A Worthy Adversary (Loki x fem!reader)

Chapter 15 - Easier to ignore

"Thanks, miss, uh, Carnelian?" spiderboy says, hunched over with his hands on his knees as he catches his breath.

"Anytime, sorry there was no one else to help tonight. We were in the middle of a night-off, hell I was on a mission with Romanoff this morning," you pat him on the back before leaning against the wall behind you, also completely exhausted.

"Who was that guy anyway?" you ask.

"No clue, but his boomerang hit really hard," he shrugs, wincing as he stands up straight.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, no, I'll be fine. See you around miss," he gives you a salute.

"Bye pee-man," you wave him off, and he does a double-take, recognising the nickname from your first encounter. After his realisation, he swings into the air, propelling himself off a streetlamp.

You usually wouldn't give away your identity like that, but considering he already hides his own, you feel like you can trust him.

Now you have the fun job, dealing with the press. You decided to take the responsibility, the kid probably has school or something.

You walk out of the alleyway and back onto the street, the wreckage of the fight already sealed off by the NYPD.

"Carnelian, what can you tell us about this-"

"Should we be worried about-"

"Where are the rest of the Avengers-"

"Hey, hey, I'm glad to answer your questions, but one at a time please," you implore the press before responding to each of their individual inquiries.

"Thanks guys, but I should probably get going now," you make your way around the mob of reporters, and slipping down another back-alley to escape from them.

You scale up a fire-escape, reaching the top of an apartment building before leaping off and deploying your hang-glider to get to the tower.

After a while, you finally make it back, just about having enough airtime before landing outside the door.

You give Martha at the front desk a wave before getting into the elevator and heading up. 

The two of you probably could have done with some help from the team tonight, but you didn't really need any.

You head straight to your room, not bumping into anyone on your way, all probably still out. You put your goggles and the stupid talisman down on your nightstand, and unzip your suit before getting into the shower.

As you pick up your shampoo bottle, you notice a bruise on your arm and another on your side. You usually don't get any due to the strength of the fibres in your suit, but sometimes you do if you're hit hard enough.

And Spidey was right, that boomerang hit hard. Either that thing was vibranium, or the guy had some sort of enhancement, maybe both.

You step out of the shower, glancing at your still broken mirror, you should get that fixed.

Throwing on an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts, you settle into bed and close your eyes.

Although you feel exhausted, you can't seem to sleep, your mind still troubled by that prick. Why would he tell you how that woman 'didn't interest him', just to be waiting for her outside the exit.

And why are you so easily tricked into thinking someone cares about you, hell all it took was one fucking necklace to fool you.

Climbing out of bed, you put on a hoodie and a pair of joggers, heading downstairs and out to the quinjet landing area. There's a bit of a breeze, but it's actually a surprisingly mild night for winter in New York.