Sins With the God of Mischief

Ready for Action

"Who else was spared?" Kitri asked Natasha as she glanced across the room at Thor and Loki.

They were seated as far away from everyone else as possible, Loki speaking in a quiet tone to a wide eyed Thor, who was listening to him intently as Kitri caught up on what had happened in Midgard with Natasha.

"Tony is upstairs at his bar with Bruce and James Rhodes. I'm not sure if you've met James, he's Tony's friend. War Machine. May want to go easy on the introduction. Wouldn't want Bruce to lose control and go green and destroy the place once he sees our friend there." She said, following Kitri's gaze to the two men.

"So strange." Natasha continued, shaking her head in disbelief at how civil they looked while talking to each other. Thor actually put a hand on Loki's shoulder with a bewildered expression as he heard him say something specific.

Kitri knowingly bit the inside of her cheek, guessing the part of their conversation must have reached the topic of their mother. "Do you think they were like this when they were kids?"

Natasha shrugged. "Only they would know. We didn't know of Loki's existence until he attacked us." Natasha responded quietly before turning to Kitri. "What the hell did you two go through for Thor to react this way to what he's telling him?"

Thor put his head in his hands, and Loki gently put a hand on the small of his back, looking at the floor sadly.

"Far too much to explain now." Kitri said softly. "Would you mind accompanying me to greet the rest while they catch up? It may be ideal for them to see me first." Kitri suggested, and Natasha nodded while motioning for Kitri to follow as she led the way.

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"Well, would you look at that? And here I thought our new friend had gone completely bonkers!" Tony said as he watched Kitri enter the room. Marvel had already announced their arrival, and he stood with his arms crossed behind the large, well stocked bar. Bruce and James were seated on the stools on the other side of it, drinking beers. They nodded at her in greeting, seemingly indifferent to her arrival.

"Have you told them about the army?" Natasha asked Marvel, and she nodded.

Tony grabbed a clean glass off of one of the wine glass racks, handing one to Kitri before he spoke. "Well, since I'm playing bartender, what kind of wine would you like to celebrate your successful return?" Tony asked, offering glasses to the other women there as well.

Natasha put her hand out in refusal as Marvel shook her head. "We need to be clear-headed to take Thanos on as soon as possible, Tony. He may be weaker, but he still has at least some of the stones intact." Natasha said, crossing her arms.

"Red it is then? Thor managed to salvage a significant amount of that Asgardian wine." Tony offered, completely ignoring what Natasha was saying. "Aegir's wine is what I think he called it?"

"Tony." She said more sternly, as he had already begun filling a glass.

He waved Natasha off dismissively. "Calm down, Nat, you heard the woman. We have an army now, and they need some time to revive themselves or whatever. We can finally afford to waste some time." He said in his usual carefree way.

Kitri took the offered glass as he pulled her into a tight hug, giving her a quick and friendly peck on the cheek.

Something of the sort would have normally made her uncomfortable, but having missed being a part of these kinds of interactions between the Avengers made Kitri smile and pat Tony on the back as he did it.

"Very pleasing to see you all alive, and thank you, Tony."

"How long until we can move out?" Marvel asked petulantly.