Hi! You're probably going to like this one...well, I hope you do anyway haha.

I won't be able to update tomorrow... sorry :(

Edit: Me

~Songs~

Little Talks- Of Monster's and Men

Helicarrier- The Avengers soundtrack

Chapter Nine

~Nobody's POV~

Wairua has done his job well. Videl knows that Thea has been having nightmares, and is pleased about it. He also knows that she will be going to Myrinea sooner than later

"Just wait brother," he says to Archer, who is lounging lazily in a corner, lips red. "We will have our vengeance soon." 

Wairua hoots before taking back off.

"Very soon."

~Thea's POV~

"When did you get in?" I exclaim to Natasha as we walk down the hallway, past Max's and Kyle's open doors. They've probably been awake for hours. 

"This morning, around eight," Natasha replies. She looks a little different than the last time I've seen her. Her hair is straight and down to her shoulders, seemingly an even more vivid red, making her face seem more angular and her eyes even more green. She has the same authoritative, no-nonsense air about her, though, and I'm glad that hasn't changed.

"Jack should be here around twelve," she adds. "Have you heard anything from Peter yet?"

"No," I say sadly. 

Natasha's face draws. "Poor guy. We probably shouldn't bother him right now, huh?"

"No," I repeat, also repeating what I had told myself this morning. No doubt that Peter would offer invaluable help, but he has enough on his mind, and we should probably just leave him alone. 

Natasha leaves me to eat breakfast by myself in the kitchen, although Clint pops his head in for a few seconds to inform me that he's gone to pick up Jack from school. I acknowledge him with a wave. 

I haven't the slightest idea where Steve might be, but I find Bruce and Tony in the portal lab, more likely than not, shutting it down. It turns out I'm wrong. 

"We're re-calibrating it for Asgard," Bruce tells me. Neither he nor Tony seem mad about Jack's and my little escapade with their invention (the only thing Tony asked me about was how well it had worked). "When Jane gets here, she might be able to use it to get in touch with Thor." 

"When does she get here?" I ask, sitting down at a bench and watching Tony nearly burn himself with a bit of hot metal. 

"Probably around the same time Jack does," replies Bruce. "Her plane is just about to land, I think." 

"Do you know where Steve is?" I ask, eager to see what he's been up to. 

"Last time I saw him, he was on the third floor balcony," says Tony. "With Mr. Falcon." 

Oh right, I had forgotten that this Sam person is here too.  

As it turns out, Steve is not to be found not only on the balcony, but the entire third story. I do find Max lounging on a couch, on his iPad, so I very quietly sneak past him. I don't feel like having another confrontation at the moment. 

I'm slightly out of breath by the time I walk back up to the fourth floor lab. "He wasn't in there!" I exclaim, shooting Tony a blaming glare.

Tony shrugs nonchalantly. "He's probably around here somewhere. While you're here, can you tell me approximately how long it took for your trip?" 

"Tony!" I moan. 

"C'mon, just answer the question." 

"Like ten seconds?" I guess wildly. 

"Okay thanks, you can go now."

"Where's Steve?!"

"How should I know? Do you think I track his every move?"

"It's your house."

"What does that mean? I'm a bloodhound?"

"Funny, I was about to say that you were, considering you definitely like tracking Jack's and my every move."

"I believe that was for your own safety."

"Yeah, because I stayed plenty safe."

"You're alive, aren't you?"

"I just got threatened by a vampire, thanks to your machine." 

"Nobody told you to use it." 

"It's a portal to another world, what do you expect me to do?" 

"Maybe just stand by and let the experts take over, like you should do and never do."

"I'm not one for cooperation."
"Yes, Thea, we all know that."

"Yeah, I haven't been given much of a-" 

"You know," says Bruce, who is still fiddling with the large screen. "This is like my own little comedy show. Throw in Kyle, Jack, and Loki and it could win some Academy Awards." 

Tony and I both shoot Bruce very contemptuous looks. He holds up his hands defensively. 

"I'm going to go find Steve!" I say, flouncing from the room. 

"You do that," says Tony. 

"Shut up Tony!" I yell over my shoulder, but I can't help the grin that's spreading across my face. I glance back to see him smirking shrewdly in my general direction. 

I finally find Steve on the fifth floor, ironically on the balcony. He's standing with a relatively tall African American man with a buzz cut, a chiseled face, and prominent black eyes.

"Steve!" I exclaim, running up to him.  

He grabs me in a hug that literally pulls me off my feet; his muscles nearly crush me. "Thea, wow!" He sets me back on my feet and then looks me up and down. "You've grown."

"I have?" Quite frankly, I feel shorter than ever next to Steve Rogers. 

He gives a wry smile. "Maybe not too much. But some."

"It's progress," I grin. "How was Europe?"

"Europe was good, until another mission called me back to the States," Steve raises his eyebrows at me. 

"Sorry!" I say cheerfully. 

He laughs. "You really haven't changed, have you?" He nods towards his companion, "This is a friend of mine, Mr. Sam Wilson. Otherwise known as the Falcon."

"Call me Sam," he says, shaking my hand. He has one of the brightest smiles I've ever seen. "It's great to meet you, Thea. I've heard a lot about you." 

"All good things I hope," I add, shooting Steve a furtive look. He shakes his head at me, his lips twitching. 

"When do Jane and Darcy arrive?" Steve asks. 

"Um, around twelve. Like Jack."

"Jack Barton?" asks Sam, "Hawkeye's nephew?" 

"Yep, that Jack," says Steve. 

Sam grins at me,"You and him have a little something, don't you?"

I groan at Steve, "We're just friends! What have you been telling your friends about me?"

"All good things, I told you, Thea," laughs Steve. 

"You never actually told me," I point out.

"You're right, she is way too funny," says Sam, who is also laughing. 

"Wait, you can fly right?" I ask Sam, remembering something I had heard Tony say on Sunday. "That's...amazing!"

Sam looks mollified. "Well, thanks. And I hear that you can do some pretty mean fighting yourself?"

"Oh yeah," I say, faux-boasting, throwing my elbow on Steve's shoulder, which isn't easy for me seeing as he's much taller than me. "I could take down Captain America." 

"Could you now?" Steve asks, wiggling his eyebrows at me. "We'll have to see about that." 

We're interrupted by Natasha, who has just walked into the room. "Thea, Jack's just arrived. I'm pretty sure he's already halfway up here, but I thought you might as well be warned before he comes barreling up-"

"THEA!"

"...Here." Natasha finishes lamely. 

Jack runs up to me, suffocating me in a hug that could rival Steve's. "Blimey, Thea, you need to stop pissing off aliens!"

"Thanks for the advice," I say dryly, "I'll remember that next time you screw up an inter-galactic portal and I nearly become a vampire's lunch."  

"Vampires..." says Jack in a admiringly exasperated voice. 

"Yes, please keep up, Jack," I tease. 

"Well," says Jack. "You know what this means, right?"

"What?" 

Jack smirks, "Looks like you have a bloody problem."

"OH MY GOD, JACK!" I moan as Steve, Sam, and Jack burst out laughing. 

*

We all congregate in the living area/bar area of an impromptu meeting. 'We' includes Steve, Tony, Sam, Natasha, Clint, Kyle, and Jack. Darcy and Jane have arrived, but they're with Bruce in the lab, trying to get the portal to work, and Max is on the phone with somebody two floors below. 

"Assuming we get the Asgardians help, do we even know how to get to this Myrinea person?" asks Natasha. 

"That's what Thor will have to help with," says Steve. "Unless we get that portal working one hundred percent, it's not going to be reliable enough to transport all of us." 

Clint, who is halfway lounging on the sofa next to the drink-strewn table, pipes up, "Basically, we're going to need to work with Odin again."

"That's going to be fun," says Kyle sarcastically. 

"We don't have a choice," says Steve firmly, "We need to get to this oracle woman, and very soon." 

"If I may interject," says Tony, "Oracles are not known to be the most friendly people."

"Have you had any experience, Stark?" asks Natasha shrewdly. 

Tony makes a face at her, "No, but if you read any Greek myth..."

"Keyword," says Steve, "Is myth."

"Yeah, Thor and Loki were myths and blood-sucking freaks were myths as were aliens." says Tony, helping himself to a glass of something. 

"Point taken," says Steve. "So now, we wait."

I groan. I do not like waiting. 

*

Three and a half days pass. Slow, boring days where I spend a lot of my time pacing every square inch of Stark Tower, waiting for Jack to get back from school so he can join me in the pacing.

Finally, on Saturday as I am taking my boredom out on sorting various tools in one of the various labs, Steve pulls me aside, "Meet me in the boxing ring room after lunch, okay?"

I have nothing else to do, so after gobbling down a muffin and abandoning Jack to an afternoon in Bruce's and Tony's lab, I walk into one of the many practice-fight rings. Steve is dressed in a t-shirt, even more exposing his super muscles. I'm envious, seeing as I'm still a twig. Sam is also in here, wearing a tank and about ready to work out.

"Today," says Steve, wrapping some tape around his hands, which makes me a little nervous, "I'm introducing you to Brazilian jiu-jitsu." 

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask. 

"Jiu-jitsu," repeats Steve. "Is a Brazilian combat sport and defensive system. It focuses on submission and chokeholds."

"Lovely," I say, "So you got tired of me, and you're going to choke me now?"

Sam stifles a laugh. 

Steve pretends I hadn't spoken, "You're a good fighter, Thea, but you focus too much on people's weaknesses. While you do that, they expose yours and leave you open to vulnerability. Jiu-jitsu will also help you overpower your enemies even though you're a lot smaller than them."

"Thanks."

"It's the truth. Now Sam and I are going to demonstrate first, and then you can try it with Sam, since he's less likely to..." Steve pauses looking for the right word, "Hurt you." 

I raise my eyebrows and lean against the ring's springy railing. Sam ducks underneath, walking into the boxing ring. "Try not to hurt me too much, pal," says Sam wryly as he and Steve face each other.

"No guarantees," says Steve. 

What follows appears to be a caffeinated version of combat wrestling. I stare as Steve, after a series of brilliantly executed kicks and punches from both men, as he slams Sam to the ground. Before I can blink, Steve has thrown his weight forward, now sitting astride Sam's chest, holding him to the floor using his legs and arms. Sam grapples on the ground, but can't get a grip. 

A few seconds later, Steve releases Sam, and helps him up. "You see that, Thea?"

"I might've observed a little," I say sarcastically.

"We'll let Sam catch a breath," says Steve, "While I show you how to do this, in slow-motion."

"Good luck," says Sam, who is sweating as he playfully punches my shoulder and exits the ring. 

"Thanks," I say dryly. 

Steve lets me "win" first so that he can show me where to put my hands. "You need to put them either under the person's arms, or on their throat to hinder their movements." 

My hands are so tiny, they're practically useless against Steve, but he humors me enough to let me get in some practice. 

The first time I try with Sam, I end up tripping on my feet even before either of us can try the grappling thing. "Oh crap," I mutter, because Sam has me pinned before I can move another muscle. "That was a fluke!" 

"I know it was," says Steve, "So try again."

On the third try, I finally manage to get astride Sam's chest, but he's so much bigger than me, I only manage to hold him for a few seconds before he overpowers me. I know that unless I go in my "crazy mode" (as Jack calls it), I'm practically useless. 

Finally, finally, finally, on the seventh attempt, I feel my eyes narrow and my muscles tighten. This time, I slam Sam down instead of vise versa and he's in my chokehold in seconds. 

"Better," says Steve as I let go of a gasping Sam and stand up. "Much better." 

We go at it for another full hour, and by that point, I am sweating and sore. At the end though, I have to admit that Steve has a point- this jiu-jitsu stuff could come in handy. Steve was right when he said that I leave myself vulnerable when I fight, going more for people's arms and legs to immobilize them. Jiu-jitsu immediately lets me attempt to go for a full-out attack instead of circling my competitor like a vulture first. 

In general, my fighting is above average, but not perfect. I'm still clumsy and slow, and compared to Steve, I'm a water buffalo. But I'm happy that I'm making progress. Finally.

*

A week and a half later, there has been no progress with Asgard. Actually, that's not completely true, there has been some progress, but not enough. Four days ago, out of desperation, I had gotten the useless journal out and written If someone could come to earth and help us with this vampire problem, we would greatly appreciate it. 

Naturally, I have gotten no response. 

Through this week-and-a-half, though, I had gotten better a jiu—jitsu so that one day, I even managed to pin Steve down for about three seconds before he flipped the circumstances (literally). 

Also during this time period, Kyle and Max and forced me to do schoolwork, that they had bribed Mattison to send via email to me. There are perks, however, to doing schoolwork in Stark tower. Tony and Bruce help me with physical science and math (Tony briefly made fun of me for how easy Algebra 1 is, before I threatened him with jiu-jitsu). Steve helps me with history, since I'm studying World War I right now (he was WWII, but he's naturally familiar with the first one). I'm good enough at English, so that's not an issue, and neither is art. I'm no good at Spanish, but for this, Natasha helps me out whenever she's around. 

So, in short, staying at Stark tower is not an issue for me whatsoever.

Monday brings good news; the portal is starting to be stable enough to try and attempt another expedition to Asgard. Although Tony ends up in Vanaheim, that's the realm right below Asgard, so we're making rapid progress. 

That afternoon, as I'm working on an English essay (about the symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird) on my bed and waiting for Jack to get back from school, I hear a loud bang coming from the floor below me. The fire alarm goes off briefly, and then it stops. 

Within thirty seconds, I have run down to the lab, which is engulfed in smoke; the sprinklers are on.

"What happened?!" I exclaim as the smoke clears thanks to Tony's little dog-like machine. 

Tony looks like a raccoon and I try not to laugh as he says, "Just a mild calibration issue. It's actually a good thing, because it means we're getting closer."

"How's that essay coming along?" asks Bruce, wiping his smoky face with a damp towel. 
"Awful," I moan.

"Sorry," says Tony.

"I just bet you are," I grumble, walking out of the room and back upstairs to my room to compare Scout to a mockingbird. 

*

That night, I sit on my bed at 1:30 in the morning. I can't sleep, and the fact that there's been some banging around upstairs (why upstairs since the lab is downstairs is beyond me- it sounds like it's been coming from the roof) for the past half-hour plus the nightmares that keep haunting me have forced me to abandon sleep and instead read Matched. 

Loud voices sound from upstairs, and I groan. It sounds like Tony's having a party or something, and I'm tempted to go up there. 

I don't though, because even though I don't want to sleep, that doesn't mean I'm not tired. Jack and I were texting earlier, but I'm pretty sure he fell asleep because he hasn't sent me anything for a half hour. 

Happily, I've heard from Peter a couple times. We talked on the phone once too. He's still very upset, though, so I'm careful not to bother him or let on that I'm still in New York. I don't want to worry and stress him any more than he already is. 

Thankfully, the loud noises settle down around two. I'm still reading in the glow of my lamp, widening my eyes to prevent them from closing. I will not fall asleep, I will not fall asleep, I will not fall...asleep...

My eyelids droop and I fall out of consciousness. In the dream, there's a creaking of my bedroom door and windows, and I'm suddenly surrounded by two Velah and an owl. 

I wake up, shaking. My lamp is still on, my dagger is still on my night stand, and my book is still next to me. A glance at the clock has told me that I've only been asleep for around twenty minutes. 

I close my eyes, looking up at the ceiling, concentrating on deep breaths, but that's when I realize that the reason I woke us was because of the real creak of the footsteps outside my room. There shouldn't be anyone in my room right now, right?

Jumping up, chills running up and down my spine, I grab my dagger. 

The door opens. 

I scream at the tall silhouette of the man in front of me, accented by the lamplight, unfamiliar yet so familiar. Without thinking, I throw the dagger forward, the knife aimed right at his heart. 

It would have skewered him had he not grabbed it deftly from the air with the precision of a snake's tongue. 

As he comes into the full light of the lamp twirling my dagger in his fingers, I stare, too frozen, scared, and shocked to say a word. 

"Well, just what have you gotten yourself into this time, kitten?" smirks Loki. 

_____________

...Told you ;) 

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Love, Sierra <3