A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War

25. Quotes

(Through the eyes of Tony.)

"Elementary, my dear Watson."

For reasons unknown, the only female member of their expanded party periodically insisted on quoting Sherlock Holmes as they traveled from the fields into Stark's laboratory. Even Tony himself, who was by far the most filled-in on all of Naomi's knowledge, had no idea why she smiled like she knew a terrible secret about both him and Doctor Strange. He hoped it had to do with his massive intellect, ego aside, but his knowledge of Naomi Swanson told him it was for an entirely different reason.

"By the Gods, what are you saying?" Loki asked for the third time, now the only one left with the energy to be interested in what she was talking about. Tony had taken a notice to the mans apparent interest in Naomi, putting the thought on the back burner for now, since half the universe was at stake and all. However it didn't fail to irk him whenever Loki or Naomi locked eyes for a little too long to not mean something. Tony knew that she knew exactly who Loki was, perhaps better than him,  but the glances did nothing to help his opinion of the God. He preferred Thor now more than ever, appreciating the blonde's strictly platonic, and almost overly formal relationship with the woman.

"Should I answer chronologically, or alphabetically?" Once again, Naomi dodged questions with an untraceable quote. Whilst everyone else rolled their eyes, with the exclusion of Thor, Loki only seemed more invested in figuring out what she was on about. He practically analyzed her as they walked through the hallways of the Avengers facility; Tony was trying to focus on where they were going instead of how little Loki focused on the decor around them. Thankfully, they soon enough arrived at the famed Stark Lab, activating its various holograms and machinery as they entered in the sliding doors. Tony didn't hesitate in making himself at home, fussing around with various gadgets, and even pulling up Stephen Strange's character profile for review, the information largely provided by his partner in crime.

Strange himself was more preoccupied with keeping an eye on Loki, apparent unimpressed with the advanced technology that surrounded him. Looking back to Stephen's profile, Tony read that his new life was most likely entirely without electricity, some form of life magic or whatever powering everything. It all seemed incredibly boring to the billionaire.

"So then," Thor broke into the silence, setting the Tesseract and skull set down on a table nearby, which nearly bent under their weight. "What business do you have with my brother, Wizard?" He was quite casual, since his brother was indeed the God of Mischief, Tony imagined that random people having a bone to pick with Loki was normal procedure. 

"I prefer the term Master of the Mystic Arts." Strange commented dryly, and Tony considered it as a missed opportunity for some real sassiness. Naomi had failed to mention how uptight this wizard was. He did, however, have some amazing facial hair, Tony thought to himself. His cheekbones were also quite sculpted, and his eyes were-

"I knew you would say that." Naomi mumbled unprompted, a small smirk of victory on her lips. Had she been in a room of average people, they might no have caught the comment. However she was standing near Tony, and the other three in the room were either Gods or Wizards, so everyone heard it.

"Excuse me?" Strange asked, not impolitely but a touch frustrated, which was warranted after the Sherlock quotes. Half of which weren't even actual quotes, in the minds of the superheroes, who didn't know what Naomi did.

Caught red-handed, Tony watched in amusement as she was at a loss for words for a moment, seemingly intimidated by Strange's question. It was always quite funny how she reacted to any superheroes she met. From what Tony had seen, it involved several incredulous stares and some embarrassing blushes. Her generally cool and sarcastic demeanor was easily flustered, which almost made up for the all-knowing smirks she had worn since she began the quote rampage.