Loki's Pain

Chapter Thirty-Five- A Little Birdy Said

"Fine! Fine! I'm up!" Ash eventually growled, swinging his hand halfheartedly at his new, winged alarm clock. When he actually connected and sent Poe crashing to the floor in an explosion of metal fragments, his heart actually stopped for a moment before he saw the pieces begin to pull back together. Once Poe reformed, Ash released a sigh of relief despite the bot's angry whistles and chirps as it scolded him for his actions. Ash couldn't help but think the tiny bird was adorable in that moment, even as the angry sounds it made were clearly the birdy equivalent of cuss words.

"You know...judging by your current tone, for once I am happy I can't understand you in this form..." Ash quipped at his metal-feathered companion as he climbed to his feet and stretched the kinks out of his back left by a night on the floor. Poe immediately flew up, perched on his shoulder and proceeded to peck him right in the head, repeatedly.

"Ow! Ow! Okay! I'm kidding!" Ash relented as he tried to fend off the assault, a slight laugh lurking in the background of his words, "I'm sorry for knocking you out of the air too! I didn't mean to actually hit you, okay!?"

At that, Poe finally backed off and flew over to the door of the bedroom. Pecking at the handle, he clearly wanted Ash to follow, and swished his tail feathers agitatedly until Ash complied. When Ash walked thru the door, Poe swiftly swooped past him and landed on the coffee table next to the case Poe and Freya had been packed in. Clearly Tony had someone bring it in, and he only hoped that they had done so after Ash and Loki had finally fallen asleep.

Poe indicated that Ash should open it up by pecking at the clasp and releasing a chirrup that was an obvious, "Come on slow poke!" Ash was left momentarily confused when he did, not initially seeing anything else inside. But when he took a closer look he saw four things that he had previously missed. Two looked like a tiny audio receiver that could be attached out of sight right behind the ear. The other two looked like fancy smart watches. One set was meant for each of them, and which was which had been made obvious by the silver and gold color coding of each set.

Pulling out the two silver items, Ash attached the audio receiver behind his ear where the included diagram indicated. He felt a mild sting for only a second before the pain faded, and when he felt for the device he was surprised to discover it had melded under his skin.

"Obviously meant to be permanent.... that would have been nice to know before I attached the damn thing!" Ash muttered, now irritated about the lack of info included. "You can turn off the audio link whenever you please, simply double tap where you just attached it, or give me a verbal command to do so. The device is hardwired to only communicate with me. If anyone else needs to communicate with you the audio signals are routed thru the wristwatch, then to me, before being passed on to you. Replies to them work in reverse, of course. It allows for several layers of firewalls and encryption to keep it secure. The device also contains a high powered gps chip so that you may be more easily located in the event of capture. Installing such a device internally makes it that much harder for an enemy to locate and remove." Poe informed him.

Poe's voice still sounded rather young, but seemed to have developed a mild british accent. Hearing him now, inside his head, the voice reminded him a bit of a british version of Peter's, and he wondered if Peter might have helped Tony build Poe. Since Peter had helped build the pendants before, it wasn't entirely impossible.

"Still would have been nice to know all that first, before sticking it in my head." Ash replied dryly as a half-asleep Loki finally wandered out of the room trailing behind Freya.

"If it makes you feel better, I am only connected to your auditory canal. It basically just forms an internal speaker and receiver unit using your inner ear. I have no access to your mind at all." Poe explained, tilting his head cutely, and his words actually did help to calm Ash's fears. Considering how having an inner voice had worked out for him the last time, Ash considered his initial concerns somewhat understandable.