Heir to Asgard

Chapter 2

Josie's POV

"You?" Captain America asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes. Now instead of lurking outside my house I suggest all of you come in. Less suspicion will be drawn that way." I replied, turning and entering my house.

The living room was going to be packed, with Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff, and of course my beloved uncle.

All of the Avengers filed through the front door, each of them with varying degrees of uneasiness.

Thor immediately found a comfortable place on the couch, where Black Widow and Hawkeye sat down stiffly on either side of him. Tony Stark sat down in the chair next to the window, and everyone else stood.

"Shouldn't some kind of... guardian be here?" Hawkeye asked awkwardly.

"You mean should someone be watching me to make sure I don't follow in my father's footsteps and try and take over the world?" I decided to reply, then paused. "Yes, I have adopted parents. But they're away on a trip for the week." I added, sitting down on the dining room table.

I allowed myself the smallest of smiles as the famous team of heroes looked very uncomfortable by this answer.

"You can't be Loki's daughter." I looked at Banner, who was leaning against the wall.

"Why not?" I replied.

"Well, you're just... here. Around. Shouldn't you be on Asgard?" He asked.

I glared at Thor as he shifted on the couch. "As you may have noticed, my family and I have a few problems. My appearance on Asgard would cause... chaos. Besides that fact, I was never invited."

"Loki caused a bit of chaos at our home himself. It was safer for her to remain on earth." Thor explained.

"Your home. My home is here." I snapped. "So. I heard something about a tesseract. Is that why you came?"

All of the people in the room looked at Thor.

"We need to know more about it. Loki told me that he knew the true power of the tesseract, and you're the only other who I thought might know more about it." The Asgardian replied.

"Might?" Captain America asked sharply, but Thor and I both ignored him.

"Where is it?" I asked.

Thor took a black leather briefcase from Black Widow, and unlatched it. A tremor of excitement ran down my spine. My father had been sort of obsessed with it, using it to start a war and try to take over Earth. Or actually just New York, which was sort of the same thing.

Slowly, Thor lifted the tesseract out of the briefcase like it was some sort of precious gem. I couldn't look away from it- neither could any of the Avengers. The air crackled. I held out my hand, making a claw. The tesseract shot out of Thor's grasp and into mine.

I brought it close to my face, watching the ethereal light glitter and warp inside of it. "Why do you want to know more about it?" My hands tightened slightly around the cube before letting go of it and letting it return to the black briefcase.

That voice at the back of my mind growled slightly as I let it go, but I ignored it. This was not the time to seize immense power and follow in Loki's footsteps. Not today, at least.

"To be more specific, what do you want from me?" I clarified.

"The more we know about it the better. The more knowledge we have of it the more use we could make of it." Stark replied in an aggravating snarky I'm-better-than-you voice.

"To destroy armies that might stand against you. To make weapons to oppress those who disagree with you, or stand for what they believe." I shook my head. "I will not help you."

"Loki is dead." Thor blurted. I turned my gaze to him, my gaze steady and cool. I could see, at the back of my mind, what was going on inside Thor's mind. He had grieved his brother already, but Asgardians would not lose function. It had been impossible for him to hold in something that might cause me pain.

I tilted my head at him, forcing down fury. The superheroes could be useful to me yet. "I know."

"You are the only one that can help us. We would have gone to him, otherwise."

Captain America shot Thor a sharp glance that made me think differently. The man straightened, looking at me. I noted his hand skittering to the shield, strapped to his back. He was nervous. Or maybe not nervous but expecting trouble. "There will be a reward if you help us." Rogers said.

I eyed him, my interest peaked. I had a reputation in the underworld- if what Chicago had could even be considered an underworld, that I would do anything for the right price. That I could do anything for the right price. And for the most part, that was true. "What kind of reward?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral.

The Captain was treading carefully, obviously unsure of what to offer. "We can discuss that when the deal is done."

"Once I give you the information allowing you to oppress people." I corrected.

"We're saving the world."

"You're dividing the world. You're hurting people, and overlooking people. If you are so keen on defending Earth, start helping people instead of killing creatures from other planets."

"We only kill them when they're trying to take over the world."

I opened my mouth, ready for a hasty response. Maybe this world needs to be taken over. But I saw how they looked at me, like I was a bomb already ticking off. If I said that, they would pull in what they already knew about me. Loki's daughter. Dangerous. Possibly evil. If I even hinted at Loki's intentions being right, they wouldn't trust me. Maybe ever. I closed my mouth.

My gaze traveled to the window. Evening was creeping in with it's quiet claws, the darkening sky showing through bare branches of the trees. "I will consider sharing my knowledge of the tesseract with you overnight." I told them. "Do you need a place to sleep?"

Yes. Chorused their minds, seemingly against their wills.

"Yes." I don't know which one of them said it.

I jumped off the table and started up the stairs, which were right next to the front door. "You can sleep in the basement. It's furnished and pretty big. You can make yourselves comfortable, where no one can see you. I can only imagine what my parents would say if they came back to rumors about me harboring a bunch of superheroes."

I narrowed my eyes as the man in red white and blue hesitated. I could feel suspicious thoughts running through his mind.

"I assure you, Captain, no harm will come to you or your comrades here, as long as you don't break anything." I assured him.

Then I climbed up the stairs, leaving the Avengers to their own devices. I was probably going to regret that later, but I was ready to go to bed.