Storm Princess

Chapter 30 Unexpected Guests

The kids arrived at Evie's playrooms, but Peter and Cooper found it too girly. They decided to play in the Jungle Gym instead. After a while, they heard Tony give a girly scream and then curse, “Godammit!” The elevator doors opened, and a large, colorful snake exited, making a series of hissing noises, almost as if she were laughing.

Kezia, Bridget, and Carmen rolled their eyes when they saw the snake slithering across the floor. The girls met Amunet the first time they spent the night and they knew that Amunet liked to hide in Tony's clothes, closet, or shoes to scare the life out of him. It was her favorite pastime while Evie was at school. It was always the same thing: Tony would scream like a girl and then cuss. The girls thought that after all this time, Tony would check his stuff before putting them on. But Amunet was smart, she would disappear for a few days or weeks, wait until Tony's guard was down, and then surprise him again. The worst part is that JARVIS knew what the Asgardian Viper was doing but never informed Stark.

Recently, the snake found a new victim to stalk: Hawkeye. When he would wander through the vents, she loved scaring the archer. "Earth's Mightiest Heros." was no match for her. There were only three people she did not mess with; Pepper, she was too easy. Banner, no sense in tempting the Hulk, and Natasha. She could never scare the assassin no matter how hard she tried. Somehow, the assassin always knew when Amunet was around.

When finally Amunet reached Evie, the snake stopped laughing and greeted her human. The snake coiled around Evie until she reached Evie's shoulders and settled herself down. At that moment, Amunet noticed the new children in her mistress's playroom. She looked at Evie and hissed; asking who the new hatchlings were. Evie hissed back and explained they were her new friends and that Cooper and Lila were Clint's children. Amunet nodded and hissed a greeting to the newcomers.

While this was going on, Peter, Hermione, Cooper, and Lila backed away from the snake. Evie grinned at her friend, “Don't worry, you guys, Amunet won't hurt you, she wanted me to say hello to you.” Evie announced.

Peter, being the bravest of the new children stepped forward and placed his hand in front of Amunet with his hand closed so she couldn't bite his fingers. Amunet let her tongue flick out, and then she turned to Evie and hissed something. Evie beamed and told Peter that she liked him. One by one, each child did the same thing, they were tickled pink that Amunet had accepted them.

But when she got to Hermione, Amunet hesitated and took longer than usual. Hermione was starting to sweat thinking the viper would attack her. Amunet turned to Evie and explained, Thiss child smellss the ssame asss you, Mistress. I can tell sshe has magic in her veins. Not nearly as powerful asss you but ssshe is ssstill strong.

Evie thought about it, should we tell her? Evie hissed back.

The Asgardian Viper shook her head, No, you will only frighten her. It would be best to let Prince Loki tell her.

Evie nodded and told Hermione that Amunet found Hermione's scent comforting.

After the introductions were made with Amunet, the children started pestering Evie about how she could talk to snakes. Evie explained it was a side effect of having a dark mark on her forehead. The kids didn't understand what Evie meant by a dark mark; it was at that moment that Loki teleported in and explained to the children what a dark mark was. He didn't go into detail about how Evie received the dark mark. He didn't want to frighten the children and it wasn't any of their business anyway, but he thought an abridged version was good enough.

Evie put Amunet on her heating rock and under a heat lamp so that the snake could warm herself. While Amunet soaked up the warmth, she watched her mistress play with the other hatchlings. The Viper enjoyed listening to Evie playfully scream and laugh; it warmed her reptilian heart.

Suddenly there was a loud sound coming from the top of the Tower. The children stopped playing and looked up, “What was that?” Peter asked.

Evie grinned; she knew that sound very well, “It's the Bifrost; someone just arrived,” Evie told her friends excitedly. All of the children knew about the rainbow bridge that connected Asgard to Earth, though they had never seen it. The kids decided to go to the penthouse to see who arrived.

When they arrived at the penthouse, they heard Thor bellow, “MY FRIENDS! WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE!”

Loki flinched, “Must you be so loud?” Loki asked his brother.

“My apologies, brother,” Thor answered.

By that time, the other Avengers gathered to greet the newcomers. Tony made a b-line for Lady Sif and kissed her hand, “Lady Sif, it's wonderful to see you again,” Tony told the warrior maiden with a genuine smile.

Tony's reaction to Sif did not go unnoticed by Pepper. She thought she'd be jealous of the Asgardian warrior, but all she felt was relief. She and Tony had been drifting apart for some time, but they refused to admit it. Pepper loved Tony, but it wasn't the same, and she knew that Tony felt the same. She knew they would always be friends, though. So, it made her happy to see Tony's eyes light up when he saw Lady Sif. It made her decision to leave easier for both of them.

But that was a conversation for another day. Right now, Pepper wanted to meet the woman who captured Tony's heart and The Warriors Three. Tony led the group further into the penthouse and introduced Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to the other Avengers and to their guests.

At first, the children's parents were intimidated by the strangely dressed and armed warriors that appeared out of a bright light. But when they saw Evie run into the room and throw herself at Sif, hugging the warrior maiden tightly, the children's parents relaxed. Evie hugged the Warriors Three and led them toward her friends to introduce them.

Once all the introductions were made, Thor asked what they were doing there, but Natasha interrupted, “Dinner's ready, let's talk about that later.”

Everyone agreed and Tony offered his arm to Sif and led her into the dining room. She and the others removed their armor so as not to seem so imposing, and they could relax. As they all sat at the dining room table and served themselves, JARVIS interrupted their meal.

Mr. Odinson, you have a visitor.

“Who is it, JARVIS?”

Miss. Jane Foster.

A/N: I'm sure you all have figured out that I'm pairing Tony with Sif. Now two ideas occurred to me just now: should I pair Pepper with Remus, or with Fandral from Asgard. OR should I have her fade out of the story?

Please let me know, thanks