phones and gods
Cora knocked on the cottage's door, if she squinted her eyes towards her right she could make out the angelic gates in the distance.
The door opened to reveal a beautiful girl, light green eyes, pale complexion, blonde and long soft curls that fell on her shoulder, two or three inches shorter than the sorceress but still with a powerful and serene energy surrounding her.
"Got tired of the earthlings already?" Asked the woman playfully, moving outside to talk with Cora by the benches she had on the garden.
"No, Len, actually the opposite, and i've come bearing gifts" She said handing the girl the photo album and a high-tech phone
Lenora put the contraption on the side while she went through the pictures the woman in front of her had brought her
"Oooh, who's that? He's cute!" She said pointing at a picture of Peter doing an overdramatic hero pose on his suit with Cora doing the same on her armour
"Wow, you clearly have an issue, always Odin's kids" Lenora said looking at the multiple pictures of the god of thunder and the woman together
"I knew you were going to say something like that" Cora quipped with an eye roll "And before you ask, no, I don't have any interest in pursuing a relationship with the god of thunder, thank you very much" Added the woman before the other could open her mouth
"Whatever you say, your majesty" Said Lenora earning a light shove on the shoulder
She kept looking through the pictures, occasionally making some snarky comment, but overall enjoying knowing more of her life down on Earth. When she was done, she moved on to pick up the phone, eyeing it like it was a devil's piece of hardware
"I had Anthony Stark make it, it's a thing you can use to communicate with other people, they call it phone or mobile" Cora spelled it out
"I know what phone are, and you know i know" she grumbled, "i just never actually held one" she said with a giggle, which earned a fond roll of Cora's eyes
"Well, it's cute and all, but I don't see what use it could have here, don't these things require satellite signal?" Lenora asked and the other arched her eyebrow as if asking 'and since when do you know that?' to which the girl just shrugged "I've been reading"
"Okay, yeah, you're right, but, it's specially designed to function outside of Earth's atmosphere"
"And how the hell did you manage to get him to do that without him getting suspicious?" Asked the blonde girl
"Well..."
- - -
three weeks before
The team was around doing their own thing, some were traning, others were in their rooms, others lounging in the common room, which was the case for Cora, Wanda, Sam and Tony.
Cora was sulking silently in her chair, the other three were chatting about a mission they had had the day before, Tony glanced at her and gestured for the other two to look at the gloomy woman as well, silently asking them what was up with her
"She misses Thor" stated the scarlet witch
"Of course I do, I miss my partner in crime" confirmed the woman lifting her head from her hands to face the three avengers
"Just facetime him or something" Sam, very helpfully said
"Are you dense or is it the bird brain?" Teased Cora with her usual playful smile, it faded quickly though, as she added "He is all the way in Asgard, they don't necessarily have reception there"
"What if Tony tried to make modifications to our phones, to make them able to speak across the realms?" Wondered the redhead, "I mean, it would help with missions and stuff", she sheepishly added when she saw all their eyes on her
At that, Cora's interest peaked, although, even if the genius could find a way to make such a thing, she would still have to wait until Thor came back. The reason she was now interested was that, if Tony did it, she could take an extra one to Lenora so she could keep in touch without having to 'meditate' constantly. Still, she knew Stark wouldn't do it just because he was a good samaritan, so she put her manipulation skills to test
Tony was probably about to make some sort of excuse to get himself out of doing it, but was stopped by Cora's laughter "Ha! Wanda, that's a good one" she said through her fit of giggles
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Stark confused and defensively
"Well... It's impossible, I doubt you could actually manage to somehow do it, Tones" She said with a fake compassionate smile
"WHAT?! Oh i'll show you impossible Ms Francis, i'll have the fucking phone altered and ready faster than you can say 'Tony Stark is very sexy'" Fumed the billionaire, getting up from the couch and going to the lab, absolutely enraged
- - -
"... I'm very persuasive?"
"Yeah, sure" said Lenora sarcasm dripping from her words "How does it work anyway?"
"Oh don't worry, it's all set up, you have my phone number there, you can send me a text and i'll get it instantly, much more practical than ravens, right?"
"Much" answered the girl admiring the device closely
"And can I have the pretty boy's phone number too?" Lenora said after a minute of observating
"Hel no"
- - -
The second Cora was back in her body at the tower she regretted having given the girl the ability to communicate with her constantly
I'm bored when are you coming back again?
Len
She sighed and typed out her response
I left five minutes ago, and you said you had a meeting in Vanaheim go get ready
Cora x
Yeah, yeah, whatever bye
Len
It came with its perks though, Heimdall had direct contact with Lenora, and Lenora now had direct contact with Cora. Which meant, if the gatekeeper of Asgard saw anything important, word would get to the grey-eyed way quicker than it usually would.
Thanks to this, those last weeks she had been able to prevent many tragedies, without the team's knowledge. For example, right now she was getting back from Sri Lanka, where she had just stopped a terrorist attack from ending 256 innocent lives, she counted them.
And after an exhausting ride back, she was getting on the elevator to see her new family again, ready to relax a bit, when the doors opened in the common floor, weirdly, no one paid any attention to her, and as soon as she heard the unquestionable yelling of the tower's billionaire, the team's captain and Cora's best friend, she realized her relaxation would have to be put off for the time being
"HE CAN'T BE HERE!"
"Please, Stark, a matter has come to my attention that-"
"No, he threw me off this fucking window just a couple of years ago, I want him gone" she heard Tony's voice interrupt the god's
Cora honestly had no idea what could be happening, she checked her phone before walking around the corner, where the voices were coming from. She saw a text and opened it
Sorry, just got word from Heimdall, you've got a surprise back in the tower
Len
When she finally got a view of her friends, she saw them all suited up, weapons pointed at a raven haired figure by Thor's side
Prince Loki
She turned on her phone and quickly sent a text before going back to eavesdropping
Tell Heimdall i'll fucking kill him next time I see him
Cora x
'Just what I fucking needed, another god getting their nose all over my business' Thought Cora to herself before clearing her throat to make her presence known to the team and the guest of honour
Everyone fell silent as they snapped their heads from the tall god of mischief and towards the woman who had just set foot in the room
No one uttered a word as Cora walked with her back straight and her chin up towards the two gods
When she reached Thor her cold and professional demeanor broke into a huge grin as she pulled her friend into a hug. He had been gone for the last two days, again.
"Lady Cora, I missed you dearly" said the god as they broke the embrace
"We had a deal, Prince Thor" she said with a playful glare, pointing out his use of formalities. She still didn't even glance towards the other god present, and the rest of the team were expectant to see how that would play out, certiain that the moment she acknowledged him, she would throw him out
"My apologies, lolite"
"All good, goldilocks, now..." she turned her body to face the man next to Thor, he had his brows lightly furrowed in a judging manner,'how nice', "I don't believe we have met, pleasure to meet you Mr...?" She put her hand out for him to shake and dragged the sentence gesturing for him to finish it
"Friggason" Cora hummed and Loki took her hand in his, but instead of shaking it he pressed a kiss on it. This took everyone by surprise, especially Tony, who looked like he was ready to blast him any second and Steve who had tightened his grip on his shield. The god ignored the glares and spoke again "And who would you be, Lady...?" he asked in the same way she had seconds ago
"Cora Francis, but please, no lady" She said gently, with her usual enchanting smile then turned to face the gobsmacked heroes
"Oh! Tony, you won't believe what Strange told me today over the phone!"
"CORA!" Steve bellowed, his pale face red of anger, the woman didn't flinch but instead glared at the captain with a defiant aura around her that made everyone back one step, including the gods.
"Yes, captain?"
"H-He- You can't just ignore that the man who tried to take over our world is here" He said with a light stammering, Cora eyed him questioningly
"Ah, yes, I remember reading about it..." she trailed off, "Yet, my friend has just tried to tell you that something has come to his attention, and I presume it has to do exactly with his brother. So, instead of trying to scold me for not jumping to conclusions, listen to Thor, he loves his family, but he has a home here too, and he would never put it in harm's way, trust his judgement and hear him out" Once again the sweet and friendly tone her voice usually has was replaced by an impenetrable seriousness that made the team reluctantly lower their heads
With that she turned and faced the brooding prince again and spoke with the same berating tone "And you should stop trying to get into my mind and start talking, Mr Friggason"
"It's Prince Friggason to you, mortal" The god sneered, going from the captivating prince to a wrathful god, enraged by the woman who dared speak to him in such a way
The woman, instead, walked towards him until she was dangerously close to him, even if she was a head shorter than the god, if either of them moved an inch closer their noses would be touching
"Now listen to me, whatever title you had back in your golden palace means shit here, I don't give a fuck if you are a king, prince or peasant, here you are just a poor excuse of a man. And in your situation, you're lucky they didn't put you in a cage the second they saw you" She said in a harsh barely audible whisper "Now stop your whining and start talking, your majesty" she finished, mockingly
She walked away from the coffee table and the huddled group and sat on her chair, she took out her phone while she waited for the team to join her, hopefully ready to have a decent conversation
Just belittled Jotunheim's heir, i'm amazing
Cora x
Congrats, keep it up
Len
She laughed lightly and put her phone down as the others joined her, everyone sitting in their respective spots around the room, except for Thor and his brother, who stood in front of the TV, as if they were about to make a presentation
"As my friend kindly remarked, during my visit, my father decided to banish my brother from his home" some sarcastic laughs could be heard coming from both Stark and Barton
"Let me guess, he tried to take over your home? Again?" Iron Man belittled
"Don't make me put you in time out" Cora simply said, and silently begged her friend to continue
"I also have reasons to believe the attack on New York wasn't entirely his doing... Maybe" he said warily
"Bullshit, are you sure you're not being manipulated right now, Thor?" Clint argued
Loki silently put his arms up, which showed golden cuffs around his wrists, "as much as i'd love to, i am clearly not capable of using my magic at the moment" he sneered with his velvety voice
"Okay, can we just cut the crap? Thor, why would you think that?" Bucky said, the mere implication that someone had maybe not been in control of their actions triggered his sympathy, so he was very eager to hear the whole story
"Some healers may have implied that Loki has remnants of the mind stone in his head, they also said it would not be possible to happen because he used it, but because it was used on him"
There was silence as the group pondered over the new information, but it was easy to see that at least the original avengers were not buying it at all
"I'm not buying it at all" said one of the original avengers
"Is it true then? Loki?" Vision, the voice of reason, asked. The prince refused to give an answer, he just held his head high and stared at nothing
"Okay, guys? Come here" Cora said, calling Tony, Clint and Thor, "I know it's hard for you two to have him here, and Thor i know you want him here, i'm going to give my honest opinion and you can't say i'm biased because Thor is my best friend, okay?" she asked before continuing, "he's the god of lies, i obviously don't trust him, but those healers have no reason to lie, i think we should let him stay" Tony was already opening his mouth to protest, "look, he's already banished, he has to stay somewhere, you prefer a cell? Again? After last time? Or would you rather here, where we can actually keep tabs on him? Also, whether you like it or not, there is a big possibility he genuinely is innocent, what then?"
They stayed silent, Clint clearly had nothing to say, he turned and made his way to the gods, specifically Loki, "you listen to me, okay? I don't trust you, I don't want you here, and i'll be waiting for you to make one step out of line, so I can fianlly try my new arrows on you, I named one specially after you, i'd love to check it out" he said menacingly
"After me? I'm flattered" he grinned devilishly, then went back to his blank stare. Everyone's attention was taking away from the two when Tony clapped his hands twice
"Reindeer games, you're on the empty room their floor, if you try something, who best than the most powerful avengers to remind you: we beat you once, we will again if we have to" with that he turned around and walked to the bar
Cora was lost in thought, going through possible creatures that could have been behind 2012 if it hadn't been the raven haired prince, she knew the list, she remembered names, but only a few were interested in infinity stones
Then she gasped, "Thanos" she said to herself, but clearly she wasn't quiet enough. Loki turned around like a frightened cat, her eye widened ever more, she didn't even need to ask, his response to the name gave her all the information she needed.
Change of plans, I'm going to the palace, find me the location for a titan called Thanos and arrange a meeting with Surtur, thanks
Cora x