END-GAME

New Asgard was located in Tonsberg, Norway. That meant that going by car wasn't exactly an option. And, given that Natasha didn't exactly own a jet, she made sure Tony would fly them all together.

Much to Theo's displeasure.

“All I'm saying is-”,Theo raised her shoulders as she walked down to her seat, “Carol can fly her ass there”.

“You're doing that thing again,Theo”,Tony motioned his hand, his eyes stuck on the tablet placed in front of him.

His wheelchair was attached to the jet, him sitting right in the middle as most of them were seated around him. This was his private jet after all. It didn't need to make much sense.

“What thing?”,she asked him, not really up to hear the answer.

“That thing when you become annoyinglyrude”.

Carol was the first one to laugh. She mostly giggled,eyeing Theo behind a newspaper she was currently reading. Theo herself was rolling her eyes as she finally sat down in between Peter and Thor. Thor wasn't in any condition to fly there, given that he had been extremely weakened down. Plus, what he wouldn't tell them was that he actually enjoyed the company.

“Just admit the only reason you're at her throat is that weirdfeud your people have with the Airforce”,Natasha hummed, brushing through a magazine.

Carol and Theo both raised an eyebrow at Natasha,something she quickly picked up on as she slowly put the magazine down,her eyes showing puzzlement.

“Miss Romanoff, I believe they value that rivalry a littlemore than you think..”,Peter mumbled to her.

“Yeah..I'm getting there Spider Boy...”

Theo crossed her legs. “It's not a rivalry”.

“It's not?”,Carol almost gasped. “Your people have been on our asses since WWII”,she spelled out.

Tony sighed,closing the screen of the tablet. “Great”,he murmured to himself. “Jarvis? Make sure you keep the margaritas comin' please”.

“Are you sure sir?”

“Oh yeah”,he chuckled. “Trust me, we're gonna need 'em”.

Natasha began massaging her temples,while whispering something to Wanda's ear. Pietro himself seemed to be having fun; he was hugging both legs on the seat,watching Theo and Carol back and forth.

“You people are so damned soft”,Theo said through faint chuckles. “You know, we had a saying back in my platoon days”,she raised both eyebrows.

“Our first lieutenant, what was his name- Ah. Yeah, Lieutenant Jameson – he used to tell us during training 'You getting' tired there marino?' “,she mimicked a deep voice,knitting her eyebrows together. “ 'Wanna send you over to the airforce lads? Keep 'em comin' marino!' “.

Theo was laughing all the way through her short story, and most of them joined her. Carol on her end,didn't seem that pleased.

At that point, Tony had already been served his margarita, thankfully, as had the rest.

“You marines are insufferable”,she huffed out,putting the newspaper down the table as she took her glass of margarita. “If it were easy, Bennet, anyone would do it”.

“Well, it ain't that hard either, Danvers. We've all flown once or twice on our own”.

Carol let her head fall behind. “As if!”,she let a sly smile form on the corners of her lips. “Your dog hunter officers would take your heads if they ever found out you went ahead and flew on your own”.

“Yeah”,she dragged the word along her tongue. “If they were to ever find out,that's the key Carol”.

Theo then pursed her lips. “How about this? Let Stark decide”.

Tony was in the middle of sipping his drink, which he immediately stopped as he looked at her frozen. All eyes were on him and Theo,waiting fro an explanation.

“The closest Stark has ever been to a military unit is through the Department of Defense's secretaries' pants,Theo”.

“Oh yeah, I can definitely back that one up”,Natasha motioned her glass.

Tony simply shrugged; he wasn't in any position to actually deny that accusation anyway.

“Yes, but he finds us both equally unpleasant, so he'll be objective”,Theo argued. “So,go on Stark. Who are the baddest? Marines of the Airforce lads?”

Tony felt all eyes falling on him. He was in no way in any condition to actually take o punch coming from either of them. He scratched the back of his head.

“Kid?”

“Yeah mister Stark?”

“What's your favorite movie?”

“Oh..”,he pulled his lips to a thin line, “Lord of the rings, the return of the king, obviously”.

“Favorite color?”

“Uh, red? I think”.

“Birthday?”

“August ten”.

Everyone was watching,smiles and laughs hidden well as most of them were on to Tony. Peter on the other hand, in his naivety had no clue about Tony's ploys.

“Which season do you prefer?”

“We talking tv shows or climate conditions?”

“The second...”,he sighed.

“Ah. Spring I think”.

“Pork or beef?”

“Pork- hey, I like this game”.

“Night or day?”

“Uh.. Night”.

Tony smiled. “Marines or Airforce?”

“Marines”.

As soon as he spoke, Peter covered his mouth,almost gasping. Theo chuckled,patting his back as she watched Carol roll her eyes.

“Atta boy”.

“This doesn't count”.

Tony raised his shoulders, a half smile on the corners of his lips. Thor himself laughed, rather loudly.

“Nice one,Stark. Really devious of you, I give you that my friend”.

“Oh yeah. That's me. Devious”,he pursed his lips.

“Mister Stark”,Jarvis' voice echoed inside the jet. “We are currently five minutes away from landing. I suggest you all tighten your seat belts and prepare”.

“Aight. The horror game show is over lads. Time to drink,like normal people”.

“As normal a party thrown by Loki could possibly be”,Natasha hummed.

As soon as they got out Theo felt a chill rushing throughout her spine. Be it the cold yet awfully fresh air, or the sea's faint waters spreading though it, it surely felt nice to her.

“Ah. This brings back memories..”,she said in a faint smile.

“It has been a while since you last came here,Theodora”.

“Oh no,that's not what I mean Big Guy. We used to have training drills in places like this. You know, fishermen villages”.

Thor knitted his eyebrows together, though Theo raised her shoulders mouthing an 'I'm sorry' to him. He shook his head and went ahead. It was almost getting darker, the sky already died in the warmest red shade possible.

“New Asgard is no fishermen village..”,he muttered to himself, but Theo merely smiled.

Mostly though, it was just as Theo remembered it to be; covered in green, in trees and water. A wide area, feeling as if no human had touched it before. No one to ever mess with mother nature.

Valkyrie stood by the entrance of the village,waiting on them along with some other Asgardians. She was the first one to leave, since Thor had left her to be in charge of New Asgard upon his short and every to come absence.

“Hildy”,Theo motioned her head.

“Either call me Valkyrie, or Brunnhilde, Theo. Like a normal person”,she raised her eyebrows,smiling.

Thor walked ahead, not minding the formalities at first. Theo followed as everyone began walking into the village. Loki surely had worked his magic, one way or the other.

“You all look like crap”,Valkyrie informed them,looking at all of them,up and down.

“Yeah. Thanks for the notice”,Tony said. “It's not as if we just saved the Earth and most the Universe from a wacknut”.

Valkyrie opened her nostrils,turning back to Thor. “He's charming. As per usual”.

Thor chuckled,though he didn't comment on that.

They walked down the main square; lanterns of all sorts were hung in between the electrical poles. Baskets of flowers laid all over at each and every corner; women and men were already dancing in what seemed like an ochlocracy of people.

A few women were playing the lyre and a man was singing a song that was sounding far too old to be known by anyone among the living.

But what really caught Theo's attention was the tapping of the people's feet.

They danced in pairs, round in circles with their arms intertwined before changing their partners, jumping to the beat and strolling as they tapped their feet down.

“Well.. Loki sure knows how to give people what they want..”,Natasha remarked.

“Trust me, Romanoff, you have no idea”,Thor nodded,looking at the people dancing.

Theo wondered away, and more specifically, down to the place she had noticed people were supplied with alcohol. Which,by the looks of it was merely a couple dozen beer barrels each one with a hose attached to it.

She didn't exactly mind. Theo grabbed one of the many glasses she saw to be laid on the table next to the barrels, and immediately began filling it up with beer, drinking most of it in one sip.

“Isn't that impressive?”

She turned her head around, wiping some foam off her mouth. Loki was in front of her, getting some beer for himself. He seemed to have gotten rid of all those leathers she had been used to seeing him in, although the dark green essence had stayed. His hair,darker than night, were falling down delicately to frame his awfully squared and well proportioned face.

A face that showed nothing but the amount of beer he had consumed. Which,by the looks of it, was rather much,as Theo figured.

“You did a good job here,i gotta give you that”,she noted in the most carefree voice she possessed.

“You don't need to act as if you like me, agent Bennet”,he smiled as he tilted his head to look at her.

Theo snorted quietly,motioning her brows. “I wouldn't. I don't. Ever”.

“Of course”,he hummed, taking a rather large sip of his drink. “You are a rather honest person. Aren't you?”

“And you're too chatty,Loki. Always have been,haven't you? It's annoying”.

Loki pulled the corner of his lips up to a half smile as he huffed out half a chukle.

“Heard your Captain left you for an older lady. Is that true,agent Bennet?”

Theo's smile faded away from her face, much to his pleasure. If there was anything in this world Loki truly enjoyed, was to watch the effect his words held on people. Theo drank her last sip,but didn't give him the satisfaction of getting angry herself.

“News travel fast when your sole hobby is gossiping”,she remarked as his smile widened. “You must be getting really bored here,Loki”.

“I can assure you, my dear agent Bennet, I only ask about things that interest me”.

She could smell the alcohol in his breath, given that he had gotten far closer to her than he was before. Theo clenched her jaw,arching an eyebrow as she looked at him,unimpressed.

“Do I look like a give a shit about what interests you?”,she asked,her voice mostly blank.

“You look like many things. Interesting is one of them. I seem to grow particularly fond of that new eye of yours,for one. Although, I have to say.. that's one nasty scar you got yourself”.

Theo froze for a single moment. That eye, that new eye as he called it, it wasn't her own. The split iris was merely a reminder. A reminder of a five year long struggle,and a war which gave the means that cost her her happiness. So, it would be an understatement to say that Theo herself wasn't so fond of that eye. Not the color, and certainly not that scar she had gotten.

“Go annoy someone else Loki”,she whispered as she slowly mixed herself with the crowd, getting as far away from him as possible.

Loki though, and surely enough, just couldn't lose that grin off his lips.

“See you around,agent Bennet”,he shouted at her from his position,sipping a little more of his beer.