Chapter 3

I stared at the man responsible for all of that death and destruction only 5 years ago. I remember watching the news with my roommates in our dorm and holding each other tight, unsure if the Avengers could stop him. We didn't know who the Avengers were at the time, but we knew who Iron Man was. We knew we could trust them if they were working with him. I have never felt fear like I did that day. Watching the videos on YouTube of people begging for help, people screaming for their loved ones. 

When all was said and done we were told Loki was killed in the fight. We were told the threat was gone and the world was safe again. But as I stared at the very man responsible for it all, I could feel my emotions stirring. I wasn't sure if it was fear or anger. Maybe both. Loki's bright green eyes met mine and I swallowed hard as my heart began to rapidly beat in my chest. 

It was definitely fear I was feeling. And he could feel that.

"Ah! Who is this beauty?" Thor's voice loudly asked as he and Peter walked over to me, arms draped over one another.

"This is Alex, my new personal assistant. Try not to scare her." Mr. Stark replied before I could even react.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Alex." Thor formally said as he removed his arm from Peter and extended his large hand to me. I slowly tore my eyes from Loki and looked up at the God and extended my hand to his. He quickly, but gently, grabbed it in a fast handshake. My whole arm shook with his greeting and I couldn't help but laugh.

"It's nice to meet you too." I was a bit more relaxed around Thor because I had already done this whole "meeting your hero's" thing twice. It was becoming more natural already. As we let go I looked back to Loki, who was now gone from his spot.

"And this is-" Thor began to introduce his brother but stopped when he realized he was gone. 

"Hello." I heard a deep voice whisper in my ear. 

"Ah!" I jumped back and away from Loki, who was suddenly standing right up against me and smirking.

"Jesus!" I yelled at him as I put my hand on my chest, feeling my rapid heartbeat. I wasn't prepared for that.

"No, Lady Alex, that is Loki." Thor sounded really confused.

"Wait, you're telling me that isn't Jesus Christ standing in my living room right now?" Mr. Stark scoffed as he crossed his arms.

"Alright, back to where you came from, imposter." He shooed Loki away from me and the God rolled his eyes but moved without protest. He walked a few feet back from me but kept those memorizing green eyes on me. A small playful smirk played on his lips too.

"Yeah, no, n- I know who he is, Thor. He just scared me by... suddenly appearing right there." I said as I dropped my hand from my chest and crossed my arms.

"He is just Loki, Lady Alex. What is there to be scared of?" Thor chuckled as he set his hammer down next to him. 

"What's not to be scared of?" I asked, raising my brow as I looked away from Thor and back to Loki. Loki's smirk slowly disappeared and his eyes fell to his feet, it looked like I hurt his feelings with my question.

I looked over at Mr. Stark and he could tell I was confused by Loki being here. He motioned for me to follow him and excused us from the group. As we walked through his living room and towards a set of stairs, ones that I assumed took us to his lab under his living room, I realized Loki was still staring at me. I forced myself not to return the gaze, not giving him the attention he wanted.

We walked down the stairs and he input the code at the glass doors. The opened up and he let me walk in first before closing the doors behind us. I was in complete awe as I stood at the entrance of Tony Stark's personal lab. I slowly took in my surroundings and slyly pinched myself, making sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Okay, so, the Loki thing is confusing you." Mr. Stark laughed as he walked over to his personal desk. This one was much more cluttered and used compared to the one in his work office. It was clear where he spent all of his time.

"Yeeeah." I nodded as I joined him and stood across from him. I looked down and spotted a concept drawing of a new part for his Iron Man costume and picked it up, studying it.

"Long story short, kid, Loki is an Avenger now." Mr. Stark said, shrugging. I furrowed my brows as I looked at him and set the drawing back on the desk.

"I'm gonna need the long story." I replied.

"Long story means whole story and Fury would have my head if I told you the whole story." Mr. Stark said as he stood up from his desk and walked away from me and towards the center of his lab.

"So, I'm gonna tell you the whole story." He touched the top of the console that sat before him and a holographic depiction of the day Loki attacked popped up in the air. My eyes went wide as I walked over and joined him.

"Alright, so, you remember all of this, right? You weren't too young still?" Mr. Stark asked me as he fast forward all the footage his Iron Man cameras caught.

"Mr. Stark, I was 20 years old when this happened. It's only been 5 years." I laughed as I looked at him.

"Oh my god, 20 years old. Still a baby weren't you?" He joked as he looked back at the hologram.

"So, when we defeated Loki we didn't kill him. Thor made us promise not to. Something about family love or whatever, I dunno." He shrugged as he waved the scene of Thor pleading for Loki's life away.

"Fury agreed to keep Loki alive, only if he could keep Loki here to answer for his crimes." He said as the footage of Fury and Thor arguing played. Fury was only human but he seemed to scare even Thor at one point.

"So, Thor agreed. They locked little Loki up in a maximum security cage on the Hellicarrier. He stayed there for a few months while S.H.I.E.L.D crews cleaned up the city." Mr. Stark flashed to an image of Loki sitting in his glass cage. He had his hands tied behind his back, a black metal mask over his nose and mouth, his black hair sat in a mess on his head and his bright green eyes looked...tired. I almost felt bad for the guy, then the aftermath images of what he had done popped up and that feeling went away.

"Fury decided it was best to tell everyone Loki was killed. He could answer for his crimes in private while the public celebrated his death." He pulled up a few pictures of people burning piñatas and paper mache works that looked like Loki.

"After some thorough investigation...it turns out it wasn't Loki's fault." Mr. Stark used both hands to pull down all of the images and videos he had shown me and then used his right hand to pull up a large, 3D image of another man. This man was purple, had no hair, it looked like his beard was chiseled into his face and his eyes screamed pure evil.

"This is Thanos. He was controlling Loki. He had made Loki a deal, Loki could have Earth if he killed all the occupants on it. But..." Mr. Stark dropped the image and brought up a bunch of Loki and Thor. They were laughing with one another and even had their arms around one another in a few. They looked like a pair of normal brothers. It warmed my heart a bit to scroll through the pictures. He stopped at a picture of just Loki. He was standing alone on Mr. Stark's personal balcony. I could see a party in the background but Loki was outside during it. He had a small, sweet smile on his face and his bright green eyes were basically glowing. He stood up tall and proud in his green and gold Asgard uniform. He looked...almost innocent.

"...once Loki found out how much Thor loved Earth, he refused. Thanos didn't like that so...he took over Loki's mind." The picture suddenly changed to the Loki I could recognize. His green eyes were dim and full of hate, he had his signature horned helmet on his head and staff in his hand. He hunched over and his smile was now a vicious smirk. I inhaled as I stared at him. I couldn't believe they were the same person. But if Mr. Stark is telling the truth, they technically aren't.

"Once we found that out we had a few long, long, long talks with little Loki and he agreed to help us kill Thanos. We still haven't done that yet, but we're working on it." Mr. Stark dropped all the pictures and the console turned off. 

"Loki has been an Avenger for 4 years now. Helping search for Thanos, fighting off threats off world." He explained as he walked back towards the doors.

"How is he an Avenger though? Isn't it only the 7 of you?" I asked as I held out my fingers and counted off all of the Avengers I knew.

"Publicly, yep. Privately, there's a few more." Mr. Stark winked as he opened the door and motioned for me to follow. We walked back up stairs and my head was spinning with this new information. I still couldn't believe Loki was innocent in all of this. And I couldn't believe there was even more Avengers!

"Ah, Tony, Lady Alex. Where were you?" Thor loudly asked as we walked through the living room.

"Oh, sorry Assgardian. I was showing her something with my primitive technology. I would have invited you but I'm sure your massive, evolved brain couldn't handle how basic my work is." Mr. Stark was snarky with his comment but I could tell it was in a friendly way.

"Tony, Atalla did not mean anything by it when she said that! She just meant that Earth is a long ways away from being on Asgard's level." Thor scoffed as he rolled his eyes. Mr. Stark poked the God in the chest and I knew the arguing was coming.

"Listen you big hunk of a man. I worked years to develop the tech-" Thor walked away and Mr. Stark scoffed before quickly following behind him, yelling more about his work. Pepper rolled her eyes but laughed at him as she trailed behind, probably to prevent things from turning unfriendly. It was clear it hurt Mr. Stark to have someone think his work was "primitive". It was his life. It was offensive.

"Well, that was exciting." Peter laughed as he walked over to me. I chuckled and nodded in agreement as I crossed my arms.

"So, since we've greeted the guests, do you wanna get out of here? We can go flying around the city more." Peter excitedly asked me. I was about to answer with an equally excited yes but Loki suddenly appears next to us and raised a brow as a smirk played on his lips.

"You're spending your night with a strange new girl while poor Mary Jane is all alone at home? What kind of boyfriend does such a thing?" He was taunting Peter. He focused his green eyes on me and he tisked as he looked me up and down, stopping once he got back to my eyes.

"And what kind of woman are you to take up a taken man's time with fantasies of romantically flying around the city?" He asked me. I was shocked by this accusation and even a little offended.

"First of all, I didn't know he had a girlfriend. And second of all, it doesn't matter because we're just friends you creep!" I harshly replied. I was already annoyed with him for scaring me earlier and now this? Loki seemed taken back by my harsh tone but that only lasted for a moment. His slight shock turned into a playful grin, knowing he had gotten to me. I mentally smacked myself for even reacting to him, giving him exactly what he wanted.

"She knows where I am and what I'm doing. M.J and I have a strong relationship, we don't get jealous. She knows I'm showing a new coworker around the city." Peter rolled his eyes, completely unbothered by Loki. The God smirked, as if he knew something we didn't. Peter suddenly put his mask on and touched his ear.

"Hello?" He asked as he turned and walked away. He was answering the built in device in his mask. He left me alone with Loki and I could feel his gaze on me. I clenched my jaw, annoyed with him again, and snapped my head in his direction. I was going to tell at him to stop staring at me, but he was gone.

"Over here." He whispered in my left ear. I jumped and snapped my head to the left, coming face to face with Loki. He was leaning down and just inches away from me, his bright green eyes fixed on mine and a smirk plastered on his face.

"Stop doing that." I harshly whispered as I furrowed my brows at him. He suddenly disappeared from my view.

"Doing what?" He whispered from behind me. I jumped a little and turned around but he was gone again. I turned back around and he was standing in front of me, tall and amused with himself. I narrowed my eyes at the childish God and his smirk turned into a smile as he began to laugh. He had a beautiful laugh, it felt pure. He genuinely thought he was being funny. I rolled my eyes but felt a small smile form on my face. I always had a problem when around people who were smiling or laughing, even if I didn't get what was happening or find it funny, I laughed with them. I couldn't help it. Laughing and smiling was contagious to me.

"Hey, Alex?" Peter asked as he walked over. I looked away from Loki and to Peter, who had his mask off again and a look of annoyance on his face.

"I gotta go." He said as he glared at Loki. I had a feeling Loki used some of his mischievous magic to cause a problem for Peter. Loki innocently looked away from Peter and put his hands behind his back.

"That's alright. I'll catch the bus home or something." I shrugged. 

"Uh, no way kiddo. I'm not letting you ride around at night in this city." Mr. Stark scoffed as he and the other 2 walked back into the room.

"You can stay here for the night." Mr. Stark seemed like he was demanding instead of offering. I've heard stories about how dangerous New York can get at night, but I figured with the thought of Iron Man and the Avengers watching over it crime would go down. I guess not.

"You should! It's a lot safer and we can get more planning in tomorrow during breakfast." Pepper insisted with a welcoming smile. Normally, I'd feel really uncomfortable staying over at someone's house, especially if that someone was my boss, but they had such a...homey feeling about them.

"Alright, sure." I shrugged.

"Great. You can stay in the room next to Loki's." Mr. Stark nodded before walking away from us and towards the kitchen. Everyone joined him apart from Loki, who stayed by my side and crossed his arms over his chest. I wasn't sure if I had heard them correctly and was hoping I didn't.

"I can what??"

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