Collision Course {Marvel} ||1||

6. Playing Babysitter

I felt weary, though I hadn't done very much.

Loki was seated aside from Natasha. Cap, Stark, and I all stood. Stark had taken the helmet off. He wasn't half bad looking with his tanner complexion, dark eyes, dark hair, and unusual facial hair.

Why come here of all places? Why bother? I asked Loki.

Do you think I'll tell you everything willingly?

You used to.

That was the past, my dear.

No pet names.

You're irked.

Just a little bit.

"Is he saying anything?" Fury's voice came over the radio.

"Not a word," Natasha reported.

"Just get him here. We're low on time."

He doesn't realize how true that is.

I wish I didn't have this ability, I growled.

"So, who are you really?" Stark pressed me.

I met his eyes. "My name is the one I've adopted since coming here to Midgard." Stark looked at me as though I had an extra head. "I've only lived here for a year. I'm from Asgard."

"Oh, great."

"You should have assumed that when you saw me."

"I thought you were a lab experiment gone wrong. I mean, you shouldn't have hands."

"My hands don't burn with my fire, obviously." I crossed my arms over my chest. "That isn't my only gift; it's not as useful as fire."

"What's the other?"

I can communicate like this, I said. Stark jumped as though someone electrocuted him.

"Don't do that again," he told me.

"Join the club," Cap told him. He flickered a gaze at Loki. "I don't like it."

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark asked.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?" Cap and I asked.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle. You haven't been around long enough to know a lot." This was directed at me.

"Well, my apologies for still being a newcomer to M—Earth," I corrected myself. "I can't learn everything about this world in a year. I'm lucky I know where I live and how humans talk and dress here."

"Oh yeah, there's so much more you haven't seen yet."

Turning into one of them, are you? Loki asked.

That was the point in moving to Midgard. I wanted to start over, and I did. This wasn't part of the plan.

Does anything ever go according to plan?

The all too familiar sound of booming thunder erupted overhead. I peeked through the window to see blindingly bright strikes of lightning.