Bodega Girl

Gathering the Team

Strange is staring at her. "You're making me uncomfortable, 'Benedict'."

"Seriously?" Strange rubs his temple.

"Don't fret, oh Sorcerer Supreme. Do you know women actually cried in the streets when the actor that played you got married?" She looks at Loki. "It's so cute, his fanbase calls themselves 'Cumberbitches'."

Loki and the others chuckle.

"Not much better than what the fanbase of the actor who plays you baby. Do you know that he has such a following that he had to remove himself from all social media? The 'Hiddlestoners' (his name is Tom Hiddleston) were shipping him so badly...well it's easier if I just show you. May I have my phone Tony?"

"Oh, sure, we've already copied all the data."

Mickie blinks at Tony and smirks. "Of course you did." She brings up her photos. "See baby, poor man has pictures like this all over the internet." She enlarges a photo on the main screen showing to Loki a picture of a man, the spitting image of himself with lighter hair, naked on a lounge chair save for strategically placed pamphlet.

Steve groans. "I could have gone my whole life without seeing a naked Loki."

"Oh really, Captain?" She scrolls through the photos landing on two. "His name is Chris Evans." Steve blushes as what he sees is an image of a man that could be his twin, naked in a bathtub with bubbles covering certain parts of his anatomy. She then flips to another image of him wearing nothing but a towel.

"Why do you have these pictures?" Loki asks.

"Don't be jealous, baby. Girls like a little beefcake. I have pictures of all the gentlemen in the room save for Gabe and Vision. Gabe, you just don't exist in the world where I'm from and Vision keeps his goodies under wraps though there are some nice GQ shots."

Bruce speaks up. "So, the men are just pieces of meat, huh? What about the ladies?"

"Interesting you mention that. There are no pictures like that of the women. They're always shown in full costume being badasses."

"As they should be." Says Pepper Potts standing in the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt but I figured that I should order out for pizza. Good with everybody?"

The team starts shouting out their personal requests. Pepper rolls her eyes. "You'll get what I order and you'll like it."

"Like I said, badass! Oh, and Pepper, you should be in on this meeting too."

Pepper looks questioningly at Tony. "I'll be back after I put in the order."

"I don't want Pepper involved in this." Insists Tony.

"We need her. We need everyone." She turns to Bucky. "We're going to need the King of Wakanda and his people as well."

Tony leaned forward. "How serious is this?"

"Extremely." Says Peter Quill as he and the Guardians arrive in the conference room. "Nova Corps just fell."

The room was silent. Mickie stands up and starts pacing. "He'll next go for Asgard on his way to Earth."

Thor rises. "Who would dare to attack Asgard?"

"His name is Thanos, the Mad Titan. He was the one behind the creature who gave you the sceptre, baby. He wishes to acquire the Infinity Stones. Once he has them all, he needs only to snap his fingers and half of life in all the universe will be wiped from existence."

Gamora continues. "He thinks it will bring order to the cosmos. He's completely insane but extremely powerful. He now has the Power Stone. He'll seek the Space Stone next."