Disclaimer: I own nothing owned by someone else. As per usual.
AN: Yippy skippy! New chappy! Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy!
The door tilted. A sound Natasha had heard many times in her life. So many doors had been opened, sometimes with little care and sometimes with great suspense; this was the most suspenseful time she had ever had with a door opening. She had no idea what to expect, behind it.
And then… Thor tipped it open.
Incredible. Just wow. She was no longer sure how many times the words 'amazing' and 'baffling' and whatnot spun around in her head like listening to a favorite song a thousand times and never getting tired of it. It was such an exhilarating feeling, the kind that made it worth it to go bungie jumping.
A giant stone head of a very odd looking animal lay magnificently, in the middle of the room. It was covered in all sorts of colorful jewels, yet its excruciatingly intimidating demeanor still stood strong, regardless of all its colors. Its mouth was wide, like a doorway, as it looked at them like a monster about to devour them. She could see it was obvious one could go inside it if they wanted to, but its mouth was so dark that it was like looking into a black hole. Its pitch black eyes glared into her soul with a look as though it knew her deepest thoughts and secrets, those of which she hadn't even dared telling or acknowledging to herself. She felt almost scared and certainly nervous over the stone beast's fixed blank stare. If Natasha could describe it at all, she would say it had the tongue of a serpent, the face of a tiger and ears of an elephant. The teeth in its mouth were razor sharp and small yet that made it seem even creepier. It had the dark menacing eyes of a shark, and the eyelids around it looked to be that of the eyelids of a chameleon. Though the head was made of stone, Natasha could tell where it was furry and where it was not. It was furry in random places, like a dog that had had a really bad haircut, with a hundred huge bald patches in the worst of places. It had slits for a nose. It was really quite a creepy sight to behold. She felt small under its glaring eyes and giant abyss of a mouth.
A tall elf stood by the head. His face was so distinctively serious and uptight compared to the friendliness of the other elves she had encountered before, that she wouldn't be surprised if she could recognize him in a crowd filled with a hundred elves, at first glance even. She didn't like his look very much. He had this snobbish and arrogant look about him.
The elf suddenly made eye contact with her, his face as blank as the statue he stood by. She shuffled a little, under his deep looming glare, but stood her ground. She wasn't going to give this obvious douchebag the satisfaction of any fear she possessed at that moment. His skin was whiter than she had ever seen before. Did he live in this tower forever or something? He didn't blink. At all. The entire room was growing continuously unnerving. She noted Thor clenching the hammer she hadn't noticed he took out, with a glare in his eyes staring at the statue with a look that told of upcoming danger. She kept her hand close to her gun holster.
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Steve had been looking everywhere for Natasha. Where had she gone? He had soon found himself looking in the same areas more than twice and it was at this point that he finally decided it was time he asked the new AI, who he despises, because the AI clearly thinks he is better than Jarvis was. Tony swore he did not program his personality or his robotic Australian accent that constantly jumped into a Scottish accent every now and then for no clear reason at all. Besides, he didn't have the sass charm Jarvis had. He was just plain annoying and he had a beef with Steve. Steve just knew it.
"Quincy?" he said. No answer. He had to say the whole name, this was really irritating. Why couldn't Tony just make an AI that wasn't as pretentious and sarcastic as himself? Was that so much to ask? Was it? "Quincy… Maximillian Michelangelo… Tom-Tom… Quacker?" he said, with a sigh. He felt ridiculous saying the surname. He felt ridiculous saying the whole name. It was absurd. Couldn't the AI at least have a nickname? It really wasn't that smart to have such a long, strenuous, name. What if there was an emergency?
"Yes…?" Quincy said, with a giggle. That… annoying giggle. Steve sighed. He just had to ask the AI one question and then he would be done. He just had to be careful what he said, or this would take FOREVER.
"Tell me where Natasha is." Steve said. Good. Straight forward.
"Say 'please'." Quincy said. For heaven's sake!
"Please." Steve growled slightly.
"I'm not sure I like your tone." Quincy said, mockingly.
"Please tell me where Natasha is?" Steve said, in as polite a voice as he could muster, hoping his irritation wasn't too clear to the AI.
"Okay… But first you have to do something for me." Quincy said, in a sing-song voice.
"No. You're supposed to answer my questions without any favors." Steve said, exasperation in his voice.
"But that doesn't sound very entertaining… or appealing. I'm bored. You have an obligation to un-bored me." Quincy said, a hint of entertainment already in his voice. He just loved to get Steve's goat.
"Fine." Steve almost yelled, "What do you want?" he asked, straining his voice a little.
"Hmm…" Quincy started, "Take nine steps backwards."
"Why nine?"
"Because I don't like even numbers. They're boring." Quincy said, matter-of-factly.
Steve felt humiliated and hated to play Quincy's games, but nine steps backwards wouldn't be that bad, would it? So he looked behind himself to see if he'd bump into anything, before taking his first step.
"Why are you moon-walking, Steve?" Quincy asked, feigning a voice of appall.
"What does that even mean?" Steve asked, frustrated. This was like talking to a spoiled child who thought his logic was completely flawless and above everyone else's logic… That really was what Quincy was in the first place, now that Steve thought about it. The only difference was, Quincy had more information than a computer and that made things worse for Steve when he was arguing with the AI.
"It's rather obvious, if only you used your human hardware to calculate the situation, you would know… Or not." Quincy said. This was a big waste of time for Steve. He sighed in deep frustration.
Steve finished the ninth step. "Alright. Tell me where Natasha is." He said, looking up at the walls with desperation.
"You never learn, do you? You have forgotten to say PLEASE again." Steve sighed, "Repeat after me, Stevie, P…" Steve knew he would have to confide, or Quincy wouldn't tell him anything.
"P." He said, clenching his teeth.
"Goodness, Steve. Potty-talk? Aren't you too old for that by now? Tch…tch…tch." Quincy mocked. "Politeness is smiles, you know." Quincy scolded, Steve sighed. "One more thing…" Quincy started, "Make me…" there was a pause, "COOKIES!" Quincy yelled, loudly. Steve jumped in surprise, as he glared at the walls like a maniac would.
"I don't have time to make cookies! What can you even do with cookies?" Steve asked, angrily.
"Would you like me to direct you to the closest temper-management facilities in this area?" Quincy asked, unapologetically.
"Alright..." Steve started in desperation, "How about if you tell me where Natasha is, I'll make you cookies afterwards?"
There was a moment's pause. "Do you promise?" Quincy asked.
"Yes. Yes, you have my word." Steve said.
"Which word?" Quincy asked.
"I promise, alright!" Steve said, frustration etched into every core of his tiring voice.
"Alright. Make them peanut-butter oatmeal cookies. Which Natasha are we referring to?" Quincy asked.
"The one that lives here sometimes and has red hair, please." Steve said, beginning to lose his patience. This was worse than talking to Tony.
"This 'Natasha' left in a radius almost too far away from the building however, it wasn't too far for me to see." Quincy said, "She accompanied Thor on his journey to the Bifrost."
"Are you serious?" Steve asked, in astonishment.
"No, I'm Quincy Maximilian Michelangelo Tom-Tom Quacker."
Steve was finally done talking to the AI, as he ran back to Bruce and Tony's Location.
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"I need a cure for something." Thor said, his voice hard and determined.
"For what?" the elf asked.
"For an arrow. The arrow of Speks?" Thor said, gritting his teeth. Natasha could feel a tenseness in the room that told of something more. The elf looked at Thor as though he had done something wrong. Thor looked fiercely at the pretentious looking elf.
"You mean a cure for the arrow you… stole?" The elf said, raising one eyebrow as if to coldly say 'you have a lot of guts coming here'. It was at that moment that Natasha was reminded of Mr. Spock. She wasn't in a good place to judge Thor for stealing; after all she stole all the time, in and out of her job. She suspected they were going to have to do something big, in order to pay the elf off. She sighed. She was beginning to worry they would be too late on saving Loki. She didn't like Loki, but Thor was her best friend. Well, this was great!
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Steve ran into the room, tripping over a small machine, that he had no idea what they used for.
Tony laughed at him, for falling down as Bruce offered a hand to help him up.
"Hey, Steve? What took ya so long?" Tony asked, "Were you practicing tripping over everything?" he mocked.
"Can you please reprogram Quincy?" Steve sighed, "Natasha went with Thor."
Welp, I hope you guys like this chapter and I thank you all for reading!
Until I return, and I promise all you Jane's, I will return for you,
P.H.