Two of A Kind

3 - Annoyingly So

Aite was having entirely too much fun.  She was sprawled out on the top of the bookshelf, laying on her stomach, propped up on a plush pillow. She absently kicked her feet and watched the team, minus Loki, talking in the neighboring glass enclosed conference room.

Outwardly, she wasn't doing anything malicious. Aside from keeping him trapped inside this God-awful muzzle while she did her best impersonations of the team.

"But how could I be wrong? Look at how patriotic I am." She mimicked as Steve motioned toward himself.

""It's a valid argument." She changed to a voice a touch too nasal to be Bruce.

Loki smiled despite himself.  The little wench was actually funny. If it wasn't for her blatant disrespect, and her stubborn hatred toward him, he might actually find her interesting.

She giggled and waved her fingers at Clint when he motioned her way.

She also had horrible taste in men. How could she flirt with Clint and absolutely despise him? It was ludicrous.

Not that he cared. She could bat those long eyelashes at anyone she wanted.  It didn't bother him at all that she, a goddess, was currently making kissing motions toward a mortal who would gladly see him dead.

Loki was not accustomed to being, nor would he ever be, jealous of a being with such an insignificant lifespan. A lifespan that would be remarkably shorter if he continued to encourage her outlandish behavior.

Loki continued to glare daggers his way until the team came back into the room.

"Why is that back?" Thor demanded, pointing at Loki's muzzle.

"Because you brought him here?" Aite answered,  intentionally misunderstanding him.

Thor gripped the handle of his hammer and turned toward her.

She threw her arms up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Sheesh."

Loki massaged his jaw when the muzzle disappeared.

"We've decided we'll take you at your word, for now." Steve said, trying to look intimidating.

"Great!" She jumped down, again landing perfectly in the middle of the team. "So, we need to get a spaceship."

Tony scoffed. "We're fresh out."

Aite winked at him. "No problem, hon. I happen to know where one's been hidden."

---

Loki walked around the broken down ship, patching holes as he could and adding her own touch here and there. The rest of the team, and their new favorite goddess, were closed up inside the flightdeck, leaving him and his clones to finish the repairs.

He wasn't complaining. He needed a break from her endless chatter. Her voice had a way  of distracting him, and her flirtatious ways were nothing short of maddening.

"You about done back there?" Her voice called through the intercom system.

He waved his hands, producing a thin mist that flew around the ship, attaching itself to any small holes it could find in the hull. "Nearly. A few last patches and we should be ready."

"Hurry up." She demanded from behind him.

He quickly turned and pinned her to the side of the ship. "You really shouldn't sneak up on someone you obviously detest. No telling what they may think you're up to." He warned, all but snarling in the end.

She matched his glare, answering. "I don't hate you. You're basically me from another world, another pantheon. If anything, I'm disappointed. All your influence, all your gifts, and yet you fail in the most basic of ways. We should be protecting life, nurturing it. Yet you seek to destroy."

He leaned in closer, stopping only when their faces were within an inch of each other. "Reread your history book, child. I am in this realm to redeem myself in their eyes, not to destroy them."

"I need no history book. I heard the stories of your life straight from the source. I had them drilled into my head for hundreds of years before I made my way back here to stop your greatest mistake."

He stepped back slightly, examining her face for any sign she wasn't telling the truth. "I sent you here?"

She eyed him for a moment. "A much older you, but yes."

"How far did you come back?"

"Five thousand, give or take a couple hundred years."

"Am I interrupting something?" Natasha asked, drawing their attention.

Aite erupted in a fit of laughter. "Me? And him?" She quickly dropped out of his hold and skipped over to Natasha, linking her arm around the other woman's. "You're so funny. "

"It wasn't that funny." Loki mumbled under his breath as he dissolved the last of his clones and followed them.