Two of A Kind

2 - What's Up, Dr Strange?

An hour and countless annoying questions later, Aite was perched back on the top of the bookshelf while the team and Dr. Strange discussed what to do with her.

While they were occupied, she took a moment to change her outfit. She flicked her way through a few looks before settling on black leggings, a blood red tee, and knee high black leather boots. She was absently changing her nail polish color when they called up to her.

"Aite, was it?" Strange asked.

She turned over on her side and gave him a sweet smile. "Yes, darling?"

"You said I gave you this idea. Did I give you access to the Eye?"

She grimaced. "Not exactly." She jumped down, changing into a replica of his suit as she fell."Your exact words were 'You'd have to time travel to do that, and there's no way I'm going to let you use the Eye of Agrobooto.' I figured you'd assume I'd sneak it for a second. Besides, I left it right where I found it." She flicked her wrists to change back into her red and black outfit, keeping the black boots.

"Agramotto." He corrected, his voice dripping with anger. "Where did you leave it?"

"Same place it always is." She waved a finger towards his chest. "Under your shirt."

He exchanged a meaningful look with Tony.

"Don't tell me you've lost it." She huffed. "It's one of the infinity stones. You can't just leave them laying around, you know."

"What do you know of the infinity stones?" Loki asked.

She screwed up her face, as if even the sound of his voice left a nasty taste in her mouth. "More than you do, mongrel."

"Well, she's an excellent judge of character." Clint chuckled.

Aite winked at Clint and turned back to Strange. "Do you have it or not?" She cocked her hip and gave him an annoyed look. "Cause if you don't have it, that's going to make my plan ten times harder."

"Your plan?" Loki interpreted.

She groaned. "Will someone silence that awful noise? Oh! I know." She snapped, materializing an Asgardian muzzle over Loki's mouth. "Ahh. That's so much better."

She turned triumphantly toward Strange. "So Doc, you mind if I call you Doc? After the Eye threw its hissy fit this morning, what did you do with it?"

"I put it away, of course."

"Oh good! The mirror realm. Very smart, Doc." She winked at him before she turned to Tony. "So, we're going to need to sit down and synchronize our plan. If we're gonna nip this whole Thanos thing in the bud, we need to get hopping."

"Who is this Thanos and why haven't we heard of him before now?"

Loki made a disgruntled noise behind the muzzle.

Aite pulled her feet up and folded them, leaving herself floating in midair. "Big guy, Titan, purple with funky lines down his chin. Adoptive father, and torturer of Gamora and Nebula... None of this ringing any bells?"

The team exchanged a variety of looks,  some worried, mostly confused, and at least one mildly amused by her antics.

She huffed and extended her arm. "Fine. I guess we have to hear from the annoying one." A single snap later, Loki was unmuzzled and answering their questions.

"Thanos is a madman. A Titan bent on ruling over the universe. Many years ago, he started on a crusade to wipe out half of the life in the universe. Along the way, he's adopted two daughters and has decided to chase after the infinity stones. He plans on using them to wipe out half the universe."

"Like that." Aite snapped. "Literally. A snap of his fingers and everyone interesting turns to dust. Unless we can find the stones and kick his big purple ass, life as you know it, as well as my favorite fruit, gone."

"Wait till she discovers carmel apples." Natasha smiled.

"Carmel? As in lightly toasted sweet sugary and creamy goodness? With apples?" She waved her hand beside her until a small bowl of liquid caramel and a larger bowl of sliced apples floated just within reach. She rubbed her hands together and licked her lips. "Mmm... this is gonna be good."

"Focus." Tony snatched the caramel sauce and held it behind him. "If we find these stones, we can defeat this Thanos guy?"

"Sure." Aite answered.

"Definitely not," Loki countered. "I spent months being tortured by him and his daughters. You don't stand a chance."

Aite glared, looking down her nose at him. "Says you."

He turned on her. "Listen here you little-"

She snapped again, putting the muzzle back in place. "That's better." She turned back toward Tony. "If anyone can kick this guy in his big, purple booty, it's the Avengers. But we have to catch him before he gets any of the stones. Lucky for us, I know where they are."

Loki pulled at the muzzle, making a frustrated sound deep in his throat when it wouldn't budge.

Aite giggled. "Having trouble?"

He glared at her, making her smile that much brighter.

Thor stepped forward before Loki could storm his way toward the newcomer. "I think he has something important he wants to say."

"Just because he thinks it's important-"

"Aite." Natasha drawled warningly.

"Fine." Aite snapped again, reluctantly banishing the muzzle and floated back to her seat on top of the bookcase.

"Coward." He snarled.

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned away.

"Waging war on Thanos is suicide."

"Doing nothing while he works toward collecting all the stones is worse." Aite countered.

"We can't trust her!"

"That's funny. You're the one who destroyed an entire city trying to rule the world but I can't be trusted?"

"ENOUGH!" Steve yelled, "She knows about the stones. She knows about Thanos. She's given us no reason to not trust her."

"The fact that she even knows about Thanos and the stones should be suspect." Loki countered.

"You know about them."

"Exactly! And look what I almost did!"

"Thus is the difference between Asgard and Olympus." Aite interpreted. "While certain Asgardians believe themselves better than the human race, we see them as children we must protect."