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~Songs~

Pompeii- Bastille

Edit: me

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Nobody's POV~

Wairua floats into the room, where Videl lounges on an armchair, sucking blood off of his fingers. A young woman, now pale and bloodless with sunken, unseeing eyes, is sprawled out on the wooden floor. 

"Ah," says Videl as Wairua alights on the top of the armchair, "She's having nightmares about us again, is she now?" 

Wairua fluffs his feathers, his yellow eyes glistening in the lantern's light. When Videl offers him a dead frog, Wairua snaps it up in his hooked beak. 

"Perfect," says Videl smoothly. Getting up off of the chair, looks towards Archer, who is standing in the corner of the room, lips reddened and glistening. "She knows to fear my wrath, then."

"Is that all?" asks Archer dully, speaking not to Videl but to Wairua, "That's all the news? The girl's having bad dreams?" 

Videl snorts, "Hardly. It seems as though Thea has been frightened into submission, as I knew she would be. They are already beginning to plan their way towards our rise to power." 

Shrugging, Archer leans back against the wall, looking emaciated. 

"Brother," says Videl, "You look starved. Why do you not feast with me? Do I not catch enough to quench your thirst?" 

Archer looks up at Videl sullenly. His older brother, with his lanky frame, crosses the room and crouches in front of Archer, who glances up, his eyes dull. 

"Brother..." says Videl quietly, "Drink." 

He offers Archer his hand, which is still drenched in scarlet. Archer's nostrils flare as the iron smell of blood reaches him like the spicy scent of cologne. "I...I don't want it," he says darkly, pushing Videl's hand away. 

Videl suddenly grabs Archer's throat, and the younger brother's eyes bulge.

"I am not going to watch my only brother die before my eyes all because he is too cowardly to live," hisses Videl, "Now drink." 

His hand is dangerously close to Archer. Archer begins to pant, sorely tempted by the smell. He snarls, and then licks his parched lips. 

Finally, he can resist no more. He lunges forward, grabs Videl's wrist, and begins to lap the blood off of Videl's hand, his eyes dilating from thirst. Videl watches triumphantly, his mouth curling up into a smile as he watches his younger brother drink.

They're both getting stronger. They will be able to move today.

~Thea's POV~

"We're driving to Washington DC?" I demand as I sleepily make my way down to the main foyer of Stark tower. Everybody except for Max, Bruce, and the Asgardian brothers is already here- even Coulson, who has sworn not to help with this expedition is here, with several tips- and lounging around the room. 

"Yes, we're driving," says Stark, who is leaning against a bar (one of the many in Stark tower) and looking at an iPad-like device. "And by the way, I want to see yours and Jack's phones."

"Why?" I ask suspiciously. 

"Because," says Tony in a not-so-patient voice, "I'm programming all of our phones with a sort of group chat that will help us communicate faster. And they're also going to be synced with our earpieces."

"What about Thor and Loki?" asks Jack, "They don't have phones and honestly, I don't think giving those two them is the best idea."

"Yeah, they just get the earpieces. It should be good enough for them," says Tony nonchalantly. 

Reluctantly, Jack and I hand Tony our phones. For about five minutes, he fiddles with them and his iPad thing and then hands them back. 

For the next ten or so minutes, while arrangements are being made, Jack and I take great delight in looking over the new features on our phones. Jack and I can private-track each other, meaning we can let each other know about our location. Tony has had enough tact to give us the choice whether or not to state our location, which I suppose is a safety application, but is nonetheless reassuring. We're also hooked up to everyone, including Coulson, Maria, and Pepper. I'm pretty sure the last three are going to be for pure emergency, seeing as they're not coming. 

As it turns out, I'm half right and half wrong. Pepper is staying at Stark tower, not to look pretty, but to be on hand with the higher points of JARVIS and Stark technology, just in case. Coulson is coming with us to act as a quote-on-quote special ops person ("It means he's going to use his position to get us in places" says Jack), and Maria's actually going to help us. 

"Why are we driving again?" I ask Tony, who is now talking with Bruce, who has just arrived. 

"Because we might need getaway cars," he replies in a matter-of-fact-voice. 

"Oh yeah," I say sarcastically, "Stupid me, I should have thought of that."  

"I know," agrees Tony, "Stupid you." 

I roll my eyes, but at that instant, the arrival of Thor and Loki distracts me. Thor is dressed in jeans and a plaid roll-down shirt that I recognize as Max's. Loki is in a suit, with a slender striped scarf around his neck- his scepter is disguised as an ordinary black cane. Both of them look like humans, but at the same time, so inhuman that I want to burst out laughing. 

But I don't dare. Thor might- and probably does- find the entire spectacle hilarious, but even after last night, Loki is still distantly sinister to both Jack and me. I bite my lip to stop my giggles, not keen on getting hit around the head with the very solid-looking cane. 

While Jack bounds upstairs on Stark's request to find out why the heck Max is taking so long, I meander over to Steve, who is talking with Maria and Sam. After a few minutes, I find that their conversation about the history of Washington DC impeccably boring, and so I look out the huge bay windows down to the sleepy city below. 

Eventually, when Jack and Max get downstairs, Tony begins to split everyone up. We're taking two cars- two black Escalades. Clint is going to be driving the first one, with Nat riding shotgun. Steve, Sam, and Tony have the middle row, while Jack and I get the slightly smaller backseat.

"Excellent!" grins Jack, "No Coulson, Max, or Loki!"

I have to admit, I'm relieved that I don't have to spend a four and a half hour car ride with a demigod who is still rather angry at me, or with Max who is also not pleased with me. Besides, having Tony Stark in the car should be interesting. Actually, being in the same car with any of these people will be interesting.

Turns out, I'm right. As Jack and I clamber into the backseat of the black-leathered seat (pointedly ignoring Loki who pointedly ignores us), Jack gets out his phone and begins going through his music. 

"Oh no..." I can only imagine what sort of songs Jack has. 

"Does anybody care if we listen to "Thrift Shop"?" he asks.

I groan, leaning back against the seat. 

"Besides Thea, anyway." 

"How about you wait until we pull out of Stark tower first?" suggest Nat. It's getting loud here in the lower levels of the garage as everyone tries to shout instructions and plans out at each other. 

Soon enough though, Tony gets in the car, slams the door shut, and Clint revs the engine. A few minutes later, we're on the busy streets of NYC. 

It's rather squished in here, not only because there are seven people, but also because we have duffel bags we are trying to squeeze under our feet and between us as well. I put my bag on my lap, and I think I have Steve's duffel underneath my sneakers. 

"So," says Steve, turning around in his seat to look at Jack, "What is "Thrift Shop"?"

"It's a bunch of curse words rapped to a tune," I say as Sam elbows Steve, evidently disappointed that his friend has never heard of this song.

"She has a point," says Nat from the front seat.

"Oh shut up," says Jack. Then, he adds hurriedly as Natasha shoots daggers at him, "Thea. Shut up Thea." 

"Do you have the clean version or the explicit version?" I ask meekly to Jack, who looks gleeful. 

"What's a clean version?" asks Jack with a grin. 

Not only does Jack begin to play "Thrift Shop", but he apparently has the desire to turn it up full blast. To add to it, he, Sam, and Tony begin to sing along to the words. Sam is the best at it, but Tony makes up for it by adding in "extra color" to it. Even Clint raps a little, which, if you hear Clint Barton rap, it's the most hilarious thing in the world, especially because he drums his hands on the steering wheel. 

Steve and I exchange mutual looks of discomfort. We don't exactly get any help from Natasha who, although doesn't state her opinion, is nodding her head to the beat regardless. In the end though, Steve seems to get into the rhythm, so I'm left to my own devices. 

"Okay," I say as the song finally comes to a close. "My turn." 

Jack groans, "You probably have the lamest music."

I ignore him and begin playing "Dark Horse". 

"Well," says Tony, "This isn't as bad as I thought Thea would've played. I was thinking something along the lines of Taylor Swift."

"First of all," I say over Jack's (admittedly good) singing, "Taylor Swift is marvelous. Second of all, don't go all bitchy-judgmental on me, Stark."

There are several cat-calls of "oooooohs" at my jab at Tony, who looks taken aback. 

After "Dark Horse", I play "Fancy", which is actually my last Tony-and-Jack-approved song. As it blares around us, making my head hurt a little, we happen to pull up next to the other Escalade on the interstate. Compared to our car, Max's looks perpetually quiet. Their windows are tinted, which means I can't see very well, but I make out Bruce glancing over at us and shaking his head in amusement. Jack and I wave enthusiastically. 

An hour later, we've abandoned trying to out-play ourselves. I should probably edit what 'we' means. It means me. When Tony had begun to play "Talk Dirty", I had drawn the line. I take out my earbuds and begin playing the Fray, nearly blasting my eardrums to drown out Tony's extremely inappropriate music. 

*

When we get to Washington DC, it's lunchtime. Before we eat, however, we pull into a JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue. While Coulson handles the specifics (as a distraction), Natasha and Clint sneak Jack and I up to our rooms. 

Since Maria (and Coulson) isn't staying overnight in the hotel, Natasha and I get a room to ourselves in the form of a double bedroom. It's not that big, but it's plenty comfortable for one night. Jack, Max, Clint, and Kyle are sharing a double room across the hall. As for where everyone else is at, I haven't a clue. 

A knock at the door sounds in Natasha's and my room- which at the moment is also being preoccupied by Jack and Clint Barton- and after I check the peep-hole, I let in Steve. Sam's probably 

"You ready?" Steve asks, nodding towards Nat. 

"Where are you going?" I ask curiously. 

"Lunch," Natasha says simply, pulling on a light sweater with a hood. "I think we're getting Subway. What do you kids want?" 

Jack and I look at each other.

"Why can't we go too?" Jack asks. 

"We're trying to keep a low profile," Natasha replies as she puts on some lip gloss, using the black TV as a mirror.

"I don't think a couple kids is going to blow your covers," I point out, "I mean c'mon, we can probably help. Getting food for fourteen people is going to be harder than it looks."

"Twelve," corrects Steve, who is putting on a baseball cap, shielding his face, "Phil Coulson and Maria aren't eating with us." 

"Fine," I gripe, "So can we go or not?"

Natasha shrugs, "Why not? Just get something with a hood just in case."

"Really?!" I squawk. I had thought we would run into much more trouble than that. 

"As long as you hurry up," she says, then turns to Clint, "Think you can hold down the fort for us?"

Clint, who is lounging on the large squashy armchair in the corner looks up from his iPad, "Yeah, sure." 

Natasha rolls her eyes and then after Jack borrows Clint's hooded Plain White T's shirt and I grab my own red sweater, we leave Clint on his iPad, shutting the door behind us. Evidently, Natasha already knows what everyone wants to eat, because she doesn't stop at any other hotel rooms, wherever they are. 

We make our way to the Subway, which is only about a five or ten minute drive- we use a rental car so that we can save the Escalades for tomorrow- especially since there's not that much traffic at the moment. 

Subway, however, is a bit crowded, seeing as its lunch time. Since we're picking up for twelve people, this is going to take a while.

Natasha, not the most patient in the world, finally informs us that the four of us are going to eat here while we wait for everyone else's food. I get an egg and cheese sandwich, and immediately begin to devour it, nearly before we get to our window-view table. 

"All right then," says Natasha as we slide into our seats. She has her phone out, a sleek iPhone with a bright red case, and is typing at it furiously, "Looks like Max had a heart attack when he found out Thea was gone." 

"Really?" I say between bites of sandwich. "Whoops."

Natasha waves my concern away as she clicks her phone off, "It's okay. I told Kyle we've got you and Jack."

"He wasn't worried about me, then?" asks Jack shrewdly from next to me. His face is stuffed with something that looks like sliced tomatoes. 

"I'm sure he was worried about both of you," says Steve, who is across from me. His eyes are darting around the restaurant with slight concern. I had heard Natasha once say that Steve's not the best undercover agent, although this isn't exactly what I would call "undercover."

I watch Natasha get up to get our (large) order from the counter. As she heads over, she is intercepted by two muscular, handsome men who look to be around her age. They say something to her in what is obviously a crooning voice (even though Nat's wearing a hoodie it doesn't mean that her figure isn't shown off any), but then I watch her say something to them in a low voice, her eyes throwing daggers. Seconds later, the two men back off, looking sheepish and slightly wary.

This is one of the reasons I admire Natasha so much. She's- there's no other word for it-cool. She embraces her femininity, but isn't flippant about it, and is quick to put men in their place if the need arises- I've seen her do it to Kyle a multitude of times. She focuses on the solution and not the problem, and lives life freely. Not to mention that she's a kick-ass fighter. I could learn a few things from her, that's for sure.

Steve, who hasn't even batted an eye of worry at Natasha's encounter, says to her when she gets back, "I thought you were going to knock them out?"

"I thought about it," says Natasha smoothly, resuming her lunch. 

I finish eating first, which isn't unusual because I'm a notoriously fast eater. I spend the remaining fifteen minutes looking outside at the streets, which are getting more and more crowded as the sun climbs higher in the sky. 

My phone vibrates. It's Kyle. 

From: Kyle

Did you remember by BBQ chips.

I roll my eyes. I had expected Kyle to echo Max and go on about how I shouldn't have left the hotel without telling them, but he's just asking about his food. Typical Kyle. 

To: Kyle

dont know don't care

I set my phone back down and look back outside. 

Then, I jump so violently that I knock over my cup of water, spilling it all over Jack and me. 

He is walking around the corner of the street, a hood on. He seems to be walking like a shadow, silently, so that other people scarcely notice him. I can't get my gaze off of his feline eyes that are piercing me through the window. 

"...Thea?" asks Natasha, but her voice is far away, "You okay?" 

He is smiling at me. I can see his fangs coming out over his full lips. 

I feel dizzy.

"Thea...Thea..." Jack is shaking me with great gusto, and I break eye contact with him to glance at Jack. 

When I look back, the shadow is gone. 

"What happened Thea?" asks Steve as I snap back into reality. 

My mouth is dry. I lick my lips and manage to say, "I thought...I mean I did...I saw him."

Natasha and Steve look at each other, frowning worriedly. Clearly, I don't need to elaborate on the fact that him means a tall, lanky, fanged Velah named Videl. 

Eep. 

So I just want to remind you that the Three Tasks trailer is up, in case you haven't seen it ;)

And also, the places in this chapter are not made up...

Hope you have a lovely day!

<3

Sierra