Chapter 13 – Gods and Galas

The gala was packed with socialites, rich folk, and people who just wanted to party. People were dancing and socializing with each other, just enjoying the music and atmosphere. However, some people present weren't entirely human.

A single woman sat alone at a table, sipping wine. She was wearing a dark purple dress and a similarly colored sun hat that concealed her face. Blonde hair stuck out from beneath it. Her legs crossed, she merely observed the gala with minimal interest. Her main interest was due to arrive in this exact place in time in mere minutes. At that, she smirked.

However, that smirk soon turned into a frown when one of the party-guests, a middle aged man with a balding head and fuzzy moustache, strode up to her, grinning.

"Excuse me?" He said with a thick German accent, but got no answer. "Excuse me, miss?"

That was when the woman looked up, revealing her face to the man. She had black lips, and dark, soulless eyes, but other than that she looked absolutely breathtaking. Her skin was perfectly smooth and clear, and her beautiful blonde hair glistened in the light. She gave the man a false smile.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

The man straightened his tie. "Well, I just noticed you sitting here all by yourself, just thought I'd say hello. Did you come here alone?"

"Yes. Just came to enjoy the music is all." The woman said, taking another sip of her glass.

"Well," The man said, sitting down next to her, not even seeming to notice the scowl she was giving him. "a pretty woman like yourself shouldn't be here all alone. My name is Deiter Zetsche, by the way."

The man continued to give the woman a smile, but she just continued to watch the people dance, her eyes devoid of expression. Deiter gave an awkward hum. "So… what's your name?"

"Claire." The woman said plainly.

"Oh. That's a nice name." The man said with a smile. "So, I run my own business, you know? Daimler AG. Cars and automobiles."

Then, Claire's face contorted into a sinister smile, and she put on a believable façade and batted her eyelashes at the man. "Really? That's actually quite interesting. Tell me more."

The man blinked, surprised at the apparent success, and smiled. He continued to speak for a few more minutes, and Claire just listened intently. Then, sometime later, she leaned in close to him.

"You know, you're a very sweet man." She planted a kiss on his cheek. "What do you say we find ourselves someplace private?"

The man blinked and his face went red. He nodded. "S-Sure. Why not?"

Unnoticed by the other party guests, Claire led the man away from the room and into one of the restrooms in the back of the building.

ooooo

By the time the two entered the room, they were already going at it pretty fast, although Claire seemed to be the dominant at this point. She forced her tongue into his mouth, and he just moaned with both excitement and pleasure. Claire ripped his coat off and forced him down on the toilet, and started assaulting his neck with kisses and nibbles.

"I-I've never met a girl like you before." Deiter panted. Claire backed up and gazed at him hungrily.

"And I'm the best you're ever gonna meet." She brought his face to hers and continued to kiss him ferociously. Her hands gripped the sleeves of his white buttoned shirt and actually tore through the fabric. The man yelped and tried to pull away.

"Wait! We can't do this here! There are dozens of people here."

Claire pulled away, giving the man a scary looking smile. It was then that Deiter actually saw the sinister intent in the woman's eyes.

He immediately tried to scramble away from her, but she held him still with strength she didn't even appear to possess.

"What's the rush?" She hissed in his ear, and he shuddered. Then, she pulled her hand back, and swiped it across his face. Her sharp nails left a deep scratch mark on his face. He just stared at her in shock for a few moments, before the scratch marks started to fester at an alarming rate and were soon pulsating with an inhuman infection. Deiter instantly gripped his face and started screaming in pain. He was able to scramble away from Claire and against the wall on the farthest end of the room.

He looked up and saw Claire approaching him slowly. He put his hand out. "You… what the hell is wrong with you?"

But she just kept advancing, and grabbed him by the throat and held him against the wall. "Mr. Zetsche, if there's one thing you should know by now, it's to never trust a beautiful woman. Especially one who supposedly has any interest in you. This is your penalty."

Slowly, Claire brought her hand towards Deiter's forehead, and as soon as the tip of her finger made contact with his skin, there was a small burst of flame and Deiter let out a terrified shriek.

Only a moment later, everything was silent. Claire dropped Deiter, who had a strange Celtic symbol burned into his forehead. He slowly slid down to the ground. He still had an expression of horror on his face, but other than that, he was devoid of life. He was devoid of soul.

Claire gazed down at his body without emotion or care. She sighed, shaking her head. "Now see what you've made me do? Disgusting pig."

She picked up her hat, which she had discarded the moment she entered the room. Positioning it back on her head, she left the restroom, closing the door behind her.

ooooo

As Claire returned to the gala, she smiled as she saw everything already in chaos. People were fleeing from the building as a man with sleek black hair and a golden staff seized a man, who Claire recognized as the benefactor of this entire gathering, and had him pinned against a stone pedestal in the center of the room.

Claire watched as he took out a strange device and brought it down on the man's eye. There was a horribly churning sound as the unfortunate man started to convulse. The partygoers started screaming and fled from the building. The man, Loki, gave a sadistic smirk.

Unnoticed, Claire sunk into the shadows.

ooooo

As the partygoers fled out into the streets, Loki slowly exited after them. To the surprise of a few civilians, Loki's body flashed gold and the tuxedo he had been wearing was replaced by green robes with golden armor plating. He was also now wearing a helmet with two curved horns. The staff he had been holding transformed into his scepter. He glanced to the side as a police car slowly approached, and with a jerk from his scepter, an energy blast sent the car flying overhead.

Suddenly, several duplicates of Loki started to materialize around the frightened crowd, who all panicked in fear and confusion.

"Kneel before me!" Loki yelled over the crowd, and slammed his scepter against the ground. Everyone yelped when a blue flash emenated from his scepter as well as the scepters of his duplicates.

Loki marched towards them. "I said… KNEEL!"

Everyone suddenly became quiet, and slowly knelt down in fear. Loki smiled in satisfaction, and put his hands out. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?"

The people cowered in fear and he marched around them, looking down at them all with disgust. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled."

Loki stopped walking, and looked at them all with his arms out. "In the end, you will always kneel."

Then, an elderly man in the center of the crowd stood up, looking at Loki defiantly. Loki rose an eyebrow at the man.

"Not to men like you." The man spat.

Loki chuckled, shaking his head. "There are no men like me."

The man glared. "There are always men like you."

Chuckling, Loki lifted his scepter and pointed it towards the man.

"Look to your elder people." Loki said to the crowd. The gem started glowing, and Loki looked at the man with a sadistic smirk. "Let him be an example."

Just as Loki was about to execute the poor man, a man in a blue spangled uniform suddenly jumped in front of the blast and held out a shield. The blast was deflected off of the shield and hit Loki square in the chest, and he stumbled back, grunting.

The crowd looked on in shock as Captain America slowly stood up, and glared down the god of lies.

You know," Captain America spoke, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

Loki sneered. "The soldier. A man out of time. To come here alone, you are braver than I thought."

The captain smirked. "Who said I was alone?"

Loki frowned in confusion, and then grunted in pain as something very hard hit him in the back of the head and he fell down face first. He quickly got up and turned around, and his eyes seethed when he saw who was standing there.

Twirling Mjolnir around in her hand, Thordis waved innocently. "Hey, blue. Miss me?"

"You…" Loki hissed. "I had expected to see you during all this."

Darcy stopped twirling the hammer, and gripped in fiercely. "I warned you before to keep your fingers off my planet. It's a shame you didn't listen."

The hum of an engine suddenly filled Loki's ears, and he looked up to see a quinjet hovering overhead. A hatch on the bottom opened and a mini-gun was unloaded, and pointed in his direction.

"Loki," The voice of Black Widow spoke, "drop the weapon, and stand down."

Suddenly, Loki jerked the scepter forward and the quinjet quickly swerved away from the energy blast that was launched in its direction. The people immediately started to flee from the area. Thinking fast, Loki quickly avoided a swing from Darcy and swung the scepter at her, but she blocked the assault with her hammer and delivered a punch to his face. His face swung back from the strike, and he quickly delivered a kick then forced Darcy away from him.

He prepared to fire a blast at her, but a shield was suddenly hurled at him and struck him right in the face. Shaking his head, Loki looked over to see Captain America leaping at him, landing right in front of him. The captain delivered his own punch, but to the captain's surprise it didn't seem to have any effect. Loki swung the scepter down on him, but the captain blocked the strike with his shield. Swinging the other side up, Loki knocked the shield out of the captain hands and quickly delivered a blunt strike to the captain's gut, sending him flying back.

Glancing to the side, Loki saw Thordis getting up, and she hurled Mjolnir in his direction. Loki quickly batted the hammer away with his staff, but didn't have time to act as Thordis was already upon him. She swung her fist, but Loki ducked away and swung his scepter, which Thordis backed away. The blade of the scepter scratched Darcy's Asgardian armor. Loki prepared to attack again, but a kick send him stumbling forward and into Thordis' waiting fist. The punch sent him stumbling away, and he shook his head and saw both Thordis and Captain America slowly advancing on him.

Backing away, Loki dodged a strike from Captain America and strike his back with the scepter, sending him tumbling away face first into the ground. He quickly turned to Thordis, blocked a strike from her hammer and striking her across the face with the scepter's blunt end. While she was distracted, he jerked the scepter and sent her careening away with an energy blast. Turning away from Thordis, Loki marched over to Captain America, who was starting to get up.

The captain grunted as he was forced down by Loki's scepter.

"Kneel." Loki commanded. But Captain America swatted the scepter away, and leapt up.

"Not today." He said, and he swung his foot at Loki's face, sending him stumbling back. Thordis quickly reentered the fray, and as she and Captain America ganged up on Loki, the Black Widow observed the fight from the quinjet.

Shaking her head, Natasha muttered, "This guy's all over the place."

Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke up through her com. "Agent Romanoff? You miss me?"

Natasha blinked in confusion as the quinjet's systems were suddenly overridden and the song Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC was played through every speaker system in the surrounding area. Natasha just sighed and shook her head.

Below, the combatants all blinked in confusion and looked up as Iron Man suddenly descended from the sky. Pointing his hands out, Iron Man fired his repulsor blasts at the god of lies, knocking him off of his feet.

Landing right in front of him, Iron Man unloaded all of his weaponry, threatening to fire it all at the Asgardian. "Make your move, reindeer games."

Loki watched as Captain America and Thordis flanked Iron Man on both sides, and the quinjet, it's gun still pointed towards him, hovered overhead. Slowly, Loki rasied his hands in surrender, and his helmet slowly faded away in a shimmer of gold.

Satisfied, Iron Man packed up all of his weapons. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Captain America greeted.

Iron Man nodded. "Captain."

He then nodded at Thordis. "Ms. Lewis."

Thordis nodded back. "Mr. Stark."

ooooo

Steve paced the jet, with Tony still in his Iron Man suit just looking at him annoyed. Up front, Agent Romanoff and the pilot stared out at the dark skies in silence. Darcy, her hammer hanging from her shoulder, looked away from Loki, who just sat motionless, seemingly subdued.

"I don't like it." Steve whispered to Stark.

Tony gave Steve a look. "What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

Steve shook his head, giving Loki a suspicious glance. "I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you were pretty spry." Tony seemingly complimented, and then smirked. "For an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

Steve frowned at the inventor. "What?"

"It's like calisthenics." Tony explained. "You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Steve's frown increased. "Fury never told me he was calling you in."

Tony scoffed. "Yeah. There's a lot Fury doesn't tell you."

While the two were chatting, Darcy slowly sat down next to Loki, who glanced at her briefly before looking away.

Making sure to keep her distance, Darcy breathed awkwardly. "So… How've you been?"

Loki didn't answer her. He didn't even look at her. Darcy kept talking. "It's been a while, right?"

Loki remained silent, but glared slightly when Darcy scooted closer.

"You kinda scared me last time. Falling off the bridge, you know? You gave your parents quite the scare."

Loki's eyes narrowed at the mention of his mother and 'father', and Darcy didn't even seem to notice the annoyance in his eyes.

"So, how are you enjoying Earth?" She asked.

"Repulsive." Loki muttered, actually speaking.

Darcy frowned. "It's not that bad."

Loki scoffed, and didn't speak another word. Darcy just sighed and looked away. After a few more moments, she looked back at Loki.

"Have you ever tried waffles?"

Loki looked ready to strangle the girl, when suddenly, there was a flash of light in the sky. The jet's occupants looked about in confusion.

"What the hell?" Natasha muttered. Looking out the window, Darcy noticed a familiar hurricane-like eye forming in the clouds. Her eyes widened.

Oh, shit.

Steve noticed Darcy's worried expression. "What's the matter?"

Darcy looked back at Steve. "I think we have company."

Suddenly, the jet shook as something heavy landed on the roof. The passengers listened intently as something seemed to be walking on the roof and moving in the direction of the rear. Putting on his helmet, Stark opened up the loading ramp, and everyone looked in surprise as a figure suddenly leapt off from the top of the jet and onto the edge of the ramp.

It was a woman with long, black hair tied up into a long ponytail. She was wearing a red sleeveless tunic with silver armor plating laced on the front. There was a silver clothed skirt at the end and below that were skin tight black pants that were partly covered by black, leathery boots. Over the armor, she was wearing a light purple jacket-looking garb with some silver armored plating on the sleeves and shoulders. She was holding a medieval looking shield and a long shiny sword with a golden hilt.

Upon seeing Darcy, the woman's face contorted into a snarl.

"You!"

Darcy blinked. "Sif?"

Stark immediately raised his hand, preparing to fire a repulsor blast at the intruder, but Sif quickly swung her sword at him, knocking him away from her. Looking to the side, she settled her glare on Loki, who backed away slightly as she approached him. She grabbed him by the throat, and he gagged slightly at the grip. She brought him to her eye level, and glared at him momentarily before dragging him out of the plane and leaping out into the night sky.

Getting up, Stark turned towards Darcy. "Friend of yours?"

Darcy shrugged, while Natasha looked back from the front. "Another Asgardian?"

"Think she's a friendly?" Captain America asked. Stark marched towards the edge of the loading ramp.

"Doesn't matter." He said. "If she frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost."

Her eyes widening as she realized Stark's intent, Darcy rushed forward to stop him. "Stark, no! I know these people and you don't wanna provoke them."

"She's right!" Steve said. "We need a plan of attack!"

"I have a plan." Stark said. "Attack."

The group watched as Iron Man flew from the jet in pursuit of the Asgards. Silently cursing to herself, Darcy took her hammer from her shoulder and started twirling it.

"I'll go make sure no one kills anybody!" She said.

"Wait!" Steve said, but Darcy already flew off as well. Cursing to himself, Steve looked around and saw a rack of parachutes nearby. He took one and strapped it on himself.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said from up front.

"You know I can't." Cap said, picking up his shield.

"These people come from legends." She argued. "They're basically gods."

As he marched to the edge of the ramp, Captain America looked back at the Widow. "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Then, the Cap leapt out of the jet and descended into the forest below.

Lol yup. Bet you didn't expect that. You don't seriously think that Odin would leave the fate of his only remaining son in the hands of a few misfit mortals, do you?

Anyway, I wanna say thanks for all of the reviews that have been posted so far, and I'm happy some of you are enjoying it. I wanna apologize for not posting this sooner, but for some reason my account has been having trouble opening up. Anyway, review pleaz. Til next time.