Quiver | Pietro Maximoff ✔

Chapter Twenty Five

"Queenie!" I looked to my left, seeing Tony squatting slightly, the table tennis bat held at an angle in his hand. He tapped the empty table in front of us, "come on, come play with me."

I frowned a little, my mind a complete mess. Playing this game might help though, so I stood up and took the bat he offered me.

"Now, the rules can be a little complicated-" he began.

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence by the time I'd served, and the ball bounced past him and onto the floor. He spluttered in indignation, a shocked look plastered over his face.

I laughed, already feeling better as he scrabbled to pick up another ball. "That's cheating!"

"How?" I couldn't help but laugh, even as I held my hands over my mouth.

"I wasn't ready-"

"That doesn't matter," I pretended to argue as I stood in a playing position. "I'll win again."

"Now that is fighting talk." Tony grinned as he spinned a couple of the table tennis balls in the palm of his hand.

The game eased my worries. I'd spent the last 24 hours feeling sick with the thought of losing the Hulk. It felt like such an important matter that I couldn't be the person to make the decision.

How could I choose whether to keep the Hulk inside me, or destroy her - remove her from existence? My Hulk wasn't a monster anymore, not that she had ever really been a monster, but I had the opportunity to make my life easier.

But would removing her actually make my life easier? Or just different?

Tony bounced the ball over the small string divider, and it rolled onto the floor. With a resounding cheer, our match was over.

"You look like you could do with a drink."

I looked up, seeing that Tony had since been replaced by Loki. He offered me a mug, filled with hot tea. "I have learnt that people from your land specifically enjoy this. I myself have acquired a taste for it."

I smiled, and wrapped my fingers around the source of the heat.

"Loki?" I asked carefully, "you're a er... frost giant, aren't you?"

"Yes, alas sometimes I wish I weren't."

I blinked, "really?"

He shrugged, his eyes drifting to a mug that slowly appeared in his own hands. "Yes. But I wouldn't give it up. It gave me strength when I needed it, and taught me some valuable lessons. Just because I'm not who I used to think I was, doesn't mean I'm bad... or necessarily different."

The weight of his words tugged on my chest, and I realised I then had my answer.

"Thank you," I murmured, before lifting my mug towards him. "For the tea."

"For the tea," he winked, before walking towards the door. "Do you care to join me? I plan to visit Thor and he's currently studying some craft in Banner's laboratories."

He spoke with the assurance that he knew he had convinced me to make my decision, and that confirmation - someone older and wiser agreeing with me - was all the reason I needed to walk alongside him, and leave the room.

"Loki!" Thors voice was almost a bellow as we pushed the doors open to the labs.

"Hm?" Loki brushed his finger over a delicate looking contraption, balanced over rods made of glistening silver.

"You haven't been bothering Eliza have you?" He looked almost apologetically at me, but I beat Loki to reply.

"He's actually been helping me."