Hello lovelies! So excited that I got to write today :D 

Hope you enjoy!

~Songs~

Still Crazy- Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack

Urgent Matter- Thor soundtrack (I absolutely LOVE the end of this piece)

Edit: lokidottir

Everyone, check out the cool trailer on the right-hand side that FandoMinion for Three Tasks! Thanks so much!!!!! <3

Chapter Twenty-Eight 

~Nobody's POV~

By the time the plane makes it back to New York, Thea is nearly completely better, which, of course, means that she's been having a hard time sleeping again. They get back to Stark tower just in time for dinner, which everybody eats ravenously. Loki, with Bruce's assistance, uses the portal to return to Asgard, probably to get back Thor. 

Thea and Jack only agree to go to bed after they see the jewels Natasha had collected in the ruins. Reluctantly, after Loki leaves, Nat, Steve, and Max let the two of them get a glimpse of the priceless jewels. 

"Wow," says Jack, his eyes goggling as he looks at the giant sapphire. His rapturous eyes remind Thea of Abu from Aladdin. "Talk about priceless."

"Which is why," says Tony, who is just entering the room, "We are putting them in here until the murderous mermaids get them." In his hands, he is holding what appears to be a cubical, miniature safe, complete with a steel dial. 

"Good idea," Thea teases, "Because Jack looks like he's about to steal a couple of them." 

"Thanks a lot," says Jack sulkily. 

Jack is spending the night, along with Clint. Thea also got a glimpse of Charles, Jack's dad and Clint's older brother (who, for some reason, is mostly known as Barney) before he left for Canada (for some reason). Evidently, he has no problem leaving his only son with his brother to go journey to a different planet to resuscitate an ancient race of Velah. 

"Dad's great like that," says Jack admirably, who has changed into sleeping clothes. He and Thea are lounging on the sofa across from the mini kitchen in Thea's hallway, playing Uno. It's almost ten, but none of them feel like sleeping, even though both of them are exhausting.

"Yeah," says Thea, griping as Jack gives her a Draw 2 card, "And he lets you play hooky."

"As long as I get good grades," corrects Jack.

"Which isn't a problem for you," says Thea, growing grumpier as her stack of cards grows so that it now resembles a miniature deck. 

"True," grins Jack, who has about five cards left, "Uno." 

"You two need to get some sleep," says Max, poking his head out from his bedroom, where he's been catching up on conference calls (Max's alter-ego, when he's not a spy, is a telecommunications manager) (Kyle's is a bar man-slash-horse trainer), just as Thea is scowling magnificently.

"Sleep is for the weak," pronounces Jack, triumphantly placing down his last blue card.

"Yeah," says Thea, glaring at a very pompous-looking Jack, "For the weak." 

Max looks like he's about to say something stern, but his phone rings from his pocket. As he takes it out, he says, slightly exasperated, "Just get to bed soon, Thea, you're still recovering." 

The door closes behind him. 

"What do you say?" asks Jack mischievously, "Another couple rounds of me-beating-you-in-Uno?"

"Oh, shut up Jack." 

*

Evidently, planning to go to a different, unknown and uncharted, not to mention deadly planet takes a few days. On the second day, Steve approaches Thea, "All right, if you're up to it, how's about a little training?"

"Sounds good," says Thea, who has gotten rather bored and cranky only doing homework all day, being treated like an invalid by Kyle and Max, and being treated like a criminal by Loki.

"Good. Meet me back in our training room after lunch." 

Thankfully, Loki (and Thor) have not been to Stark tower any more, although Thor had popped in for a very brief and troubled-looking visit last night, when Jack and Thea were already asleep and one of the brothers is supposed to be stopping by later that day. In this way, Thea is free to do as poor as she desires. 

As it transpires, Thea isn't as rusty as she thought she would have been. Although she is beat by Steve (as usual) and Sam and Kyle beat her once each, she manages to beat the latter twice after she gets warmed up. Jack, unusually, hasn't appeared to witness Thea's training session, although Thea doesn't have time to dwell on this, because Steve is putting her through such rigorous routines.

They've left jiu=jitsu behind so that Thea can focus more on her strengths: outsmarting people and tripping their weaknesses. She has a knack for predicting someone else's next move and taking advantage of it. 

"Told you she was too clever for her own good," says Tony, who has briefly stopped by to oversee the damage Thea has inflicted on Kyle. 

Dagger fighting is her forte, and for this, Natasha comes into the room to help her try out with several sort of fancier equipment: hooked daggers, butcher-like knives, knives she can whip out from a slit in her sleeve, retractable daggers, and so on. For Thea, it's like candy-land. 

Natasha, with Tony's assistance, stitches up a leather sleeve to go around Thea's left arm, going all the way past her elbow. Inside two of the slits on either side of her bone, two stiletto knives fit, hidden inside. These stilettos are fortified with stardust, so that Thea concludes that either Thor or Loki (probably Thor) have been supplying her daggers. Also on the sleeve, there is a dial that, if it is switched to the left of right, small barbed arrows fly out, which could potentially be helpful for close combat.

"Although," says Natasha warningly as Thea looks over her new sleeve with eager eyes, "I wouldn't recommend wearing that until you're actually trying to hurt someone." 

What Thea is not quite up to par on yet is her far-flung aim. Clint attempts to straighten this out, using arrows. Thea's archery skills are not the best in the world, and after an hour of frustration, Clint switches tactics. 

"Let's try this," he says, handing Thea her emerald dagger. Moving the target a little closer to her, he demonstrates how to flick the dagger so that it lands in the bulls-eye. 

The dagger is more friendly in her hands, and after a few tries, during which Clint corrects her form, she manages to hit the bulls-eye a couple times. At least she's hitting the target, which is something she's not always good at with a bow and arrow.

As it turns out, Thea soon finds out why Jack has not been present during her extended training session. 

Just after Steve and Sam have their own practice round, and when Clint is running Thea through some sort of fancy fighting technique, Jack comes sprinting into the training room, carrying some sort of fabric, suppressing laughter and nearly knocking over Kyle in the process.
"He's going to kill me!" he chortles, ducking to hide behind a stack of exercise mats. 

Thea doesn't even have time to ask "Who?" because three seconds later, Loki comes storming into the room, slamming the door behind him. When she sees him, Thea claps her hands over her mouth to contain a shriek of laughter; it appears that Jack has somehow spilled something along the lines of pink dye all over the irate god of mischief himself. 

"Where is Jack?" asks Loki in a frighteningly calm voice. 

Thea shrugs, her shoulders shaking as she laughs silently. "P-pink looks go-o-d on you," she chokes out with mirth. 

From beside her, Clint's jaws are clenched together, but they're twitching dangerously, his eyes bright with hidden laughter.

Loki's furious green eyes swivel over to Thea and narrow. "You," he snarls stalking up to her, "What did you have to do with this?"

She is having a very hard time expressing her continued anger at Loki when half of his face is dyed a vibrant shade of pink, "I didn't do anything," she finally snaps, "Why do you always blame me?" 

Loki's lip curls and he turns away, surveying the room in a way that reminds Thea of a stalking tiger.
"All right then," says Kyle, who hasn't even bothered to hide his laughter, "If you'll be going now, Thea's in the middle of training." 

Natasha is leaning against the wall, her eyebrows raised as she stares at the spot behind the exercise mats. But when Loki, who has caught Natasha's look, turns around the corner, knocking over the mats as he does so, it's completely empty. 

Thea's eyes widen excruciatingly, but creates a mask of incredulity when Loki whips around to glare at her, "Where is he?" 

"I don't know!" she squeaks.

"Liar!" 

"Loki, you're interrupting," pouts Thea, her eyes darting to the closed door, "And now I'm tired, and it's your fault. Again." She looks at Clint innocently, "Can I take a quick break?"

Clint looks like he's about to say no, but Natasha talks over him, "Yeah, that's fine Thea. Come back in five minutes." 

Thea doesn't have to be asked twice. She scurries from the room, opening the door wide as she does so, and hurries down the hallway. 

As soon as she turns the corner, Thea begins to giggle, "Okay, Jack, where are you? I know you're here!" 

Laughing, Jack appears from underneath Thea's cloak. "Blimey Thea, you caught on quick. I thought I was a goner." 

"I think Natasha saw you though," she admits, "But she didn't say anything about it. I'll ask her later." 

 Jack chortles, "Nat's fine, as long as she doesn't tell anyone. Come to think about it, if anyone knows about the cloak-besides Peter of course, but he's one of us- Natasha's the best one." 

"Well thank you."

Thea and Jack jump about five feet and turn around to see a rather amusing-looking Natasha Romanoff standing a couple feet from them, arms crossed. 

"Oh, hi there Nat," says Jack casually. "Thanks for the help back there."

"Don't mention it," she says, a smirk threatening to emerge from her solemn face, "Is that pink dye permanent?"

"Naw," says Jack airily, "It'll wash off soon enough." 

"Ah," her eyes dart over to Thea, who is now holding the cloak, "You have quite the cloak there, Thea."

"Uh, thanks. Um, you won't mention it to anyone, will you?" 

Natasha raises her eyebrows, "No, but at least I know how you got out of the hotel in Washington, Thea. We all thought it was Peter." 

"Ha." says Thea, "Well thanks."

Natasha smiles slightly, "You'd better come back to the training room if you don't want Loki to be suspicious. And as for you, Jack, I suggest you take that cloak and run like hell." 

Jack salutes Natasha, "But of course." 

Laughing gleefully, he takes the cloak back from Thea, pulls it on, and runs around the corner- well at least that's what Natasha and Thea figure: all they can do is hear Jack's feet pattering along the hallway. 

*

"WHAT?" Thea practically screeches the next afternoon, "Leah is NOT coming with us. Absolutely not!" 

"We do not have much of a choice," says Thor, who looks weary, "As Videl grows stronger, he grows more dangerous. If you saw him in Washington, this means that he can now travel. How far, we cannot imagine. Her safest place is by my side, and by the sides of those who can best protect her. I do not think Videl would use her as a bargaining tool, but he is getting anxious for his power to return, and I merely wish to be cautious."

"This is ridiculous!" Thea exclaims, "I'm not taking my baby sister to some sort of planet where God knows what kind of stuff is lurking around, where anything can happen. It's just not happening!" 

"Now you know how we feel all the time when you want to do things you shouldn't," says Kyle, who is sitting on the chair across from Thea lazily, his feet kicked up on the table. 

Thea looks enraged. 

"Leah's going to be safe, Thea," says Natasha, "Even though Asgard is pretty secure, Odin is getting more and more anxious to be rid of Leah, and in the event of the siege, we don't know what he would do if Videl threatens his people for the sake of a mortal girl."

"I'm coming too," says Jane with a small smile, who is the fifth and last person in the room (Thor hadn't thought it a good idea to break the news to Thea with Loki present), "I want her safe just as much as you do."

"I doubt it," mutters Thea, who is so angry, she is shaking. 

"She won't be doing anything dangerous," assures Natasha, "She'll just be there, where we can protect her." 

Thea still looks irate and refuses to meet the eyes of those around her, because tears are threatening to spill from pure fury.

*

When Thea wakes up on the morning to depart for Ardhigiza, she is groggy from lack of sleep, having woken up from nightmares twice in the night; Max had acted as her nightly bodyguard, but he could not offer her much comfort. In both dreams, she had envisioned that Videl had killed Leah and laughing, had moved on to finish her off too. She had woken in a cold sweat. 

Max had left the room earlier that morning, after making sure Thea was all right, to help prepare for the journey, which had taken a few days to prepare for. 

The noise of the dozen or so travelers is echoing up through the several stories of Stark tower, causing Thea's ears to ring. While she packs her large rucksack, complete with fresh clothes, rope, various weapons (including her stiletto sleeve and the extra dagger Myrinea had given her), Asgardian journal, and various toiletries, she realizes she may not ever be returning to her little room in Stark tower. She looks around at it, half fondly, half sadly, before zipping up her bag (now very heavy), heaving it over her shoulders, and walking out of the room. 

Stark tower is in a commotion that morning. 

Earlier, before the sun had even begun to rise, Thor had returned to Asgard to fetch Leah, as well as some potentially helpful weapons. His absence naturally meant that Loki was the only Asgardian left and caused him a certain amount of pompousness- which was gone quickly after Jack reminds him about his still slightly pink face. 

When Thor returns, Leah's and Thea's reuniting mixes in with the clamor, before Jane hurries Leah away to get ready to go, leaving Thea still nearly sick with worry for her sister.
In the meanwhile, weapons are being sheathed, water stored, medical supplies packed, scientific supplies wrapped up neatly, and on and on, all over JARVIS's continuous commentary echoing throughout the tower.  

Everyone except Darcy, Pepper, and Coulson, it seems, is coming to Ardhigiza, which means that as the morning wears on, the noise gets even louder. People are shouting reminders and orders up stairs and down hallways, running through corridors to grab something forgotten, all under the pretense of anxiety and a bit of excitement for the adventure to come. 

Adding to the din is the shouting match between Loki and Thea that takes place after Thea accidentally runs into him whilst running while carrying about four or five knives in her hand, on her way to give them to Natasha.

"—You could have killed yourself, idiot girl!" he snarls, confiscating the daggers from her. 

"—You are NOT THE BOSS OF ME!" she shrieks, her voice escalating at every word as she tries to re-claim the knives, nearly slicing her hand open in the process, "LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU OVERLORDING ASS!" 

In the end, Steve and Natasha, who have heard the noise, have to come running to break the two of them up, "before you kill each other," says Steve sternly. 

Eventually, at around ten in the morning, everyone is ready. It has been decided that the portal will be used to get to Ardhigiza, thanks to a whole lot of fidgeting from Bruce and Tony, plus advice from Thor and Heimdall (the latter had carried his words to Earth via Thor). Everything has been packed and prepared, radios wired (thanks to a mostly sleepless night from Tony, Max, and Bruce), and phones charged. Clint and Natasha have imported a large stock of weapons from somewhere. Leah is chattering cheerful about the whole matter, not understanding the danger. Jack is just as cheerful even though he does understand the danger.  Loki and Thea have retained their newfound hatred of each other, which escalates through the morning so often and so loudly due to their tetchy moods that at one point, Natasha threatens to shoot both of them point-blank. 

"On the bright side," says Jack cheerfully, "We're going to be exploring a new planet!"

"Oh goody," says Thea bitterly, who is still mad and sucking her finger, where the dagger had pierced it earlier, "So we can go die." 

"Nobody is going to die, Thea," says Thor gently. He is carrying Leah, who is now sleeping against the Norse god's broad shoulder. Loki is standing next to his brother, looking at Thea stonily as Thor says, "This I can promise you."

"No," says Thea as she pulls the backpack over her shoulder and walks up the stairs towards the portal room, "You can't promise me that." 

As she stalks away, Loki says in an undertone, "She has a point."

"Shut up, Loki," says Thor and Jack simultaneously. 

Yeah, shut up Loki ;) 

Hope you liked it!

~Three Tasks Fact~

In the chapter Back to New York, Thea notices that the decorations in her room have changed to a slightly greener tone. This is actually a nod to a score on the Avengers soundtrack: Stark Goes Green

~Three Tasks Fact~

When writing this chapter and Chaos, I imagine Stark tower very much like the crazy/loud/hectic atmosphere in Grimmauld Place in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix