#like hela seemed to be gone before loki was born so I don’t think those timelines would match up

[musclesandhammering]

There’s zero chance Loki and Hela having so many similarities is just a coincidence. And even though we’re most definitely never getting a full explanation for it, I’m so curious as to what you guys believe the reason is. Do you think:

a.) Loki’s a shapeshifter who can see people’s memories when he touches them. So when Odin picked him up as a baby, he saw Hela in Odin’s mind and shifted himself to resemble her.

b.) Loki and Hela have the same biological mother.

c.) Hela is Loki’s biological mother.

d.) Odin changed Loki to look like Hela when he first held him, because he missed her.

e.) Hela’s biological mother is jotun, and she and Loki both have black hair/pale skin/green aesthetic/etc because that’s just what frost giants look like when they take an asgardian form.

f.) Hela and Loki are both adopted, both children of Laufey. Odin took Hela centuries earlier, then when he realised Laufey’d had another child, he took Loki too.

**I’ve listed these in order from the ones I find most likely to least likely, if you’re curious. Tell me which headcanon you prefer, I wanna see.

[writingfanficlis]

About Odin’s Story in Thor 1

Okay I got some sh*t to say about Odin’s little story. I re-watched the scene and the trial scene so I don’t sound stupid and Odin doesn’t really say WHERE he found Loki. Just that he was apparently “abandoned” by his family. That he was” left to die.” He does mention being casted to a frozen rock in TTDW and Loki is seen without clothes as a baby but these are frost giants. They are cold-blodded. They don’t usually wear clothing because they thrive in below-freezing tempertures. The only clothes we see them wear is the clothing that covers their private parts. So what if Loki was actually hidden somewhere and was being guarded but Odin killed the guards because he thought they were protecting more frost giants. Not to mention, if you’re abandoning a child, your not going to leave the baby anywhere near you. Odin claims Loki was unwanted but wouldn’t Loki just be killed or thrown to the streets by Laufey the moment he was born? Wouldn’t Loki be deemed an outcast and die unnamed? The only way Odin could know Loki was actually Laufey’s son is if Loki was inside the palace. You’re not gonna pick a baby from the street and say “Oh this must be the son of the king who’s kingdom I’m destorying!” It just isn’t logical. And before someone says maybe Loki’s birthmother wanted to keep him in the palace, we don’t actually know anything about the mother. We don’t actually see any female frost giants, so it might be a possiblity but I doubt that. If I’m a frost giant who just had a son, chances are I wouldn’t bundle him in a blanket as if he was warm-blooded. If my son was normal, I might give him something to cover his privates but Loki isn’t a normal frost giant. He was born smaller and born to be more adjusted to warmer tempertures. Frost Giants can only deal with certain tempertures for so long. Which is probably why Loki was left on a frozen rock. He wasn’t being abandoned. He was being left to adjust to the cold while the war went on. He was left somewhere that was considered safe with guards who Odin eventually killed. After all, a frost giant baby isn’t going to die from laying on a frozen rock like an asgardian or human would. Lastly, Laufey didn’t actually have any clue on what happened to his son. I’ve read a comment of someone saying that Laufey didn’t even recongize Loki as his son or never asked what Odin did to his son. Which leads me to this conclusion. Laufey didn’t ask where his son was, or treated Loki as his son in Thor 1 because Laufey didn’t know that Loki was his son. Loki passes as an asgardian and everyone refers to him as one, so how would Laufey know Loki’s heritage? Loki never mentions being his son when he talks to Laufey and doesn’t refer to being so whatsoever in the movie. This is why Laufey doesn’t treat Loki as his son or a fellow frost giant. Because Laufey thinks he’s an asgardian. As for why Laufey never asked about what happened to his son or mentions his son, Loki was taken during a war. A war in which Odin was killing frost giants like they were ants. In Laufey’s eyes, Odin is violent, ruthless, and unforgiveable. In Laufey’s eyes, Odin is responsible to what happened to his family. Don’t you think the Queen of frost giants would be by her husband’s side when intruders came? Wouldn’t the Queen insist on killing the man who took her son from her? I think Loki’s birthmother was killed in the war and the last time Laufey saw her, she was hiding Loki somewhere that was meant to be safe. Somewhere that Odin found. Laufey blames Odin for his wife’s death and when he couldn’t find the only family he had left, He blamed Odin for that as well...Laufey thinks his son is dead, that his baby boy was gone in the wind the moment Odin killed those guards. Plus, Laufey doesn’t think Odin is capable of sparring frost giant’s lives. He doesn’t think Odin would spar a child as long as it was a frost giant. Laufey thinks Odin shows no mercy. Which is why he didn’t hesitate when he got the chance to kill Odin. Also, why would Odin take an abandoned baby to connect the two realms if Loki was unwanted? They aren’t going to form an aliallance with Asgard if the child was unwanted and abandoned. The truth of what happened is that Laufey didn’t abandon Loki, Odin kidnapped Loki because he knew Loki was actually loved by his birthparents. Odin took Loki from Laufey who didn’t even realize his son was alive and in Asgard. While I’m sure Odin redeemed himself in some way in the ragnarok movie, I still think he had no right to do what he did. Even if he truly loved Loki, what he did was wrong and unfair on so many levels. Maybe Odin truly thought Loki was unwanted and those guards just so happened to be there; that he was doing something good for Loki. But we don’t get to know the story of the frost giants. We don’t get to see how they lived life before Odin came. We don’t get to see why they are hated so much. Because even if you argue that they tried to take over earth, Odin and Hela took over the NINE realms through bloodshed. For all we know, Jotunhiem only became hateful because they couldn’t forgive Odin like everyone else did. Maybe the frost giants aren’t the monsters that parents tell their children about at night. Maybe the monster that parents tell their children about at night are Asgardians, is the story of Odin.

(I don’t HATE Odin but I do dislike him and I tried to not be bias when writing. Btw, Laufey seems to be about 7 and a half feet tall while Loki is 6′2. He’s still kinda small but Frost Giants propbably need different nutrients that help them grow taller and bigger, nutrients that Loki was never given. If Loki wasn’t taken, he probably would’ve grown to be bigger if Frost Giants really do have nutrients that make them taller and bigger.)

[veliseraptor]

angels are bright still, 2.2k, post-ragnarok au, major character death for a prompt by @questionablemotivations, man I haven’t written anything this sad in a while

Thor watched Asgard burn from the bridge of the Sakaaran ship. Surtur’s fire, all-consuming, devouring the city.

No: he watched the ship, docked at the door to the palace. Waiting for it to take off. Waiting for another miraculous escape. So he saw it consumed, melting and then swallowed entirely by flames.

He heard himself make a small sound, quickly cut off. A trick, he thought. It’s a trick. Like before, so he can run, yet again.

In his heart he knew it wasn’t true.

Asgard burned, and it was somehow fitting that Loki received such a grand funeral pyre.

**

There was so much to do that Thor scarcely had a chance to take a breath.

He threw himself into the work with a vengeance: organizing medical care for the wounded, assigning people to monitor supplies, finding engineers who could ensure that this ancient ship continued to function for as long as it took to get to Earth. Heimdall was an invaluable help; Thor told him, half joking, that he should take on the kingship himself.

“I wouldn’t want it,” Heimdall said, entirely serious. Thor could understand that. Thinking back to not so long ago when he had thought of the throne as a bauble to be claimed, he could not believe how young he’d been.

It was only when he finally sat down and took a breath that he let himself think of Loki.

Some part of him still thought he must be alive somewhere. Some part of him, Thor thought, would never quite believe that he was gone. Somehow he’d survived Svartalfheim, and there Thor had held his seemingly lifeless body. Was he to believe that this time…

But there was no reason that he should have run off now. That he should not have come back. He’d come to join Thor, to fight alongside him, to turn from the path he’d been walking. He’d gone - Thor had sent him - to unleash Surtur. Had he died in the violent moment of the fire giant’s release? Or had he been running for the ship, inches from it when the conflagration caught up?

There was no point in wondering. No point. There were only two important (unavoidable, inescapable) facts: Loki was dead, and Thor had sent him to it.

Loki had chosen, of course. It would be unfair to take that away. But Thor felt the weight of it nonetheless.

**

Valkyrie found him holding two bottles of indeterminate origin, holding one out awkwardly in his direction. “Here,” she said. “Sorry about your brother.”

Thor looked at her for a few moments before taking it and cracking it open. It tasted somehow both over-sweet and too bitter. Perfect, Thor thought.

“He died well,” Thor said after a moment, and then laughed roughly. “For the second time. Dying well, that is. This is the third time.”

Her eyebrows went up. “How does that work? Generally people only die once. Except for with the help of the Eternal Flame, and he didn’t look undead.”

“No,” Thor said. “No, the other two I just thought he was dead. He survived, somehow. I...can’t help but wonder if he might have survived this as well.”

“Sounds like a story,” Valkyrie said after a moment. Thor glanced at her and looked away.

“Not one I think I can tell just now.”

“That’s fair,” she said, cracking open the bottle she was holding. They drank next to each other, in silence. Thor’s throat burned for trying not to cry.

How fitting, he thought bitterly, that the moment he thought he might have his brother back, he was snatched away. The universe, of late, seemed to delight in taking what he loved.

Perhaps it was a good thing he did not have so much left to lose. At least then there was less that he needed to protect; maybe, that way, he could actually do it.

**

A small group came to ask that he organize a mourning ceremony for the fallen. It could not be according to the usual custom, of course, but it would be something, and Thor recognized the value of it. The necessity, for managing their grief.

When they spoke the names of the dead, though, he could not bring himself to utter Loki’s. Heimdall said it instead, his hand coming to rest on Thor’s shoulder.

He wished he had Mjolnir, that he could destroy something with it. Wished he could spar with Hulk without breaking the ship. Wished, at least, that he could unleash his lightning without fear of hurting anyone else. Instead he bowed his head and forced himself to mouth the words.

“Nor shall we mourn, but rejoice for those who have died the glorious death,” he said, and thought, nor shall we mourn?

What a hideous joke.

That night he dreamed of Loki reaching out for him, fire at his heels. “Thor!” He shouted, frantic. “Help me!”

“It’s a trick,” Thor heard himself say. “You’re not really here,” but he was already reaching out anyway, grasping Loki’s outstretched hand, solid in his. For a moment he was holding on, ready to pull, and then Loki’s hand melted through his fingers like snow in summer.

Thor woke up with a crick in his neck, tears on his face, and a headache.

He didn’t try going back to sleep.

**

The headache persisted. He suspected it was due to the eye Hela had taken from him. He’d grown edgy around his newly limited peripheral vision as well, and his tendency to misjudge distance, but the headache was the worst.

He caught himself longing for Loki’s talent for easing them: the way he would grumble and mutter before finally caving, touching his fingers to Thor’s temples and soothing the ache away. Every time he caught himself thinking of it brought a pang in his chest worse than the pain in his head.

It was just like the first time. And the second. Loki haunting him. Their lives had been intertwined for so long it was still hard to separate them. And now that Loki was gone, Thor almost did not want to.

He’d almost managed it. To draw himself away, to let Loki go and accept that he would do what he would, and all the pleading in the world would not change that. And then-

Cruel world.

“You are brooding,” Heimdall said, standing beside him on the bridge as he stared into the depths of space.

Thor turned, finding a smile. “It probably means I am not doing something I should be.” Heimdall just looked at him, eyebrows raised, and Thor glanced away.

“I don’t have to guess what occupies your thoughts.”

“No,” Thor agreed with a sigh. “You probably don’t.”

“Loki and I may have seldom been friends,” Heimdall said, “or even particularly friendly. But I am still sorry for his loss.”

Thor bowed his head. “He died well.”

“That’s not much of a salve to grief.”

It wasn’t. It never would be, however much Thor repeated it; he would rather Loki lived poorly, he found, than died a hero. He would rather Loki had run, gone off alone to wreak Norns-knew what mischief, than that he had burned.

What agony must it have been, for one born of ice?

Thor pushed that thought away. “It isn’t,” he said, “but it is the only one I have. And I cannot afford to grieve too heavily. My people - our people - need me to be strong.”

“And strength means a lack of feeling?” Heimdall asked, though mildly. “I think seeing your sorrow gives others permission to feel the same.”

Thor sighed. “Perhaps,” he said, though he wasn’t certain he believed it.

**

He didn’t know why it hit him when it did, or why it had taken so long, but it didn’t seem to be anything in particular; just the thought, suddenly blooming in his head: I’m the only one left.

He’d known it, of course. Had felt it in each hammer blow - it was part of what had precipitated his leaving Asgard after Malekith’s defeat. And then his father had still lived - and, though he didn’t know it, his brother. But now - his family’s deaths stuck in his throat and he fought to swallow.

The bar, when Thor found it, was empty. Which was probably for the best. He wondered how much had been there to begin with, and how much had disappeared into Valkyrie’s gullet.

He sat down, nonetheless, and eventually Val joined him.

“There’s nothing here,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “It’s still sort of comforting. I’m trying to absorb the remaining fumes.”

Thor laughed, weakly. She rolled one of her shoulders forward and back and sat down next to him.

“In the fight against Hela,” she said abruptly, “I mean, the first time around. When it was me and my sisters rather than me and...the rest of you people. The Revengers.” She was quiet for a long moment, and then seemed to shrug like she was coming to some kind of decision. “My lover died. She jumped in front of one of Hela’s swords that was coming for me. Kára. She was always telling me I was a reckless idiot.”

Thor looked toward her. “I am sorry,” he said.

“Don’t,” she said. “I don’t - I’m not saying this for sympathy. Just...I don’t know. I don’t know why. I haven’t actually said her name to anyone for...well, kind of lost track of time for a while there.”

“What was she like?” Thor asked after a moment.

Val’s smile was a little, sad, twist of her mouth. “I can hardly remember,” she said. “Probably all the drinking, right? I remember that I...she had this stupid giggle. It was adorable. And she was ticklish.”

Thor stayed silent, and Valkyrie exhaled.

“Fuck,” she said. “I need a drink.”

“So do I.”

A silence fell between them. Weighted.

“It’s childish,” Thor said after a moment, “but all I can feel is that it isn’t fair.”

“It never is.” Val’s voice sounded more sober, less sarcastic, than Thor could remember hearing it.

“No,” Thor said. “I suppose it never is.”

**

“You said,” Loki said, sitting cross-legged in front of him in what Thor recognized as Frigga’s garden. “You said it would be better if we never saw each other again.”

“I didn’t mean you should die,” Thor said. Loki cocked his head to the side.

“It’s habit-forming,” he said.

“I was baiting you,” Thor said. “It’s what you kept saying you wanted. Acting like you wanted.”

“Well, I didn’t,” Loki said. “Not so much.” He paused. “Didn’t I prove that?” He asked, and there was something faint, plaintive, hopeful in his voice. Thor swallowed.

“You did,” he said. He reached out a hand, but Loki wasn’t quite close enough to touch, and he couldn’t move forward.

Loki sighed. “Well,” he said, with the bare flicker of a smile. “That’s a relief.” He leaned back on his hands. “The other thing is a relief, too.”

“What other thing?”

“That you didn’t send me there to die,” Loki said simply. Thor stared at him, and Loki shrugged. “I thought it was a possibility.”

“No,” Thor said, appalled. “No. Of course not. I wouldn’t - I didn’t want-”

Loki just looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Well, I didn’t necessarily think it was deliberate. Just a - necessary sacrifice? You’re a king, now. That’s the sort of thing kings have to do.” Thor shook his head, muted. “Like I said,” Loki said. “A relief. I believe you.”

“Loki…” Thor groped after something. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

“Not exactly,” Loki said. “Sort of. It’s complicated.”

“Are you-” Thor choked, awful hope rising in his chest. “Are you alive? Is that how-”

“Oh, no,” Loki said. “I’m not. I’m pretty - thoroughly dead. But you’re…” He half smiled. “I guess you’re just special.”

Intertwined. There were so many things Thor wanted to say. They piled up and he struggled to say anything. “Loki,” he said, and took a deep breath. “You should be here.”

“Maybe,” Loki said. “Maybe not. But you know I was never very good at should.” His smile was rueful. “I am still...glad to see you. To know you made it out. At least...that makes it worth it.” He smiled wryly. “Written any plays about me yet?”

“I am no writer.”

“No,” Loki said, “you’re right about that.” He rubbed a thumb across his lower lip, like he was still flesh and blood. Once again, Thor opened his mouth to say something, and the words caught in his throat.

“You’re going to be a great king, Thor,” Loki said. He stood up, brushing invisible dust off his pants. “I hope I don’t see you for a very long time.”

“Loki,” Thor said, and finally he could move, lurch to his feet. “Wait-”

He woke up. He could feel the hum of the ship churning through space, making its slow way forward.

He is with Frigga, Thor thought, covering his eyes with one hand. With Odin. At peace.

But Loki had never been peace. Loki had always been chaos and mischief, quicksilver, always slipping through Thor’s fingers.

[ninjakitty15]

Chapter 2: Mischief Managed

Hydra's base was definitely considered a prison compared this base where it was more house arrest for me it seemed. I was given my own room and choice of clothes that were definitely not black and reminiscent of a grim reaper, those unimaginative fucks. I could wander around the whole floor and whatnot, just not allowed to leave and still under observation, I didn't complain though as at least I could talk and eat and move and hopefully it wasn't as invasive. They were called the Avengers, which is why Thor sounded familiar, I later recalled watching footage of them fighting aliens in NYC at one point before Hydra had their fun with me. Loki was assigned to monitor me, or rather he volunteered to, somehow that wasn't surprising considering he found me first and if I know anything about younger siblings, they guard their findings like Cerberus guards the underworld. Understandable considering Thor tends to break everything he comes in contact with, must be why he's still single, those poor exes. Nat was right, Tony who I met upon arriving at the base loved having someone as snarky as he was around and I loved bantering right back, Hydra aren't much for conversationalists. Loki however quieter and curiouser, proved the best company. My favorite past time became "see how long I can slip from his sight before he finds me and pretend I didn't do it on purpose".

He found me raiding the kitchen at some ungodly hour eating ice cream straight from the container and arched an eyebrow as I smiled innocently at him with a mouthful of moosetracks goodness. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Orgasmically," I replied happily.

"There a reason you're stuffing yourself with creamed ice at this hour?"

"Would you believe it was calling to me?"

"You do know I'm the God of Lies, right?"

"If I don't eat something sweet I'll die of malnutrition?"

"Try again."

"It's ice cream, why do I need a reason more than that?"

"Let me be the judge of that then."

I held the container tighter to me. "Get your own damn midnight snack, this is mine, I claim it in the name of me, Nell."

Loki smirked and took a daring step toward me with a look of a cat about to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse. "You have no claim here, you're a guest."

I snorted and shoveled another spoonful of heaven in my mouth while taking a step back. "So are you, Asgardian. But as I was born on this planet, I have more claim to it than you do. Check and mate, king me."

"You think you were the first ones to walk this planet? Try again." Another step toward me. "Give it to me now or else."

"Or else what? If you're going to threaten me, do it properly." My back hit the wall behind me as I took another step back. I gripped my ice cream against my check and brandished my spoon like a dagger despite it being neither pointy nor threatening. "Don't make me spoon you, I forking mean it."

If Loki was a cat right now, he would've been doing that cute little butt wiggle cats do to calculate the distance and force needed to hit the target. I kinda wish he did, he had a cute butt already. He didn't get to pounce though as the lights to the kitchen suddenly turned on and at the entrance was a sleepy but amused looking Thor standing there with a smug look and arms crossed. "And what is going on here at this late hour."

I looked from him to Loki to my ice cream and back to Thor. "Loki's trying to steal my happy food."

"Is that true, brother?" Thor asked with a laugh.

"I'm fairly certain she has no claim to it so it's anyone's including mine," Loki replied slyly.

"What flavor?" asked Thor.

"Moosetracks!"

"I've not tried that yet, can I have a taste?" he asked hopefully.

"Grab a spoon." I scooted away from Loki's target line and held out the tub as Thor eagerly got a spoon for himself. "Ask nicely and thou shalt be rewarded." I stuck out my tongue for good measure.

"This is most delicious, is this what moose tastes like?" Thor inquired.

"That's just what the guy that invented it calls it, I've no idea what moose tastes like. Probably something like deer I'd imagine, they're a bit too big and aggressive to be hunted regularly here...and kinda ugly too. Like if a deer and a hippo got together one drunken night, that would be their bastard baby." I let Thor finish the tub just to piss Loki off a little more while licking my spoon clean.

"Sleep with one eye open, child," Loki warned me though there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Bold of you to assume I sleep at all," I countered. People would say I sleep like the dead when I want to but he didn't know that.

"You really should sleep though, the man of iron wants to see you in his lab tomorrow bright and early," Thor told me as he threw away the tub.

"Didn't any of you inform him I'm not a morning person? I thought that was pretty clear when we met."

"Should have thought of that before you devoured all your happiness," Loki stated smugly. "Sweet dreams." He slunk away with a smirk and a wink and I was left with Thor who retreated to his quarters soon after.

Morning came far too quickly for my liking as I was woken up abruptly by knocking I instantly knew as Loki on the other side. He probably was smirking still while I growled in annoyance and quickly changed into lounge clothes before opening the door and glaring at him for waking me up. I had to admit even in earth clothes he looked damn good though I didn't see why he had to wear sharp looking suits when his main business called for leather and metal. I'd say it was an Asgardian thing but then there's Thor in a hoodie and jeans when he's not off being a hero.

"Pleasant dreams?" Loki asked smoothly while leading me to where Tony was awaiting.

"Just the sweetest, almost as sweet as moosetracks," I quipped right back.

Tony was waiting for us with a confident yet hopeful look as he beckoned me inside and I complied, propping myself up on the examining table in front of him while Loki stood by the doorway either as another observer or guard. "I heard you ate all my ice cream."

"I heard the law is still innocent until proven guilty and I can attest Thor finished it off."

Tony chuckled. "That sounds like him during the day but he usually sleeps through the night and I bought the tub the day before so it had to have gone missing during the night. Points for trying though."

I shrugged. "It was for a good cause, I regret nothing."

"That's all that matter then, right? You ready?"

"I mean no one told me what we're doing here so um not really."

"Oh well, too late now. Loki says you won't say what you can do, which I applaud because why should he get all the answers first when this is my domain and you're both guests here. But I'd still like to know why Hydra kept you so what would it take to spill?"

"Tell me what you plan on doing with me first."

"Nothing without your permission of course, gentleman first, scientist second."

"I'm sure you say that to all your lady specimen."

"Innocent until proven guilty."

I chuckled and shrugged. "Well played. There's names, titles if you will that people believe fit the bill I rack up. But I'm curious if you've guessed just from what you know of me."

"You came here in a big black hoodie and told Loki and the Cap they made you wear it because thats what they thought you were like. Since being goth or emo isn't a superpower anyone would ever want, thankfully, my first uneducated assumption would have to be it involves death."

I smiled though from what I heard of Tony, it shouldn't be surprising, an idiot would've figured that out and it was idiots that made me dress that way.

"Are you a reaper like the shortlived show Dead Like Me?"

"Well I mean most people are, anyone can kill anyone though it might take more than touch to do so. But not really, my power isn't a death touch...per say, I mean I can do that with a specific move but it's not recommended and not pleasant for either party."

"What's the move then?"

"I basically rip the lifeforce out of a person but it's like manhandling a nuclear reactor with your bare hands, unless you can quickly and smoothly channel it to another body capable of absorbing it, it can destroy you...or just burn you up depending on how close the first body was to dying anyway." I could hear the gears grinding and churning in both men's heads in the lab, my money was on Tony though.

"What do I get if I guess first?"

"A scooby snack?"

"Are you calling me Shaggy? Clearly I'm the Fred of the gang, Thor is the Shaggy if it's anyone."

I nodded, he might not run in fear of all the masked monsters but he has the hair and goofy personality to match. "What do you want that I can offer and you can't buy yourself?"

"That is the trillion dollar question, isn't it? I'm sure lots of people are wondering that whenever they see me. Not a reaper though there are reaper like abilities involved, only one name comes to mind when it comes to death powers though. You're a necromancer."

I clapped my hands in approval and nodded again. "A chrome star for you. That's the most valuable metal right? I'm more a precious stone girl myself, like amber or obsidian."

"Of course," mused Loki quietly. "They bound your hands so you couldn't raise the dead through magic and gagged you so you couldn't call them to your aid. That's why your powers felt familiar, it's quite similar to Hela's."

"Except she does go for the goth goddess look which is a bit much even if she is in fact a goddess of death. She also favors one such army of dead, whereas I'll bring up anyone that wants to fight within range, not fussy and much less effort involved."

"So to sum up, you can talk to and raise the dead, steal someone's lifeforce but at great cost to you, there's more isn't there?" asked Tony.

"Those are the big ones though."

"And the hydra agents? How far did they get with you?"

"They failed after the first date, didn't wait three days before calling back, those needy bastards."

"People still do that? I would skip the calls and just take them to bed."

"I know, right? So would I! Ain't no time like the present. They didn't get anything, blood and tissue samples they collected would come up as leftovers from a corpse, my body is dead without my powers sustaining it and anything taken from my body is no longer attached to my powers. Like when you kill a werewolf, they return to human form, you dont get a cool wolfman head to mount to a wall plaque."

"You're not just saying that so I won't take any from you, are you?"

"You're welcome to try." I held out my arm and with a fingernail, sliced open my skin, sludgy blackened blood oozed out. "Get it while it's not quite fresh off the tap."

Tony grabbed a test tube and grinned to himself as he collected it. "Don't mind if I do, I'll let you know if there's a change the Hydra agents missed. Can I get a swab too, open up and say ah?"

"As long as its not a papsmear, I prefer lady gynos...for reasons." I opened my mouth and he took a cotton swab sample and tubed that as well. "Anything else?"

"Right now, no, but I'd like to see what you can do in person so next mission you're coming with, Loki as well, trust him just a little more than I trust you right now and if you turn out to be not as cool as you appear, I'm placing bets he can handle you."

I scowled at that bet and looked over at Loki who held a full on smirk knowing what was going on. "It's because I'm a woman and men feel threatened by women of power."

"No, he's a god and you're not, the odds aren't in your favor."

I rolled my eyes and hopped off the table. "At least I don't need fancy armor to kick ass."