Doesn't Play Well With Tricksters

21 - Stranger Things

Rachael was still fuming when she returned to the conference room.

"Things all sorted out with Mr. Not-right?" Stark joked as Rachael sat down to talk with Strange.

She glared but didn't answer.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Strange asked.

She shook her head no and motioned toward the footage he'd been watching while she was wasting time with the God of Lies. "Did you find something?"

"It's probably nothing, but-" Strange started, hesitating when Loki returned.

Rachael, for one, refused to acknowledge him.

"The good doctor seems to think it's strange that the spellwork is being aimed at you two." Stark supplied. "And we all know he's the leading expert when it comes to strange."

Rachael rolled her eyes along with everyone else, seeing the thinly veiled pun for what it was; an attempt to bring some levity to the suddenly hostile room.

"I hadn't thought of that." Loki added, leaning between Rachael and Strange to examine the footage.

Rachael straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I've looked over the other footage. When you two, meaning neither of you, are there these three-" he motioned toward three of the combatants. "-disingage from the fight." He flicked his wrist to bring up another encounter. "You can see here, the same three people, once they see Rachael, move in towards her."

"This was the fight before the Lust Spell?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow toward Rachael, who nodded silently.

"And then, here-" Strange motioned again, bringing up another fight. "-you can see they clearly had an opening to hit Romanoff, but waited until Loki was a clear target."

Loki clenched his fists. "It's me they're after."

"Easy, Darth Helmet." Stark quipped. "They could just as easily be after Rachael, targeting the newest addition to the team."

"But why now?" Strange asked. "She's been with the team for months. Why go after her now?"

"Because they're after both of us." Rachael answered, pulling up more footage. "Our magic's linked. They must see it as the threat to eliminate."

Loki motioned to make the footage enlarge in front of them, focusing on the spell casting enemies. "And what better weapon to use against it than itself."

Rachael let out a huff. "As if it hasn't been tried already."

Loki turned toward her, surprise and worry in his eyes.

She shrugged. "Generations of people that didn't want the magic they were born with. Did you expect any better?"

"Your family saw it as a curse." Loki added, a subtle ring of pain to his words.

Rachael nodded, not taking her eyes off the projection.

"And with only one descendant showing the ability at a time, they never had the opportunity to fully test the theory." Strange added, catching Rachael's attention.

"You don't think -" She stopped mid sentence, seeing her suspicion mirrored in his eyes.

"One way to find out."

Hours later, Rachael and Loki stood outside a movie theater in the mall. "I'm telling you it's Friday night. This place should be packed. If they suspect something..." Rachael grumbled into her earpiece. 

In a manner of minutes, people of all ages started to flow in. "Better?" Loki asked, leaning in to make a show of whispering in her ear.

"Much." She answered back, turning to point toward the popcorn machine and candy displays as if she were explaining the importance to Loki. "How long will you be able to keep them active?"

"As with many other things, I can keep this up as long as it takes." Loki answered, a low purr to his voice reminding Rachael of exactly what he was eluding to.

Rachael smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Cocky much?"

"Absolutely."

"If you two are done making us all nauseous," Stark spoke up from the earpiece. "We have some suspicious looking people heading your way."

Rachael turned to look around, "If you and Pepper can use the lounge as your personal make-out room, you can deal."

Loki motioned over Rachael's shoulder. "I think our plan worked."

Rachael turned to find the hooded trio making their way toward her and Loki. The tallest of the three motioned to the others to circle around. "Yep. Game on guys. They're here."

Loki threw his arm up behind her, deflecting a spell Rachael didn't even see coming. She was too busy watching how the taller of the hooded figures moved. There was something familiar about her but Rachael couldn't quite place it.

"Drop the clones." Rachael ordered, knowing it would disorient their attackers for the brief second she needed.

Most of the crowd disappeared as soon as Loki snapped his fingers, leaving the hooded figures surrounded by a dozen and a half of their best agents and spies.

Rachael quickly circled them in individual force fields much like the prisons  on Asgard and stomped toward the tallest figure, obviously furious.

"How could you?" She demanded, magically pushing back the hood to reveal a familiar head of raven curls.

"I could ask the same of you, Cousin." She answered, her voice dripping with contempt.

"You're no family of mine." Rachael answered, waving her hand to transport the individual prisons to the basement cells of Stark Tower.