∆ {3⁵} {BROKEN STRINGS} ∆
THE PARTY HAD eventually calmed down enough that only the Avengers, Hill, Rhodey and Dr. Cho were left. Roxi was quite glad that it had calmed as much as it had, because the constant noise of people laughing, talking, yelling, it made her head pound, and when that happened, she would start getting the dull pounding at the base of her skull she always got when she was surrounded by loud noises. She'd been talking to Natasha until she got distracted by the way the city looked through Stark's huge floor to ceiling windows. She couldn't see the stars past the clouds and the smoky blue night sky, but she could see the lights throughout the city winking on and off gently, glimmering like raindrops on a spiderweb against the strong silhouettes of the buildings that formed New York City. It was raining ever so slightly outside, the droplets spattering onto the windows, scattering with the impact, reflecting the lights slightly. The whole vision created such an illusion of calmness that Roxi almost forgot where she was, carried away into the night by the fantasies of her mind.
Once again, it was Natasha that brought her back down to earth, with a gentle hand on her shoulder and a soft smile that caused Roxi's heart to race as her ice blue eyes met the redhead's forest green ones. Roxi smiled back, with the same calmness and softness, caught up in the moment as Natasha began to talk.
"Come on, let's go sit down with the others," she suggested quietly, prompting Roxi to nod in response and follow Natasha down to the seated area, holding her drink in one hand, the redhead's hand subtly in the other. They sat down next to each other on the white leather couch, Roxi's mind growing ever so slightly fuzzy from the alcohol, but not so much so that she couldn't think. The theme of conversation seemed to be Thor's hammer. How'd they'd gotten onto the subject, she had no idea, but it was quite amusing to listen to as Thor let out a low chuckle and Roxi took another sip of her drink.
"But it's a trick," Clint complained, spinning a drumstick between his fingers as he jeered at the god, clearly a little over drunk.
"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor protested happily, handing Steve a drink as she set her glass down. Clint scoffed before mocking Thor in a deep voice,
"He whosoever be worthy shall haveth the power," he begun before changing back to his normal voice, "whatever man, it's a trick!" Roxi decided to simply watch the scene unfurl before her, smiling faintly as she realised how lucky she was to know people like that, who could just joke around, and who made her feel safe, for once in her life. She still wasn't quite used to the the feeling; the one that people were there for her, looking out for her, willing to help her. It was something she'd never really had before the Avengers, and that thought left her slightly dazed. She wanted to smile wider, to laugh along with them, to let them in. But she couldn't, she reminded herself, as a sad jolt went through her heart. She had to keep them safe. And Natasha; she didn't know what she'd do if Natasha died or was injured because if her. All of a sudden, Roxi didn't want to smile anymore. But, she kept it painted on her face, all though she felt different inside.
Natasha noticed the subtle difference in Roxi's face. It was only visible for a second before it vanished, but if the redhead looked closer, she could see something dark lurking behind the brunette's eyes. It made her frown slightly. Every time the woman seemed to be starting enjoying herself, she would shut the feelings down and her eyes would take that look.
"Well please, be my guest," Thor suggested gesturing towards his hammer. The slightly glazed look she had disappeared and Natasha relaxed minutely as both women fixed their attention on Clint, waiting for his response.
"Really?" He asked after a slight pause, everyone suddenly listening closely to the conversation.
"Yeah," Thor confirmed, his voice still light as Clint got up and made his way over to where Mjölnir sat on the table.
"Oh this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey slurred lowly, cut off at the end by Stark's voice.
"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Roxi ignored the double meaning behind the statement and leant back against the couch, her eyes watching carefully to see what would happen. Everyone else chuckled as Clint stopped next to the hammer, facing Thor to provide an excuse.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" He asked, before trying to the lift the hammer, straining to pull it off the table, but inevitably failing. He let out a chuckle once he realised he wasn't getting anywhere and let go of the handle, the laugh trailing off into speech.
"I still don't know how you do it," he summarised quickly.
"You smell the silent judgement?" Stark asked, a slight smirk on his face.
"Stark, by all means," Clint offered, putting a hand out in gesture as he went back to sit down. Tony stood up, looking completely confident that he'd be able to lift the god's hammer. Various greeting met his actions, including an 'okay' from Natasha and an 'uh-huh' from Rhodey.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony proclaimed loudly, obviously also having had a fair bit of alcohol, and in his normal spirit enough to be overly confident and still determined to make references or innuendos wherever he could. Drunk Tony was not a Tony that Roxi would ever get on with.
"It's physics," he proclaimed, wrapping his hand around the handle, using the trap to secure it.
"Right, so; if I lift it, I will then rule Asgard?" He asked, as if checking. Thor nodded slightly, replying wit ha simple,
"Yes, of course."
"I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta," Tony informed them, making Roxi roll her eyes as he got a better grip on the handle. Of course he would so something like that with that sort of power. He put one foot on the table and attempted to pull it up, immediately failing, just as Clint had. He didn't give up quite so easily though, holding up a hand to stop any of them from commenting, with a quick
"Be right back." And he was, this time with his Iron Man glove, firing up the thrusters in an attempt to use 'physics' to lift the enchanted hammer. It didn't change the results, so he roped Rhodey in to help him, each with their own suit's mechanical gloves on.
"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked as both gloves' ignition lit up brighter and brighter, Tony's flickering golden, his a dancing blue.
"Aren't you on my team?" Stark asked, in the same position as he had tried the first time, to equal results.
"Just represent! Pull!" Rhodey insisted, deliberately not looking into the crows of Avengers, instead just over their heads.
"Alright, let's go," Tony agreed. However much teamwork they tried, the hammer didn't budge. It didn't move for Bruce either, who let out a loud yell as he tried to lift it, carrying on for a moment after he let go, his hands up in the air as if her were impersonating his own alter-ego. He was met with generally bemused and slightly confused faces, while Roxi scrunched her brow slightly and Natasha smiled apologetically. Roxi wasn't sure why he'd done that, but it didn't matter in the long term, because Steve was up next. He didn't look like he was expecting anything at all to happen. In a small way, she was rooting for him, which was why she was slightly disappointed when nothing had happened. But maybe, if she'd been paying more attention and wasn't focusing as much on her feelings at that moment in time, just maybe, she'd have noticed the hammer moving, even if it were ever so slightly.
"Nothing," Steve said, not sounding disappointed or discouraged at all, laughing along with the rest of them, especially Thor, who let out a rather relieved laugh that Roxi couldn't place in that moment.
"And," Tony started as Bruce held his hands out to Natasha, who still had a drink in her hand.
"Widow?" As if realising what they were suggesting then, she leant back, refusing steadily.
"Oh, no, no, no; that's not a question I need answered." Roxi thought about the redhead's answer for a second, wondering why she wouldn't even give it a try. Then she went back through what she knew of Natasha's past before settling on the conclusion that the redhead didn't want to try because she was nervous that she would be able to lift it.
"Last, and probably least," Tony uttered, the second phrase under his breath, though not quiet enough that the two women didn't pick it up, "Ryder!" He said her last word much more loudly, a challenging look in his eyes. His statement was met with a smouldering glare from both women that made his smile vanish as he quickly sat back down on the couch. Roxi considered the idea for a second, still leaning against the back of the seat as the others' eyes landed on her. If she tried and failed, well, there was no harm in that. If she succeeded. Well, she didn't see any chance of that happening. After those few moments of silence Roxi leant forwards and nodded slightly, her eyes flitting around and meeting everyone else's in the space of a few seconds.
"Yeah, okay," she agreed, earning a few shocked looks from several people, including Steve, Tony, and a much more hidden surprised face from Natasha. Everyone let out little phrases such as 'oo' or 'gonna be interesting', from people like Rhodey and Clint, everyone's on her as she stood up and made her way over to the table where the hammer was and wrapped her hand around the leather grip. It felt slightly strange; she was used to the smooth, cold feeling of her quarterstaff handle, not the slightly rough, worn one of Thor's hammer. Something about the weapon felt familiar in her hand; maybe the similar shape of the handle, or that both were made of metal. And when she attempted to lift it, she didn't try and pull or yank it up as the others had, she simply shifted her weight back slightly and lifted her arm. To her great surprise, she was met with no resistance as the hammer came off the table as she held it. Thor's face dropped immediately, and everyone else gained stunned faces, including Roxi. As soon as she realised that she had the emotion on her face, she wiped it clean and turned to the rest of the group with a smirk.
"So, not impossible then." Thor recovered quite quickly, standing up, and clapping her on the back gently as a way of praise. She didn't really want any praise or recognition for something she had no control over, but she let it slide for the moment. She set it down again and went back to her seat by Natasha, who had also recovered relatively quickly. Stark, however, seemed to be having a hard idea grasping the prospect, and was muttering broken sentences, pointing from Roxi to the hammer and back as if to help him figure out what happened. Roxi herself had no idea how she'd been able to lift it; she'd done many wrong things in her time, taking a life simply because she was told to and paid to do it. Natasha had a fair idea though. She knew that the other woman wouldn't waste a second if there was a way she could save one of these people's lives; she'd do anything she could to stop bad things from happening. Even Steve hadn't been able to lift the hammer, and the redhead simply attributed it to the fact that he hadn't experienced the horrors of the modern world they lived in fully yet, while the ice-eyed ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent had had to deal with it from the moment she was born.
"All deference to the man who 'wouldn't be king' and 'Annabeth?'" Stark attempted and Roxi flipped him off as she leant back against the white couch cushions once more, "but it's rigged."
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed, clapping Tony on the back, a beer in his hand.
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria reported, smirking, making Roxi chuckle slightly. Definitely never going away.
"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve complained to Tony, who ignored the comment to place one of his own.
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code? 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's (or her's, I suppose), Is, I think the literal translation," Tony excused, determined to find a loophole or a flaw that would excuse him not being able to lift the hammer.
"I don't have any fingerprints. I burnt them off years ago," Roxi cut in, smirking a little at the slightly unnerved faces of almost everything around her, excluding Natasha, Maria, and surprisingly, Dr. Cho, who supplied an answer to that quickly.
"I could fix that if you wanted," she offered, referencing the same technology that'd healed Clint's side. Roxi shook her head slowly,
"No, I think I'm okay, thanks."
"Well, it's uh a very, very interesting theory. But I have a simpler one. You're all not worthy," Thor argued good-naturedly, a wide smile on his face as he picked up his hammer and the rest of the group protested and Roxi picked up Natasha's untouched shot of vodka and downed it. The redhead gave her a soft glare, which she pretty much ignored. A split-second later, a high pitched whine burst through the air and Roxi's hands flew from where she was setting the glass down on the table to her ears, trying to block out the noise. It was a mechanical, screeching sound, that seemed to trigger one of her headaches, because a moment later, her head was pounding and swimming as the previously merry party descended into chaos. So much for a fun time.
{A/N:} So here's this chapter. It's very late so I apologise for that and there'd not much that actually happens in this chapter but I really wanted to get it out for you. Question:
DO I KILL PIETRO?
I gotta know for my plans. Thanks for reading, please comment,
JabberJay_011
2465 Words
Written: 07 / 11 / 2020
Published: 07 / 11 / 2020