Chapter 19: Give Man a Herring...
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
When they reached the hover, Natasha made a beeline for the pilot's seat while Jane went to retrieve her iPad with equal focus. The SHIELD agent paused in retrieving her hidden stash of extra weapons to glance back at Jane.
"You know the Sentinels can tap into blutooth and wifi systems."
"I know. I need to check on my sensor. I only managed to place one, but it's still our best way of knowing when Loki and Thor get back," the astrophysicist explained.
"Fine. Just give me a minute." Natasha checked to make sure the rifle-like energy weapon in her hands was loaded- at least, that's what Jane thought it looked like she was doing- then grabbed a smaller, handheld weapon to pass to Jane.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jane asked, studying what appeared to be a cyber-punk impression of what a glock and a taser's offspring might look like.
"Have you fired a gun before?" Natasha inquired, checking one of the few non-electrical gauges on the console before her. Her brow furrowed ever-so-slightly in response to the reading, but she didn't comment.
"Yeah. Everyone in my family had to- just targets at the shooting range," Jane amended, trying to keep on the topic at hand.
"Good. It's mostly the same as a regular hand gun. Just watch out for the recoil," Natasha advised.
"Great..."
Natasha gestured to the computer in Jane's lap.
"Ok. Right..." She opened up the app and began reading the information streaming across the screen with a deepening frown. "Oh. Oh, they're through. They must've-"
There was a sound of huge mechanical feet marching closer and then a brief silence. The two women slowly looked up to meet each other's eyes. The air around them was still and silent, laced with apprehension. Both women jumped, upon hearing a loud, splintering crash from up above. Jane's eyes went saucer-wide, and Natasha was chasing after the panicked scientist, out into the open air before she had time to think better of it.
Inside the old abandoned house, Loki crouched down over Wanda, pressing their bodies as far into the corner as they could fit to avoid the sweeping web of scanner-light. Neither of them dared to breathe until the unnatural red of the lasers had vanished from the room. Thor peeked around the doorjamb to see the Sentinel's head pulling back through the gauzy cloud of cream-colored, lace curtains. Loki let out the breath he'd been holding, but instead of relaxing like everyone else, Wanda tensed up and gripped the front of his cloak to prevent him from moving.
"It's coming!" she cried out in the split second before a massive metal fist punched through the wall scant inches short of hitting Loki. He realized that the metal beast could easily have crushed him in one strike had he been allowed to stand.
"Brother!" Thor shouted. Loki ignored him, ducking forward to tuck Wanda under his chin while reverting into his jötun form, and encasing them in a cocoon of ice to protect from flying shrapnel. The Sentinel pulled its arm back out of the gaping hole it had punched through the wall, and began to reach for the frosty globe concealing its targets. Mjölnir struck it in the arm, knocking it back a step before it could close its hand and crush them. The automaton tilted its head to one side and rescanned the room while Loki broke out of the ice cocoon, hauling Wanda out of immediate danger. He dropped her unceremoniously onto the floor at his feet in the next moment, turning back to fend off the mechanical monster. Mjölnir knocked the side of its face on its return to Thor's outstretched hand. The Sentinel's visual sensors locked onto Thor and flashed once. He had been identified as the priority target.
Thor gave the robot a predatory grin while he swung his hammer, building up momentum in each loop. The sentinel opened fire. It missed by a hair's breadth as he did a running dive out through the opening. Loki ran over to the edge of the remaining floor to watch the thunderer continue to draw fire.
"Daft fool," he spat. It seemed painfully obvious to him that Thor was barely keeping ahead of the machine's attacks. Behind him, Wanda climbed to her feet and stepped up beside him, skidding on a piece of ice at the end and catching herself on Loki's arm.
"Weee! -should go," Wanda covered fluidly, turning her clinging to his arm into an almost-believable pat on the shoulder.
Loki turned a reproachful look on the incongruously-upbeat mutant, refusing to acknowledge how cute she was being- not that Charles' fond reaction to her antics was making that easy. "Lady Sif can guard your passage to the transport," he dismissed, gesturing to the craft that Natasha and Jane had just exited below them. "I shall try to stop my idiot brother from getting himself killed."
"We just found you. She's a warrior," Wanda argued, tugging on his arm.
"Indeed," Sif agreed, stepping up beside them. "I shall aid Thor."
Loki opened his mouth to argue but Sif just smirked at him, adding,"You should not have neglected battle practice," before leaping out through the opening to join the fray.
Wanda smiled sweetly up at the Trickster and dragged him into the hallway by his arm.
"All right. You need not tow me along like an ill-tempered mule. I can follow well enough," he assured her when they reached the landing.
Wanda squinted speculatively up at him, then released her grip on his arm.
"Thank you."
She grabbed his hand and wound their fingers together, swinging their hands subtly between them while they walked. Loki let out a sigh.
"I am honestly not trying to trick you."
"I know," Wanda replied, leading him into the kitchen. "Approximately seven-hundred-fifty-three viable permutations based on all available data. Forty scenarios run with a desirable outcome..."
Loki favored her with an expectant look, not really understanding where the girl was going with this.
"This way is better," Wanda summarized and swung their joined hands in one last accentuated arc between them, heading for the backdoor.
She wasn't like this before... Charles pondered. His uncertainty and concern for his adoptive child was beginning to diffuse Loki's thoughts.
How so?
She may have an unique way of seeing things but Wanda was never this...
Mad? Loki suggested, stopping short to anchor the woman in question just out of reach of the back door.
She's a genius, Charles answered, his presence feeling decidedly more prickly.
"I meant no offense," Loki answered aloud, distracted by the sensation he'd picked up from out in the alley.
"It's okay," Wanda dismissed, shooting him a questioning look.
"Someone is out there. He is sore and in a rather vindictive mood. Perhaps you might allow me to take the lead?" Loki prompted.
Wanda nodded her assent, letting him pass without releasing her grip on his hand. The Trickster's first step out of the house was marked by a machete flying towards his face. He caught the blade between the fingers of his free hand and arched an eyebrow at the weapon's wielder.
"Consider your next move carefully," Loki advised in a velvety tone, flipping the blade through the air and catching it by its hilt. "Is your pride really worth dying for?"
The looter ran his gaze over Loki, then their eyes met. The looter bolted.
Wanda stepped out from behind her smirking escort to watch the fleeing human with a contemplative expression. "You're scary." She said it as if she were learning a new and alien concept for the first time.
Loki felt a pang of sorrow from Charles in response to her fractured mental state. Loki himself could feel it now in the unsteady tumble of Wanda's emotions; someone had wounded her mind. Loki gave the slender hand still entwined with his a gentle squeeze.
"Not to you, my Dear," he assured her, forcing a warm smile onto his face to mask the anger coursing through him. "Not to you."
Natasha watched Thor manuevring through the air, followed closely by the deadly arcs of light spouting from the Sentinel's weapon's systems. She wasn't actually so sure that they would prove deadly to him, being an alien god- or godlike alien as it were. Neither she nor Jane was willing to make that wager at the moment. Tony apparently agreed, since he flew an almost suicidally tight loop around the robot's head in an attempt to distract it, firing a couple of missiles at the coolant tubes on its neck. The Sentinel batted him away into the adjacent building as if he were merely a pesky moth.
"Can you make the shot?" Jane asked, wincing at the Ironman-shaped hole in the brick wall.
"Yes, but you should know: the second that I do, we become primary targets," Natasha responded evenly, still putting most of her focus into keeping her weapon on target.
"But a shot from that can slow it down, right?"
Thor channeled a burst of lightning through the top of the sentinel's head to scorch the earth under its feet. The Sentinel slumped, its systems powering down just long enough for the first tendrils of hope to begin to bloom. Then its eyes lit up, the power coming back online with an ominous hum. Its tactical sensors recovered the weapons lock on Thor.
"It'll damage it," Natasha corrected. The Sentinel took another shot at Thor, this time winging him. He landed in a roll on a nearby rooftop. His right side was bleeding. "Jane, take cover."
"Wait," Jane cautioned, seeing Loki and Wanda jogging towards them around the side of the old house.
"I'm taking the shot. You need to be clear in five."
"Shit. Okay," Jane agreed, running forward to grab Wanda's arm and herd her into the back of the hover. Loki paused at the entrance to survey their situation.
"2 seconds," Natasha warned.
"Loki!" Jane snapped in a harsh whisper. Loki stepped into the relative safety of the hover.
Natasha shot a white hot burst of charge out of her energy weapon, taking out the Sentinel's left knee. She was already running for the hover before the severed limb hit the ground. The Sentinel caught itself on both hands. It looked first at the fleeing assassin, then at its busted leg, processing the damage, then picked up its severed limb and began to repair itself.
Natasha threw herself into the pilot's seat and powered up the hover, taking off as quickly as humanly possible. Even then, the reaching hand of the newly repaired Sentinel closed just short of the sealing doors at the back of the hover.
"Oh thank God," Jane breathed, ignoring Loki's amusement.
"Wait until we're done," Wanda suggested, feeling around the edge of her seat. She almost fell out as a result of Natasha's sudden swerve to avoid the Sentinel's lasers.
"You guys might want to put on your seatbelts," the assassin warned, giving them exactly enough time to comply. Then she dropped them into a barrel roll in order to avoid being knocked out of the air by their pursuer.
Loki grinned. "It's good to be back."
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
Somehow, Thor managed to get back to Avengers Tower ahead of the rest of the group. How that was, even he didn't know. Loki discovered him unexpectedly while helping Agent Romanoff coax Wanda into letting Bruce check her over in his lab.
"I am aware of that, Thor. I've seen how quickly you can heal but that won't necessarily protect you from contamination," Bruce insisted for what sounded like it had to be, at least, the third time, judging by his tone. He didn't sound pleased, but he wasn't turning green yet either. Loki still shied away to the far end of the lab just in case.
"It is merely a scratch. There is truly no need for you to trouble yourself with it," Thor disagreed. Loki weighed the pros and cons of intervening in favor of the scientist.
"If that's the case it'll only take a few minutes to confirm, and I'll leave you alone. Look. I've seen first hand what those things can do to your blood. You do not want to go through that."
Loki leaned forward and quietly informed Natasha, "I managed to leave the site, unscathed. So I shall not waste the good doctor's precious time."
Natasha scoffed and watched him slip out of the room.
"Baby," Wanda remarked as the door clicked shut behind him.
Loki took the elevator up to his room and began to change out of his clothes. When he was down to nothing but his leather pants, he paused, turned to frown at the smoking metal sihouette hovering sporadically outside his window. The Trickster's lips thinned and he hastily covered his chest with his discarded undershirt, crossed over, and shoved the window open.
"Explain."
"Oh, come on! It's nothing personal, Mr. November. My thrusters are failing. I needed someone to come let me in," Tony informed him. Loki stepped aside so that he could climb in through the window. "Thank you. Where is everybody, anyway?"
Loki grabbed Tony's suited shoulder, wordlessly extinguishing the electrical fire that was spreading over it before it could fry his flesh... or, more importantly, set fire to any of Loki's things.
"Thank you," Tony repeated with a shiver.
"I left Thor, Agent Romanoff and Wanda in Banner's lab. I know nought about the Hawk or Lady Sif," Loki answered, still covering himself with his shirt as best he could.
Tony paused on his way out and pushed up his face plate, flicking his gaze over the alien god. "Feeling shy?"
"Do not test me, Cassanova," Loki snarked right back, drawing a startled look of approval from the mechanic. "I understood that last reference of yours."
"Huh. Kudos to you, I guess," Tony responded as he left, then turned back to face the Trickster when he went to close the door. "So... You've been here before. When was that exactly? Inquiring minds want to know."
"I'm changing, Stark," Loki deflected, leaning against the door with an unimpressed look.
"Is that a thing? 'Cause I'm pretty sure there's nothing there that I haven't seen. Wait. You don't have, like, weird alien parts hidden under-"
Loki rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut in Tony's face. Who is Cassanova?
Charles let out a flicker of amusement. A famous letch in old Europe, he explained, adding a tad guiltily, You know, I can retreat until you're finished with your ablutions...
No need, Charles; you don't count.
Is that meant to make me feel better? Charles asked, mildly offended.
Loki didn't even pause to consider his reaction while he walked, completely naked, past the closet mirror to find a change of clothes. I don't care. You're taking this far too personally. Why should it matter? You aren't interested in me.
I'm not beneath notice. For all you know, I could be gorgeous.
You still don't count, Charles. You are something akin to a wizened sage. Accept it.
I cannot even begin to respond to that.
Good. Hmm, which do you think is better? The green or the sage green? Loki inquired, comparing two cashmere sweaters in the mirror.
Is that meant to be funny?
Yes. But it is also a question.
...
Charles?
The sage green. Stop looking so pleased with yourself.
ASTRAL PLANE
Erik glared at the mindless conversation being recounted by his book and snapped it shut with unwarranted aggression.
"Meiw," the Lamp commented, looking up at him with his tongue sticking out. The little creature had stopped in the middle of grooming himself in order to see what all the fuss was about.
Erik shot the kitten a distainful look and walked away to gaze out through the windows. His sons' cells were back on display, but the situation had already progressed quite a bit in his absence. Erik was still catching up with all of the new information.
"Back already?" Francis quipped to the two uniformed men marching into their holding area.
"Can it, Son. We ain't here for you," one of the uniforms countered gruffly.
"Ugh..." Francis crossed over to the other side of his cage.
"Face the wall, Maxwell. Colonel wants to talk with ya," the talkative soldier ordered.
Pietro took his time in complying. He now had shadows under his eyes and his pallor spoke of starvation as much as a lack of sleep. "Lucky me." He smirked at the soldier securing his handcuffs. "Only two of you this time. Feeling brave?"
"You ain't eaten in over 48 hours. I know your file, so yeah."
Francis grimaced at the misuse of the already questionable word 'ain't'.
"I can see how that would be comforting. You lot have done your homework fairly well..." Pietro admitted, letting them drag him out of his cell.
"Shut up."
"You've got the three of us dead to rights."
"I said shu-" the soldier paused. "What d'you mean three of ya?"
Erik squinted at each cell, noticing the mound of fabric nestled in the farthest cell hadn't moved throughout the entire exchange. It was so childishly simple that he wanted to kick himself for not noticing it sooner. The back panel of the plexiglas was tilted just slightly outward. It had been propped up so that it only appeared to be in place.
The quiet soldier let go of Pietro's cuffed wrists. "He was referring to me." The unnamed mutant imposter knocked out the soldier with a single punch. He then took off his hat, freeing a cascade of thin, black dreadlocks while his chocolate brown skin deepened to charcoal grey.
"Or rather a lack thereof," Francis quietly amended.
Pietro cleared his throat.
The larger mutant grabbed his wrists and snapped the chain connecting them as if it were merely a fine thread.
"Or you could unlock them," the speedster pointed out.
Smoldering, copper-red eyes looked into his.
"Then again, as they say: beggars can't be choosers," Pietro amended.
"Release me," Francis cut in, standing on the other side of his door with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Here you are, Peter," Pietro muttered, snatching the unconscious soldier's keycard and using it to free the spider.
Francis made an impatient sound, gesturing to his door.
"Do you promise to be good?" Peter verified.
"Sure, why not? Open it," Francis demanded. The two Pete's exchanged a conspiratorial look. "We both know that you aren't abandoning me here. Your morals won't allow you to, so get on with it," Francis pushed.
The unnamed mutant dragged the soldier into Pietro's cell, then straightened and did a cyclical gesture towards the unopened door.
"Fuck it," Pietro decided and released his semi-evil halfbrother.
Francis paused outside the door and they faced each other for a second.
"Bwahaha," Onslaught deadpanned.
Pietro looked over him at their co-conspirator. "What now?"
The dark-skinned mutant walked over to face him, the color gradually draining from his skin and hair as his dreadlocks shrank down and disentangled. Within seconds a monochromatic duplicate of Pietro was smiling at the original.
"Whoa. That is disturbing," Peter observed.
"It would be rude to be late for our meeting with the Colonel," Apocalypse stated. "Especially considering the recent prison break."
Pietro nodded and turned to Peter. "Strip the Sergeant. You and Francis will double as guards."
"And you?" Peter inquired, beginning to strip the unlucky guard.
"Mainframe," Francis answered in place of the disappearing speedster. "He wants to identify the other people these sleepers might have targeted."
AVENGERS TOWER
Loki wandered over to claim the barstool next to Clint. Clint turned stiffly to face him, not at all pleased with his company. Loki chose not to react to the archer's bitterness, focusing instead on locating a non-alchoholic beverage. Clint watched the alien pour himself a glass of tonic water, and finished his beer in two gulps.
"For what it is worth, I regret what I put you through," Loki stated without looking at the fleeing Avenger. Clint let out a humourless laugh and turned on him.
"So now you're admitting that it was you who did it," he replied and shook his head.
"The scepter was wielded by my hand. It matters not who else guided me."
"Right. It's not really worth apologizing if you can't even accept the blame, is it?" the archer noted. His anger was still thrumming over Loki's awareness, but it was no longer quite as sharp as he had expected. Behind them the elevator dinged announcing a new arrival, but neither man acknowledged it.
"What would you have me do? I was not alone. If you wish to hold me responsible, I will not deny you," Loki clarified, setting his drink down on the bartop. "However, I will not allow you to overlook the threat that my captor still poses. To do that would render our hardship utterly pointless."
Clint grabbed Loki by the front of his shirt and slammed him down against the counter.
"Hey! Easy!" the Cap cautioned, glancing from the assassin to Thor and Tony exiting the lift behind him.
"I have had enough of this shit! You want me to believe you? Give me something. If it wasn't you, then who was it! Tell me his name!" Clint demanded.
Loki looked up at him, clenching his jaw.
"Agent Barton, unhand my brother!" Thor ordered. Steve stepped between them before Thor could start anything.
"It will do you no good," Loki warned his attacker, prompting Clint to bash him against the bartop again.
"Tell me!"
"His name is Thanos," Loki relented. If he had to tell anyone, he supposed that it should probably by Agent Barton. "Lord Thanos ruled the Chitauri."
"Who?" Clint wondered.
"You were imprisoned by the Mad Titan!" Thor exclaimed. "But he was banished ages ago!"
"He has returned," Loki drawled out. "He is not acting alone, although I cannot name his advisor."
"Like you couldn't tell us about Lord Mentos, or..." Tony queried flippantly.
"Thanos," Thor corrected.
"He knows, Thor," Loki dismissed, mildly amused, before clarifying, "I do not know its name."
You never mentioned that to me, Charles interjected, sounding merely annoyed by his lack of trust.
"It?" Clint echoed, releasing his grip on Loki's shirt.
"It is no matter. Thanos poses the most immediate threat to you," Loki hedged, righting his spilled glass.
"Immediate threat?" Tony prompted, shrinking from Loki's defensive scowl.
"My connection with Thanos was severed, but that has not done anything to right the changes they wrought within my mind. It will take time for me to find it all again."
"Those were the scars that Professor Frost found," Steve guessed.
"Quite. Now that the link is severed, Thanos is bound notice that his advantage is waning. He will arrive sooner than I had planned for."
"Right, because you planned for all of this to happen," Clint sneered.
"Of course I didn't. You were meant to react to the threat that I represented and strengthen your world's defenses. That is hardly what you've done, at all," Loki countered.
"So what, you were just some secretly-angelic red herring?" Tony summarized.
"I need him gone," Loki replied with a shrug. "You presented an opportunity. Do not delude yourself into thinking that I care about your little world."
"And the time that you visited Earth prior to the invasion?" Tony tried.
Loki straightened, brushing Clint away as he grabbed the bottle of tonic water to pour himself another glass. "That was unrelated," he lied in answer to the inventor's question. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I believe my presence is expected downstairs in the lab." Loki placed his empty glass beside Clint's and made his way to the lift.
You didn't tell me about Thanos, or his accomplice, Charles stated regretfully as soon as the doors began to close.
I am hardly alone in keeping secrets, Charles, Loki countered with cool, surgical detachment. I have yet to be told who or what you are. Although, judging by your spawn...
You aren't going to insult your way out of this one, Charles corrected in that patronizing way that Loki was learning to hate while Tony ran up and shoved his way into the elevator at the last second. I know that you're better than that. You have a brilliant mind, Loki, and I believe you have an equally good heart, even if you've learned to bury it.
Is that meant to make me feel better, or do you intend to force the temperament upon me as you did earlier today? Loki sneered.
"Hey," Tony said with an exagerated smile. Loki ignored him, keeping his unfocused eyes pointed at the metal doors.
Is that what you think- Of course you do. Listen, I have never, nor will I ever use my influence to harm you, Charles promised. I don't know what it is that I need to do to prove that to you.
Nor do I.
Tony whistled and waved a hand in front of Loki's face. "Frosty, you still there?"
Loki caught the offending limb, concluding, We cannot discuss this now. He turned his attention to the pesky engineer. "What do you want now, you obnoxious little gnome?"
"Huh, really? A short joke? You can do better."
"I was thinking of their propensity for biting people's vulnerable areas without provocation," Loki explained, secretly enjoying the bewildered expression that crossed Tony's face at the alien reference. "I've already told you. I can share no more knowledge at this time."
"Not about Thanos." Tony looked up into one of the hidden cameras tucked seamlessly into the corner of the ceiling. "JARVIS redirect this lift to my floor."
"Stark."
"Not kidnapping you. We're just talking."
"And I have no say in this?"
"I dunno, do you want me to keep harrassing you?"
There was a brief silence.
"What is it that you wish to discuss?"
"The truth."
"Do continue to be vague. I've been waiting for an excuse to prank someone."
"Ok. That's a really disturbing smile. Um..." Tony cleared his throat and led the way out into his personal suite. "When did you willingly visit Midgard?"
"I was willing to travel here in order to fight Lord Malekith."
"That's not what I meant."
"I have decided to allow you honest answers to three questions of your choosing," Loki decided as he spoke.
"Just now or ongoing?" Tony clarified.
Loki considered him for a second. "Each day we spend together." He held up a cautionary finger in response to Tony's victorious fist-pump. "However, you alone, are responsible for the accuracy of your wording. Only three truths are guaranteed, not necessarily the three that you desire."
"Yeah, yeah, Trickster God. I get it. That last one doesn't count though. We didn't have a deal yet."
"Fair enough," Loki conceded. He had talked his way around Lords and Council members in Asgard who were twice his own age, and centuries more learned. He doubted Stark could pose too much of a challenge. Charles, on the other hand, felt a bit uneasy.
"Deal," Tony accepted, still looking a like a kid in a candy store. He jogged over and flopped onto one of the luxurious, red leather couches built into the carpeted entertainment area in the center of the room. "Have a seat."
Loki padded over to the other end of the couch with much more grace and decorum.
"Ok, first question..." Tony paused, carefully to construct his first inquiry. "The time you visited here- when you learned English, and not when you were forced to come here, and not the time you came here to help stop Malekith-"
"That is a hideously extended sentence," Loki remarked and Tony batted the criticism away.
"I'm not done asking yet. Anyway, that specific time, why were you on Midgard?"
Loki drew in a deep breath to form a technically honest but entirely unenlightening reply when Charles unexpectedly intervened. You were helping a friend.
What? Charles, the whole point of this is not lying to him.
It's not a lie. It is the most honest answer to his question, Charles replied. The most perplexing thing about it was that Loki could feel not a trace of deception from him as he said it. Somehow, Charles' impossible claim rang true.
You will explain that, Loki thought at him while repeating the suggested answer to Tony.
"That was vague," Tony observed.
"I agreed to honesty, not full disclosure."
"I know. Who was the friend?"
Loki grinned, this was too easy. "An intangible being, whom I cannot acurrately describe even now."
"Fuck." Tony slumped back into the cushions, inadvertently giving the fleeting impression that the furniture might eat him alive by way of sheer plushyness.
"This is fun. What is your third question?" Loki said gleefully.
Tony pouted at him. "I'm saving it."
"In that case. I shall leave you to ponder it," Loki replied geting up to leave.
"Bruce isn't expecting you."
"You're right; I was lying about my intended destination," Loki admitted, stepping into the elevator.
"Where is y- No. No," Tony thought the better of his next question when he saw Loki's grin. "Never mind. I am not wasting my question."
"Until then, Son of Stark," Loki quipped. As the doors closed, he heard Tony ask JARVIS to confirm his veracity using brainscans, and the humour drained out of him. Tell me truly, can we decieve the MRI if and when we must?
I can, but it would be very unpleasant for you, Charles warned. I would require your complete trust.
But it is possible? Loki verified, his heartrate speeding up.
Yes. You said yourself, I am a creature of the mind, remember? Charles assured, restraining himself from telepathically soothing his channel's mounting anxiety. MRI's might monitor the brain but I live here.
Loki closed his eyes and steadied his nerves, choosing to believe Charles' assurances. After all, what were the actual odds that they would ever need to go through with it?
A/N: Thanks for reading this. I know, it's a little late(I was very sick) sorry! The next one should be more prompt. Special thanks to icanhearthedrums, and Ruby of Raven for their reviews. Hearing from you glorious readers always helps.