The Bargain

Chapter 58: Fifty-eighth Installment

Fifty-Eighth Installment: The Beginning of the End

"Is this strange for you?"

Jane looked up from the computer she was using in Stark's lab. The lab's owner was nowhere to be found, which was just as well. His anxiety was making him edgy and more than rude, downright unpleasant. He wasn't even bothering to apologize any longer. "Is what strange?"

Thor leaned against the edge of her desk. He looked toned and firm and sexy in a pair of dark blue jeans and a warm red-brown tee shirt. "Helping us find Loki? Helping a man you once hated?"

"I wouldn't say I hated him," she said. Hate was such a strong word. "I hated what he did, and that he did it, and I really didn't like him at all, but . . . he's not easy to dislike. After I started working with him and getting to know him, it was just so easy to believe that he wasn't trying to destroy Earth or take it over or anything."

Thor gave her a smile half amused, half rueful. "Did I ever tell you his nickname was Silvertongue, for how easily he could convince anyone of anything?"

Leaning back in her chair a little, she adjusted her monitoring equipment again. "No, but it suits him." Pausing, she looked up at the man whom she loved. "After this is all over, I won't tolerate you disappearing like before. Everything we face in the future, we face it together."

Reaching over, Thor took her hand in his. It was so much bigger than her own. He lifted it to his lips and pressed them to her knuckles. "I agree. When this is over, I wish to make you my wife."

That was hardly a romantic, down-on-one-knee proposal, but Jane found she couldn't care less. Surging up out her chair, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his chest. Their lips met with gentle persuasion despite the near desperation of her movement. The kiss lingered sweetly until he dragged his lips to her ear.

"I love you, Jane Foster."

His facial hair tickled her cheek as she turned her head so their eyes met again. "I love you too."

Her computer pinged.

oOo oOo oOo

The Mad Titan might have picked the same location the Avengers had because he believed they'd never think of that. He might have picked it to be ironic. Or there may have been no decision making involved at all, he simply went to a gate's last-known location. Whatever the case, Jane Foster's clever astronomical anomaly detection software told her the second anything happened, and Hel used the Caskets to instantly take the gathered army to face their greatest foe.

Tony broke for the sky the instant Wyoming's desert materialized. He was so beyond waiting, and the Aether was practically vibrating around his neck. She was just as impatient as he. Little more than a split second passed before the air rippled and shifted, splitting open like a moldy curtain and spilling that now-familiar golden light.

The Aether had suggested Tony just snatch Loki and run as soon as he appeared, and Tony half hoped the god of mischief would be the first one through the new opening in the air. However, it wasn't. Tony got his second glimpse of the Mad Titan, and it wasn't any better than the first. Brown, craggy skin. Startling blue eyes. Square features. Broad, boxy, and ugly. In a sudden fit of hateful rage, Tony flew at him, egged on by the Aether's fury.

He didn't get very close before dark blue light sprang up around the Mad Titan, spilling outward in a glowing flood too fast to completely avoid.

"Don't get too close to them!" Steve's voice barked in his ear. "Stick to the plan, Stark! A lot of people will get hurt if you don't!"