could touch the floor.
"You'll understand when you meet Thor. They're not exactly the most diplomatic race. So what do you say? Do you want to help, or do you just want to run off and sulk?" Stark said aggressively; he understood that she didn't want to get involved, hell he hadn't when Fury first made the proposition, but she had no choice, they needed her help.
She looked thoughtful while casting simple magic, making small breezes and flames float in the middle of the room. She suddenly sat up straight and all the magic stopped.
"What? Have you got an idea?" Stark asked eagerly. They'd been looking for a solution for months so a new approach was welcome.
"One of the properties of vibranium is that it alters the flow of energy, isn't it?" She asked. Stark nodded. "Well, magic is just channelling and controlling magic; words aren't actually that important, they just make your will clear."
She whispered under her breath and twisted her hands sharply in a spherical motion, and in a blueish gold flash a pair of handcuffs were hanging off her right wrist and small silver key appeared in her left hand. She grinned at Stark. "Here is the solution to your problem."
A few hours later, Stark told the team the plan. It didn't go down too well.
"Will he fall for it though? He's the god of mischief, and he's probably watching us right now." Steve questioned. He didn't like the plan; they were relying too much on Loki making a mistake, which was highly unlikely. Alexis chuckled from where she was leaning against the wall, and Steve looked at her expectantly for an explanation.
"Honestly, do any of you have eyes? In the corner of the mission room when we first met you, I could feel the presence of another magic user, and it definitely wasn't Luke because I know the feeling of his magic. I tried to get the being's aura, but I couldn't. After we left the room, they used their magic, to teleport I think, and I got a quick blast of thought. Whoever it was, and I bet it was Loki, took the files on me and Luke. They also have an extremely evil laugh. The plan will work. Trust me. Luke knows it." Alexis scoffed at them. Honestly, if these guys are the earth's best hope we don't have much hope then, she thought.
"What do you mean, Luke knows? And if he's got the files, won't he know all of your powers." asked Natasha. She thought the plan was a good one, but whether it would work was a completely different story.
"He has the ability to know sense whether something will happen, it's a form of precognition, and not everything we can do is in our files, I told you that. Just trust me. You want to get rid of this guy, well let's get on with it. You obviously need our magic, so take advantage of it while you have access to it. Does this guy have a cell phone or something?"
"Lexi, he's a god. I don't think he'll have a cell phone." Stark said sarcastically to the girl. Luke stared at them with goggle eyes. He called her Lexi, and she didn't kill him. What was wrong with her? "Although he's probably better with technology than Thor; that is not an incident I want to repeat." Stark shivered at the memory of when he tried to teach Thor to use a phone.
"Okay then, I'll have to try to send a thought message. I'm not very good at them, but I'll try." She thought about something briefly for a moment. "When are we going to do this?"
"Let's wait to see what Thor says tomorrow, and then we'll make a decision then." Steve decided. He turned to Clint and Luke, who were sitting on the couch together. "You two are quiet. What do you think?"
"I agree with Lexi. If all you say about Loki is true, then this is our best bet." Luke said, looking at Clint. The boy couldn't work out what he felt about the man. His feelings had been in a mess since he first saw the man. Alexis internally smiled at Luke's confusion; she'd witnessed it enough times to know what it meant.
"I agree. We might as well try. Even if it doesn't work, Loki will know he's got competition within the Wizengamot. "Clint agreed, referencing Harry Potter while looking at the boy sitting next to him. The light glistened in the boy's hair, and Clint felt a surge of longing. What the hell? He shouldn't be feeling this towards Luke. However, he was looking forward to seeing the witchy duo, as he'd nicknamed them, in action.
"Alright then, now we wait." Steve said. He picked up the book he'd been reading previously, The Hobbit, and picked up from where he left off. Bruce and Natasha were in the corner playing poker, which Natasha was thrashing him at.
"Waiting's boring." Stark whined. "Lexi, do you want to come down the lab and help me with latest suit?" he asked his new best friend. Bruce smirked at Tony's childishness, but also in relief that he wasn't the one who had to listen to Stark rant for hours about the updates.
"Of course, who wouldn't?" The rest of the team snorted. " Can we make a start on developing my suit as well?" Alexis asked excitedly. Steve glanced up at Stark, wondering what his answer would be. He only made stuff for people when he'd decided they were friends.
"Sure, let's go." They ran off to his lab, and probably wouldn't be seen till the next day. Steve grinned slightly; Stark was fulfilling his goal to include her in the team.
Clint stared at their backs, until he felt a small tug on his sleeve. He turned to Luke.
"Err... umm. Clint, would you be able to teach me how to shoot, um please?" the boy stuttered nervously. Clint found the stutter adorable.
"Sure mate, let's go." They wandered towards the lift, Luke walking slightly behind the older man, looking up at Clint occasionally and shaking his head.
Steve, Natasha and Bruce watched the whole exchange with curiosity.
"Something's going on there. Wonder what?" Bruce asked before going back to his science journal, which he'd started reading after losing to Natasha.
"Hmmm." Natasha said thoughtfully, and decided to follow the pair.