(A/N: you know I love you guys right? Not in that way, but I just don't think writers give all of you enough credit. Without you, WE ARE NOTHING! So, thanks. And I like taking screenshots of the reads when they get to funny numbers, or milestones like 50, 100 or 500 reads.)
"Congratulations, Thor!" Bruce smiled.
"That's wonderful!" I grinned, clapping my hands together. I'd never met Jane, but I had to admit, she is a very lucky woman.
Stark clapped him on the shoulder. "I think a bottle of champagne is in order!"
Thor was beaming. "Thank you my wonderful friends, I hope you will-"
My phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. It then started playing 'Black Cat' by Mayday Parade, which was quite depressing considering the situation it interrupted. Clint threw it to me and I caught it in one hand. I answered it and walked to the other end of the room.
"Hello?"
"Darling I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time..." Came the voice from the other end of the line.
"No Emma... It's ok. We're just celebrating Thor's engagement." I sighed.
"Congratulate him for me. I shall make sure I find something suitable to send as a wedding gift from all the X-Men." She said absently. She had something to say that couldn't wait and she was pissed I was off-topic.
"Sure." I said, readjusting the ice on my ribs. "So, what's up? You said you wouldn't call unless it was urgent."
"Did I? I've been so distracted recently. Any who, I've decided that you are coming to the Institute for open night this Saturday. Just on a whim. I hope you haven't made plans for anything else, darling."
"Not that I know of..." I trailed off.
"Not that it would've mattered. I was going to force you to come anyway. I thought it would be a lovely opportunity to reunite a family of sorts!" She said happily. "Scott saw you leaving the other day. He was asking about you, so I've told him I would introduce you on Saturday. Isn't it wonderful?"
There was a thunk as a champagne cork hit the roof. The guys started to cheer, Tony pouring everyone a glass. Steve walked over and handed one to me. I smiled and mouthed a 'thanks'.
"Eh, better late than never, I guess. And I was thinking about talking to him the other night."
"It's fate, darling. So I shall see you at seven o'clock sharp on Saturday, yes? Otherwise I shall have to have dear Kurt come and collect you, and I know how much you hate teleporting."
"Yes, Emma! I'll come!"
"Excellent. Bye, darling." She said contently, hanging up before I could reply.
I muttered some swear words incoherently, then shrugged to myself. I chucked my phone on the coffee table and had a mouthful of champagne. How the hell do you explain to someone that you're not dead and tried to call them but just was in too much danger 99.9% of the time for those calls to be successful? Honestly.
"Well you look flustered." Bruce said as I walked back over to join the guys. "Who was that?"
"Nobody important, just an old friend." I shrugged.
"I heard you organising a rendezvous. Who was it, because they sounded very enthusiastic for you to get together with them. Secret boyfriend?" Tony grinned evilly.
"No." I stuck my tongue out at him. "It was Emma Frost, if you must know."
"You keep interesting company." He mused.
"At least I have friends outside of work." I muttered.
"So Thor!" Called Bruce, changing the subject before I punched Stark in the face. "When is the wedding taking place?"
"Yeah, I want to know when my Best Man's speech has to be ready." Clint smirked.
"It is to be in Asgard. I spoke to my father not two days ago and he decided it would be held in three days time from today." Thor said, enthusiastically. He looked so proud that everyone was going to be there. Except me.
"I can't write a speech in three days! These things take time..." Clint grumbled sarcastically.
Bruce noticed that my smile had shrunk. "What's up?" He whispered to me.
"Hey Thor, that's Saturday isn't it?" I asked.
"I believe so, Lady Fox." He looked at me curiously. "Is there something wrong?"
"Oh, no." I waved off the question. "It's just... I won't be able to come."
"What!?" Clint yelled. God, he's enthusiastic today.
"Why not?" Steve asked a hell of a lot more politely.
"Um, I already have plans and they're kind of, well, important." I looked down at my feet. Thor looked crestfallen.
"What the fuck is more important than going to a god's wedding in motherfucking Asgard!?" Stark roared.
"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't know. And I'm having a family reunion with my only surviving relative that I haven't seen or spoken to since..." I trailed off sadly.
"Still! You're never going to have this opportunity ever again! I'm sure your cousin'll be there when we get back." Stark argued.
I looked away. It's true. I would love to see Asgard, it sounds so perfect compared to here. So different. And seeing something major like the Prince of the Realm getting married would be a perfect way to see how their culture matches up to what the myths say, it would be amazing. It would only ever happen once in every million eons. But so what?
"I made a promise, Tony. And I'm sorry I can't break it for this." I said as strongly as I could, hiding my disappointment.
Thor came up to me. "I understand perfectly."
"Thanks Thor." I grinned weakly.
"Lady Fox, Jane and I shall have another ceremony upon Midgard. Just so you and my brother can be a part of the festivities."
Everyone was looking at Thor, and then back at me.
"What?" I asked slowly.
"My brother is still banished. I tried to reason with father to let him return just for the celebrations, but he flatly refused. He explained that it would be going back on his decree, making allowances when there should be none." He said simply.
Bruce narrowed his eyes and looked at me. Clint eyed me curiously. Steve looked into his glass, watching all the bubbles float to the top.
"Everyone's thinking it, I'm just going to say it." Because you can't keep your thoughts to yourself, can you Stark? "Thor you worded that wrong. And who's going to feed Loki while we're gone?"
"Loki is quite capable of taking care of himself, Stark." Thor scowled. "And please explain how my sentence seemed to mislead you all?"
"You said-" Stark began.
"Enough." Bruce interrupted. "Tony, just shut up. Enough is enough. Stop correcting everyone's grammar, you've been doing it all week. It's annoying. Stop picking on Fox, just because she's new doesn't mean you get to manipulate her into doing anything and everything. You see that face she's making right now?" He pointed at me. "She's trying really hard to be civil and not kill you even though you are being a complete asshole. So stop implying. Or I will let her throw you out the window, making sure you don't have those bracelets on and you will be 'street pizza'."
Wow. Everyone just stopped. I hadn't seen Bruce this angry and not Hulk Out before. I was feeling proud of his self-control. Stark looked at him with a look of disbelief on his face. Bruce stalked into the elevator and I followed him, looking back over my shoulder and mouthing 'sorry' at Thor. The doors slid shut.
"You're coming to Asgard." He said abruptly.
"I can't. I told you, family thing."
"Well you can't stay here."
"Why the fuck not?" I asked angrily.
Bruce didn't answer. The doors opened and he walked into his lab. I followed him, demanding an answer.
"I have an apartment across town that I use when I need a bit of a break. You can stay there for the two nights we'll be gone." He stated.
"No, I am going to stay right here." I yelled stubbornly.
"You can't. I won't let you."
"Tell me why I can't stay here and I'll consider it."
He looked at me. I could see he was searching his mind for a civil answer, one that I would be able to debate reasonably. But I knew what he was really thinking.
"You don't trust me do you? Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." I grumbled sarcastically.
He sighed. "It's not you I don't trust."
"But you still can't bring yourself to leave me alone. What about the other night?"
"Clint was here."
"Not all the time. And I still wasn't killed."
"You nearly were!"
"BUT THAT WASN'T LOKI, WAS IT!?" I roared.
Bruce went silent, thinking about other arguments he had against me staying here. I leaned against his workbench. The ice was thawing and now lukewarm against my side.
"Look Bruce." I said carefully. "I can't go with you. I'm not running away for the weekend just because you're worried. And I'm hardly going to be in the tower at all, I can promise you that. I can hold my own if need be, but I will not be driven out just because you, my best friend, are having trust issues."
He looked at me from across the lab. I'd never called him my best friend out loud before, but in my heart he always had been. I turned towards the door.
"I'll be fine." I called over my shoulder and walked out of the lab, into the elevator.
I stepped out again a few moments later. The guys were still excited, Stark bragging about how he knew the best places to host Buck's parties. I wandered over to the freezer and swapped my ice pack for a bag of frozen peas. Steve walked over to me.
"Is Bruce ok?" He asked, genuinely concerned. Well he does have a team to run.
I shrugged. "He'll be fine. Just give him a few hours to cool off."
"Is there anything wrong?"
"Nah, he's just worried about me. If something happens while you're all gone, I guess. But, as I said to him, the X-Men are over in Westchester if I need them, S.H.I.E.L.D is on call and I've done pretty well by myself before I came here. He's just overreacting." Half-truth.
Steve just nodded thoughtfully.
"I am sorry to interrupt, sirs," J.A.R.V.I.S called from out of the blue, "and miss. Director Fury is on hold, saying that there is an urgent matter which needs your attention."
"Patch him through, J.A.R.V.I.S." Stark said, ignoring my existence. Meh.
"Avengers." Fury's voice rang out. Assemble, I thought. "I have a job for you."
"What, no more aliens?" Stark said. "Needs us to take your trash out Nick?"
He ignored Stark. "I want you all outside the United Nations building at 0530 tomorrow morning."
"What for, sir?" Steve asked.
"A matter that could threaten the world's very existence." Good job, Fury, that narrows it down.
"Would you like to be more specific, Director?" I asked sweetly, my voice full of sarcasm.
"Let's just say its got something to do with those Doombots you faced the other night. And dress smartly." He hung up.
"What are these 'Doombots' of which Fury spoke?" Thor asked.
"They were the robots that attacked the other night." I said.
"Wait, they were Doombots?" Stark interrupted.
"Um, yeah."
Clint facepalmed. "So THAT'S what you meant when you yelled at me."
"Are you guys going to enlighten the rest of us?" Steve called.
"Right." I said. "Doombots are the robotic soldiers-slash-slaves created by and in the image of Dr Doom."
"Who's Dr Doom?"
"That asshole is the ruler of Latveria. He's had a few run-ins with the Fantastic Four but has always gotten out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody because of his diplomatic immunity." Clint added. "He should've been locked away a long time ago and had the keys melted down to nothing."
I nodded.
"He must be speaking to the UN." Stark remarked.
"Or they want a word with him about Latveria's defence policies." I shrugged.
"So why are we needed? Hasn't the UN building got its own highly trained security force or something?" Stark asked.
"The certainly do. I helped train a few." Clint answered. "They're the best, well, except for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"If they have such fearsome warriors, what part shall we play?" Thor inquired.
"Backup." I grimaced. "They're preparing for the worst-case scenario."
"Which is?" Steve demanded.
"Doom planning an attack. Fury thinks those Doombots were just testing us in preparation for tomorrow. Luckily, they missed most of us."
Steve was deep in thought. "And that's our advantage."
"Just saying, but compared to Doom, Loki's an angel." I sighed. "And you guys thought the Chitauri were a handful."