Caffeine Rush (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 6: Green Team Unite!

"He brainwashed me with his scepter!" Scepter? That was new. Loki liked daggers and knives back in my world, I wondered if that was just a doppelgänger difference. Wait! Hold it! Did Clint just say brainwashed? That was not one of Loki's abilities in my world, and so far the abilities of everyone else hadn't varied so drastically between the two similar universes. There was something definitely odd about that.

Fury put up a hand and once the complaints had died down some, he said, "Thor insists that he's been reformed," fat chance, mischief never surrenders, "and that Loki was not of his right mind when he invaded New York with the chitauri. There may even be evidence that he was brainwashed himself." That was more likely. The god of mischief was easily framed for unrelated occurrences simply because it was easier to believe the lies of others than to look for evidence of the truth for the 'excuses' of the god of lies. "That being said, the Asgardians have cleared him of any wrongdoing and have sent him here under Odin's orders so that we might do the same."

No one seemed to know what to say so Fury continued, "I called everyone in today because you all will be affected in one form or another, even the coffee lady." I perked up at a mention of me but grumbled to myself at the nickname. A thought suddenly occurred to me and my hand shot into the air of its own accord. Fury nodded at me, "yes, coffee lady?"

"I was just wondering where Loki would be staying while he's here, Director Patchy, sir?" I snickered a bit to myself, knowing the story behind the eyepatch—one angry alien-kitty—curtesy of Nicole Fury of my world and Carol Danvers of this universe meeting, that was a long story in and of itself. Nicole had hers burned out by cold flames on the wrong side of an unfriendly Skrull's interrogation, so Nicholas's story was comparatively more funny even though Flerken scratches were not easy to deal with either.

"He was going to stay with Thor, but that comment got him assigned to your wing, shortstack." Fury growled. I was mildly offended by the nickname, I mean, I wasn't that short, but immensely proud of myself for bringing out the sass. He called me 'coffee lady', so he started it. Who knew calling him 'Patchy' would get to him so much? Too much exposure to Tony, me guesses, the nickname must have set him off.

But that was what I was counting on. "Thank you, sir. How do you feel about stowaways? Cuz I'm thinking of getting a cat." I smiled broadly as his eyebrows furrowed, I couldn't help but drop hints, it was just the mischief in me. If Loki was anything like the version I had met previously, then I knew we would get along at the very least. If things went my way, then my cat could very well end up being a shapeshifter. I had plans, and with a bit of luck, they would come to fruition before my secret was exposed.

A couple hours later, I felt the familiar sensation of the Bifrost opening. They were coming. The others were already present as I meandered my way from inside the compound to the spot Tony had designated as the Bifrost landing site. He cited something about lawn maintenance and Thor's lack of concern about the damage the Bifrost did to it, so now there was a spot especially assigned just for the inter-realm travelers.

I watched as a column of rainbow light shot down from the sky, blasting everything around it with buffeting wind. All the enhanced persons were unaffected by it, Tony using his nanotech to keep his boots planted firmly on the ground. Winds of this power wouldn't affect a speedster in the slightest, but I stepped behind Tony to avoid suspicion. From deep inside the light column, two silhouetted figures could be seen descending from the sky.

When the light and wind dissipated, two men remained but I was only interested in the one. Thor looked the same as he did in my universe, virtually no difference aside from the haircut and lack of war paint, but I was disinterested in his presence. This Loki? Now he had my attention. Long raven black hair framing a sculpted face, deep emerald green eyes like gemstones set above sharp, high cheekbones. In a word? Delicious.

"That's Loki! Wow..." I sighed dreamily as I watched him approach.

"Wow!? What do you mean 'wow'? He's a murderer!" Sometimes Tony forgot just how many casualties the Avengers had wracked up through the death of their foes or those of civilians caught in the crossfire. Not to mention, Loki was literally a god, if he had wanted more deaths or was serious about conquering Earth like Hela had been, then there would have been far more casualties. The damage he had wreaked here was relatively minor compared to that of Hela when she had tried to conquer this realm in my universe.

"He's hot." I shrugged as my only answer, leaning against Tony's shoulder as I openly appraised and appreciated the dark prince of Asgard. "I'd make him coffee for free." Now that was saying something. The coffee gods expected a sacrifice for bestowing their masterpieces.

"You don't make me coffee for free!" Tony whined, smacking my arm away after the comment. Apparently it had gotten to him.

"You're a friend, not a potential love interest." I dismissed, eyes fixated on the god of mischief who was bantering with his brother over something-or-other.

Tony grumbled, irritated with my dismissiveness. "I don't know whether to be relieved, offended or concerned, or a mixture of the above." Obviously, he wasn't interested in me in that way, but concerned over me in the way that a friend or favorite uncle would be with a problematic lover.

"Offended is more fun, if that helps you decide." I patted his shoulder and skipped over to meet the two gods as they approached. Ignoring Thor, I bowed to Loki, "Lord Mischief, it is an honor to meet you." I rose from the bow and offered Thor a respectful but curt nod of acknowledgement, "Thor," before continuing to ignore him.

Loki looked me up and down, a smile gracing his face as if he found what he saw quite agreeable, perhaps even amusing. Fine by me, that just makes him becoming my cat a lot easier. "Who are you, mortal?" Loki inquired, a smirk showing off his beautiful white teeth.

"I'm Jesse Sharpe, a humble coffee loving mischief-maker of this realm." It wasn't entirely untruthful, I did love coffee and mischief, and I did come from this realm, just not this version of it. Eh, truthful enough to catch his attention anyway.

His eyes sparkled as he caught on. "You are quite the interesting mortal. You best not lie to me, I can sense that you have secrets."

"All mortals have secrets." I deflected, he was the god of lies, of course he would know if I lied to him.

"But your secrets are far more interesting than most." Loki sparkled with interest as he pushed, "tell me I'm wrong. I sensed it, but which part was the lie?"

I arched an eyebrow, "secrets shouldn't be given out so freely. Maybe one day, you'll find out."

"You will tell me eventually." He insisted.

"I could," I conceded, "but what's the fun in that?" Smirking playfully, I turned and walked away. Aside from coffee and speed—and I mean running, not weed—the two things that I did best were mischief and mystery.