"Shape shift us into Veronica and Luke; we can tell him that he got the wrong address and send him across town."
Loki shook his head, thinking it through more than she was. "Thor didn't find us on his own; he got his information from a reliable source elsewhere. SHIELD, perhaps?"
"Tony, more than likely," Ginny realized as Thor knocked again, even more insistently this time. "He's seen Flare before Flare was ever well-known and is capable of tracking me down at a moment's notice. But, then why send just Thor?"
There was a sudden commotion outside as Thor voiced displeasure about something and Loki looked through the peephole again, updating her in a tight voice, "It's not just Thor; they're all here!"
"All?" Ginny asked.
"Thor, Tony, Rogers, Barton, Romanoff, Banner – all!"
Her hands began to shake and get even more unnaturally hot than normal.
Taking notice, Loki stepped across the room to stand in front of her and cradle her hands in his own, cooling them. "No, beloved, not now. Please, not right now; they'll shoot me before I can even open my mouth if you aren't capable of holding a calm conversation."
"Calm!"
"Shh…" Loki soothed, running a cold hand along her cheek.
Another knock came pounding at the door and both Ginny and d Loki cringed as Tony called out, "Open up, Pepper!"
"Shape shift!" Ginny begged Loki.
Obligingly, Loki turned into Luke, the disguise he used for when he needed to be seen as a mortal. The calming cold left his touch then, and with no reason not to, Ginny took a final deep breath and opened her apartment door. Thor and Tony stood shoulder to shoulder with the other four Avengers standing behind them.
"Who do you think you are, barging in here?" Ginny asked, the anger that she desired coming easily into her tone.
"Who do you think you are, trying to become an Avenger?" Tony shot back.
Ginny snorted instantly, saying, "Believe me, that's not what I want. As a matter of fact, that is the last thing that I could ever want."
"And what about your new pal?" Clint spoke up. "What does he want?"
"To be left alone," Ginny replied evenly.
"Where is he?" Thor asked.
"Who?"
The demigod all but snarled at her, "Frost."
"I don't know," she lied.
"Then who's living with you?" Tony replied. "I know someone moved in here."
"What have you been, stalking me?!"
"I'm concerned, Pepper!"
"You lost the right to be concerned over me three months ago! And don't call me 'Pepper!'"
"Hey," Natasha shouted over the two of them. "Can we take this inside, please?"
"No," Ginny said flatly.
"Why not?" Tony asked.
"I was in the middle of a very hot in-home lunch date, and you interrupted it, thank you very much."
"I'm decent now, darling." Ginny's toes curled with nerves that she tried not to show as "Luke" came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "No need to be so irritable, Ginny; let your friends in."
"They're not my friends," she muttered.
"All the same, you're being rude. Now, I insist you move aside before they do whatever they came to do right here in the middle of the hallway." He put a hand on either one of her shoulders and had to nearly literally drag her back so that the Avengers could enter, saying, "I must apologize for my girlfriend; I'm afraid that she's spent too much time bent over her accounts this week."
Ginny turned to glare at him, allowing the light of actual flames to flicker through her eyes just to freak him out.
"Be nice, darling," he said with a roll of his eyes, gesturing for their visitors to seat themselves around the room before he asked them, "What can we do for you?"
"We want answers," Tony said, looking at Ginny. "That ball of fire on TV is you, isn't it? Flare?"
"Tony, I've become an accountant."
"And Nat's back to being a part-time PA. Doesn't mean she can't be superwoman on the side."
"What does it even matter?" Ginny asked.
"The reason we actually came here – the question we wanted answered –" Thor reminded Tony. "Was who your partner is."
"Luke's" arm curled further around her shoulders as he said innocently, "'Frost,' right?"
"Correct," Thor said, looking at "Luke" suspiciously. "I suspect he is a shape shifter."
"Where'd you get that idea?" Steve asked as "Luke" eyed Thor.
"I thought he was an ice mutant," "Luke" volunteered, looking down at Ginny to ask her, "That is what you said, isn't it?"
"So you are Flare, aren't you, Pep?" Tony said.
"I am Flare, yes," Ginny said. "Not that it affects you or matters at all, but I am not 'Pepper' or 'Pep' or any variant of that name. I go by Virginia now – Ginny to my friends, but you can call me 'Virginia.'"
Tony snorted, but Thor brought them back to point by growling loudly, "Frost!"
"What about him?" "Luke" asked calmly, appearing ever the innocent civilian.
Suddenly Thor snapped, flying to his feet. Ginny screamed when he lunged at her partner, pinning him to the wall with one hand around his neck.
"Luke" scratched at Thor's hand, gagging and choking as the demigod ordered, "Drop your illusions!"
"I'll… die!" "Luke" gasped.
"As you well deserve."
"And why exactly does he deserve to die?" Ginny asked, using what control she had over the Extremis in her body to fill her hands with enough heat to char Thor's skin with a touch if it became necessary.
"That depends entirely upon what he's done since being banished," Thor answered, not looking away from the struggling man he still had trapped.
"He's my boyfriend, Thor! Let him go!"
"Ms. Potts, look at me."
Thor's request startled Ginny, but she obliged, stepping closer to him and very nearly breathing fire at him just for kicks. He surveyed her eyes with a clinical expression, and when she realized what he was looking for, she nearly slapped him.
"I'm perfectly at myself, thank you very much. My mind is my own, idiot. Now, let him go! You're hurting him!"
Thor dropped Luke, who fell into a crouched position on the floor, raggedly breathing in much-needed oxygen while the demigod said, statement matching his confused expression, "I do not understand… I was so sure that…"
"That what?" Clint asked.
Thor started, turning to look at the archer as he answered vaguely, "Nothing."